Copyright MLB News
LOS ANGELES — The legend of Trey Yesavage continues to grow. His postseason had already been remarkable, coming on the heels of just three regular-season MLB starts in a year that began at the Single-A level. This was Yesavage’s fifth postseason start. No other pitcher has made even three postseason starts within his first eight career appearances, including both the regular season and postseason. Yesavage is the first pitcher in MLB history to start multiple World Series games within his first eight career games. • Yesavage’s 12 strikeouts set a rookie record for a World Series game, surpassing Don Newcombe’s 11 in Game 1 in 1949. But that’s not the only record he set. We can go beyond the rookie qualifier. He didn’t walk a batter. Yesavage’s 12 strikeouts marked the most in World Series history by a pitcher in a game in which he didn’t walk a batter. • This wasn’t Yesavage’s first high-strikeout total this month. He had 11 strikeouts in Game 2 of the American League Division Series. That, combined with Wednesday, means he has two of the seven games in postseason history in which a rookie struck out at least 11 batters. Yesavage is the first rookie in postseason history with multiple 10-strikeout games. He’s also the first in postseason history with multiple such games before turning 23 years old. • Yesavage had 10 strikeouts through five innings. He became the second pitcher in World Series history with at least 10 strikeouts in the first five innings of a game. He joined Sandy Koufax, who did so in Game 1 in 1963. Koufax was in the stands watching at Dodger Stadium as Yesavage racked up the K’s. • This was the second time Yesavage had at least 10 strikeouts through five this postseason, also doing so in the aforementioned ALDS game. He’s the second pitcher to do that twice in a postseason career, joining Gerrit Cole. Yesavage is the first to do so twice in the same postseason. • Yesavage made just three starts at the MLB level before the postseason, and he didn’t reach 10 strikeouts in any of them. Yesavage is the first pitcher in MLB history to record his first two career 10-strikeout games (regular season or postseason) in the postseason, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. • At 22 years and 93 days, Yesavage became the youngest pitcher with 10 strikeouts or more in a World Series game. He surpassed Smoky Joe Wood, who was 22 years and 349 days old when he struck out 11 in Game 1 in 1912. Yesavage is the third-youngest pitcher with at least 10 strikeouts in any postseason game, older than only John Candelaria in 1975 National League Championship Series Game 3 (21 years, 335 days) and himself in ALDS Game 2 (22 years, 69 days). • Yesavage induced 23 swings and misses, including 14 on his slider and seven on his splitter. That’s the most swings and misses by a pitcher in a World Series game under pitch tracking (2008). • He got everyone. Yesavage struck out all nine batters in the Dodgers’ starting lineup, becoming the third starting pitcher in World Series history to strike out each batter in a starting lineup. He joined Randy Johnson in Game 2 of the 2001 World Series and Bob Gibson in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series.
