LOS ANGELES — It will be experience vs. wide-eyed wonder in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday.
With the series tied at two wins each, the Los Angeles Dodgers will unleash two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, while the Toronto Blue Jays go with a pitcher just over a month into his major league career, Trey Yesavage.
It only takes a look back to Friday to understand the matchup is not as one-sided as it looks.
Yesavage started Game 1 of the World Series against Snell, and the Blue Jays walked away with an easy 11-4 victory that was the first sign of how competitive the series would be despite the Dodgers’ status as heavy favorites.
While Yesavage gave up two runs over four innings, then turned the game over to a dominating bullpen, Snell exited after five-plus innings with the game tied 2-2 and the bases loaded. Los Angeles’ bullpen let in all three inherited runs as part of a nine-run inning that featured a grand slam from Addison Barger and a two-run homer from Alejandro Kirk.
Yesavage not only has that outing to lean on moving forward, but he also started Game 6 of the American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners in a win-or-go-home predicament. Yesavage earned the victory with 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball, and the Blue Jays went on to advance by prevailing in Game 7.
“I mean, I’ve pitched with our back against the wall already, so I have experienced it,” Yesavage said.
From Class-A when the season started to four minor league levels and his major league debut just last month, Yesavage experienced a rocket ride that also might help him to normalize what will be another pressure situation.
“Each day I learn something new,” the 22-year-old right-hander said. “I take something away from my game or someone else’s game. So just stacking all those days up this entire season has led me to this point.”
The Dodgers had Shohei Ohtani on the mound in Game 4 and were poised to take a commanding lead in the series, but Shane Bieber and the Blue Jays’ bullpen got the Los Angeles offense to sputter. The Blue Jays evened the series at 2-2 with a 6-2 victory behind a two-run home run from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Even with their dramatic 18-inning win in Game 3, the Dodgers have scored just three runs over the past 20 innings of the series.
Now Snell gets his turn, with the left-hander determined to make amends for his subpar outing in Game 1.
“Beyond excited that I have another opportunity to really display the kind of pitcher that I am and that I’m striving to be,” said Snell, who was 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA over his first three postseason starts this year before his stumble on Friday. “I’m so excited. You want to contribute and … there’s no better moment than right now.”
While Game 1 was Yesavage’s only appearance against the Dodgers, Snell has made 16 career regular-season starts against the Blue Jays, going 5-4 with a 2.39 ERA. He fanned 10 in five shutout innings vs. Toronto on Aug. 6 at Dodger Stadium.
Snell also had a scoreless 5 2/3-inning outing against the Blue Jays in the 2020 playoffs when he played for the Tampa Bay Rays.
After Ohtani reached base in a World Series-record 11 consecutive plate appearances from the late innings of Game 2 through the first inning of Game 4, he finished the Tuesday contest 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
“You’re going to just see different ways of being attacked, but my approach is pretty simple,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “I swing at strikes and don’t swing at balls, and that’s how I evaluate myself.”
Freddie Freeman, who hit the marathon-ending homer in the 18th inning on Monday, had two of the Dodgers’ six hits on Tuesday. However, since the series moved back to Los Angeles, the hosts have received no RBIs from Mookie Betts (2-for-12 in Games 3 and 4 combined), Will Smith (1-for-10) and Max Muncy (1-for-10).
–Doug Padilla, Field Level Media
