Toronto – The Yankees are really struggling this season.
On the field at Rogers Centre, it wasn’t just the competition—the Yankees seemed to be competing with themselves to see who could fail more spectacularly. Their hitters were stymied by the rookie Trey Yesavage for 5¹/₃ innings and their own pitching staff, led by Max Fried, who gave up 11 runs.
Yesavage, showcasing a tough splitter, completely overpowered the Yankees while Fried, unfortunately, played the role of the weak link, culminating in a disheartening 13-7 loss to the Blue Jays in Game 2 of the ALDS.
The Yankees have now been outscored 23-8 in the series so far, and if they can come back, they’ll be facing an uphill battle. They finally showed some fight against the Blue Jays’ bullpen, but this season is definitely on life support for them.
They’ll have to think about this reality on Monday before Carlos Rodon takes the mound for Game 3 at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Even if they manage to push it to a Game 5, it’s worth noting they had a rough 1-8 record at Rogers Centre this year.
Yesavage, 22, the 20th pick in the 2024 draft, debuted in MLB on September 15 and has been impressive. Throwing from a high-arm angle and effectively using his splitter, he had the Yankees swinging awkwardly. Striking out 11 batters and allowing only one walk during 5¹/₃ no-hit innings, Yesavage’s performance drew boos from fans when Blue Jays manager John Schneider decided to remove him after his fourth major league start.
On the other side, Fried couldn’t last four innings, giving up eight hits and seven runs. The hefty $218 million left-hander surrendered a two-run homer to Ernie Clement in two innings. This all unfolded after an error by Aaron Judge on a double hit by Dorton Valchot.
Will Warren didn’t provide much support, as he also struggled when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hammered a grand slam, pushing the score to 9-0 and earning him a curtain call from the fans.
Varsho added another two-run home run, extending the lead to 11-0 before ending the inning.
By the end, Warren had allowed four homers—two from Varsho and one from George Springer—as the Yankees tried to keep their bullpen fresh.
Guerrero and Varsho led the offensive charge for the Blue Jays, combining for three home runs, two doubles, eight RBIs, and six runs between them.
Yesavage’s impressive outing called to mind Cam Schlittler’s performance against the Red Sox in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series—a matchup that Yankees hitters hadn’t faced before. The Yankees had only faced Yesavage once prior, and they clearly struggled against his dangerous splitter, swinging and missing on a significant number of his pitches.
After Yesavage exited, the Yankees finally broke their no-hit streak with a single from Judge late in the sixth inning, followed by a two-run homer from Cody Bellinger that ended the shutout.
They managed five runs against the Blue Jays’ bullpen in the later innings, but it may not have been enough to turn things around.
