KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Toronto Blue Jays are headed to the post-season for the 11th time in franchise history, finally securing their berth by winning a game started by 2024 first-round pick Trey Yesavage, with lefty Eric Lauer throwing an important inning of leverage and with key contributions up and down the lineup.
Sunday afternoon’s 8-5 win over the Kansas City Royals was, in many ways, emblematic of a campaign in which they’ve played to a collective identity and borne the fruit of that approach. Breaking from a four-game losing streak that had delayed their celebration and allowed the New York Yankees to shrink their lead atop the AL East, the Blue Jays took an early lead, responded each time the Royals put up runs and eventually wore down their opponent.
Jeff Hoffman locked things down in the ninth and the Blue Jays went through the usual handshakes on the field right after.
Clinching the American League East remains – New York’s 7-1 win at Baltimore left it within two games – but the Blue Jays now have a week of games to sort through how their playoff rotation looks, get their players, in particular Anthony Santander and Bo Bichette, as healthy as possible, determine how best to deploy Yesavage in the post-season and try to win their first playoff game since 2016.
Their formula Sunday was a familiar one, opening the scoring with the type of opportunistic inning that’s been a staple.
Davis Schneider opened the inning with a walk and Nathan Lukes followed with a grounder to second that Adam Frazier didn’t field cleanly, preventing a double play. Ernie Clement followed with a bloop single, both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Andres Gimenez ended an 0-for-15 dry spell with a single that opened the scoring.
Tyler Heineman followed by executing a safety squeeze, his perfectly placed bunt up the first-base line allowing Clement to scamper home, as the Blue Jays put together their first multi-run inning since a three-run second Tuesday. George Springer then matched that output by lashing an RBI double to left-centre.
A messy fourth narrowed the gap to 3-2, as Carter Jensen dunked a two-run single to right after Addison Barger cut in front of Gimenez and deflected a weak Adam Frazier chopper, loading the bases on what should have been the third out.
But the Blue Jays responded in the fifth when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ripped a two-run double – his first extra-base hit since Sept. 7 – and Addison Barger followed with an RBI double of his own, ending an 0-for-14 skid.
Yesavage came back out for the bottom half to face the top of the lineup a third time, with Mike Yastrezmski leading off with a single before Bobby Witt Jr. sent a liner to centre that a sliding Daulton Varsho seemed to pick off the ground. But, crucially, it was ruled a single and the call stood upon review, as replay officials must have felt it’s possible the ball touched grass as Varsho’s glove rolled over.
Either way, that was it for Yesavage, with Brendon Little allowing RBI singles to Maikel Franco and Salvador Perez that cut the Blue Jays’ lead to 6-4.
The Royals added another in the sixth but a two-spot in the eighth, on a Clement RBI single and run-scoring triple by Gimenez, restored some breathing room that Lauer, the lefty who emerged in May to help stabilize the pitching staff, and Hoffman locked down over the final two frames.
Yesavage wasn’t as overpowering as he was during his sensational five-inning, nine-strikeout debut, as he averaged 94.1 with his fastball and was up to 95.9, but also down as far as 90.7, which came in the fifth inning. He got just one swinging strike with his fastball this time, with the other six all on the splitter.
Still, he showed that he’s a big-league-calibre pitcher, with the discussion to come about how he and others best fit the staff moving forward.
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