An option out of the 'pen, Yesavage doesn't pitch in ALDS G4

NEW YORK -- Pushing to punch their ticket to the ALCS, the Blue Jays made rookie sensation Trey Yesavage available out of the bullpen in Game 4 of the ALDS on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.

He did not end up pitching, but Toronto didn't need him, beating the Yankees in a bullpen game, 5-2, to advance to the ALCS.

Kevin Gausman also threw a “modified bullpen” before Game 4, lighter than his typical one, but manager John Schneider said that between the two, Yesavage was much likelier to be used Wednesday. This both maxed out the Blue Jays’ firepower in a bullpen game while potentially holding the staff ace, Gausman, for a deciding Game 5 at home on Friday if needed.

“I would say ‘maybe’ on Trey,” Schneider said pregame, not wanting to reveal too much. “Seeing where the game goes, who’s used, who’s not used and reading the game. If I had to pick between one of the two, it would probably be Trey.”

This would have been short rest for the 22-year-old, coming off his historic postseason debut for the Blue Jays in Game 2 at Rogers Centre. Yesavage threw just 78 pitches Sunday, though, and given the urgency of the situation after an ugly, 9-6 loss in Game 3, there were a lot of arrows pointing in the same direction. Besides, after what we all saw Sunday, who else would you rather have on the mound?

Yesavage was absolutely dominant, striking out 11 Yankees over 5 1/3 no-hit innings. He wasn’t just striking batters out, though, he was baffling some of the best hitters in baseball with a splitter that continues to give everyone fits. Yankees hitters swung 16 times at that splitter and whiffed on 11 of them. In just the first postseason start of his career, he set a Blue Jays franchise record for strikeouts in a playoff game. It’s one of the best October performances we’ve ever seen in Toronto.

Coming back around on short rest in the postseason takes a little moxie, too, and Yesavage is spilling over with it. There was already a world of pressure on the rookie, who’d made just three MLB starts down the stretch, and he stoked the fire in the days leading up to Game 2 when he said, plainly, “I’m built for this.”

Yes, he was. Yes, he is.

“I was sitting in there thinking about the comment I made the other day, where I said, 'I'm built for this,'” Yesavage said after his performance in Game 2. “And I was like, ‘Well, I'd better back that up.’”

Yesavage’s development path is key to this potential strategy for the bullpen game, too, which was led by Louis Varland and featured an “all hands on deck” approach. The Blue Jays nailed Yesavage’s path this year, including stops at all four levels of the Minor Leagues, where he struck out an eye-popping 160 batters over 98 innings.

This included some appearances out of the bullpen. Some came in shorter stints while others could be better described as “following an opener,” but all of that experience could have come in handy for Game 4 at Yankee Stadium had it been necessary.

In a perfect world, the Blue Jays won’t need to press this button at all the rest of the way, but if the situation calls for it, Yesavage gives them a big, bold card to play in the most important games this organization has played in nearly a decade.