Toronto Blue Jays' pitcher Trey Yesavage celebrates as he walks to the dugout after striking out the Dodgers' Freddie Freeman in the seventh inning in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday in Los Angeles. (AP photo)

LOS ANGELES — Trey Yesavage soaked in Dodger Stadium, filled with 52,175 fans about to watch him pitch in the World Series, and thought back to starting his season in front of 327 spectators in the low minor leagues.

A sandlot story worthy of a movie studio back lot.

“Crazy world,” the wide-eyed Toronto Blue Jays pitcher said. “Hollywood couldn’t have made it this good.”

Just 46 days after rocketing to his fifth level of professional baseball this season for his major league debut, Yesavage pitched one of the best games by a rookie in World Series history.

He set a Fall Classic rookie record with 12 strikeouts, and the Blue Jays opened Game 5 with back-to-back homers in a 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday that moved them within one win of their first championship since 1993.

“The job is not done yet,” Toronto star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said through a translator.

Davis Schneider and Guerrero connected on Blake Snell’s first and third pitches, the first consecutive home runs to start a Series game.

Yesavage, a precocious 22-year-old, took over from there. His first pitch in baseball’s largest-capacity ballpark was to Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s best player.

“Walking from the bullpen to the dugout, I took a moment to look around the stadium, see all the fans,” Yesavage said. “I was hoping I would send ’em home upset.”

He quieted the crowd and LA’s bats with a sinking splitter, spinning slider and overpowering fastball, breaking the prior Series rookie record of 11 strikeouts by the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Don Newcombe in 1949 against the New York Yankees. Getting six Ks each with his splitter and slider, Yesavage became the first World Series pitcher with 12 strikeouts and no walks.

“I’m kind of blown away by what he did,” Toronto manager John Schneider said.

Yesavage had lasted just four innings in last Friday’s opener, allowing two runs in a game the Blue Jays won 11-4.

“Just a complete 180 from Game 1. His command was pinpoint tonight,” Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman said.

After losing Game 3 in 18 innings, the resilient Blue Jays outscored the Dodgers 12-3 and outhit them 20-10 in the next two.

Toronto leads 3-2 in the best-of-seven matchup and can dethrone the defending champions back home when the Series resumes tonight at Rogers Centre. No team has won consecutive titles since the Yankees took three in a row from 1998-2000.

Marquette native Adam Hamari, who now lives in Colorado, is scheduled to be the home plate umpire in tonight’s game, taking his turn there as one of seven umps in what is his first Series.

“As a group, it’s time for us to show our character and put up a fight,” said Kiké Hernández, who homered on a high fastball to trim the Dodgers’ deficit to 2-1 in the third.

Yesavage allowed three hits over seven innings, and Seranthony Domínguez and Jeff Hoffman finished a four-hitter.

Yesavage went 1-0 in three regular-season starts and is 3-1 in five postseason outings. He induced 23 swings and misses — most in a Series game since pitch tracking started in 2008, one more than San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum in 2010 Game 5.

“Obviously the stuff is incredible, but the maturity to go and handle these moments is unbelievable,” Toronto teammate Bo Bichette said. “I think he’s ultra confident, but you never hear it in the clubhouse, which I think says something about him.”

Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, dropped to 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in the Series, allowing five runs, six hits and four walks over 6 2/3 innings.

Davis Schneider, batting first only because regular leadoff hitter George Springer got hurt in Game 3, sent Snell’s first pitch into the left-field bleachers.

“Oh! Oh no! No way! No way! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! You got to be kidding me!” Schneider’s father Steve screamed from his seat in the second deck behind home plate.

Davis Schneider mimics different stances during the year, including Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Bobby Witt Jr. and even the Dodgers’ Will Smith during the World Series. The part-time outfielder and second baseman was in an old stance of his from the minor leagues he noticed when reviewing video Wednesday from 2023, when he hit 23 homers for Triple-A Buffalo.

“I might switch it next game, so you never know. But I just like doing it,” Davis Schneider said. “Sometimes I feel like my hands are in a different spot one day and I need to change it. I’ve been doing it my whole career and I’m not going to stop now.”

Up next

Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Toronto RHP Kevin Gausman start tonight’s Game 6 in a rematch of Game 2, which Los Angeles won 5-1. Yamamoto threw a four-hitter for the first World Series complete game since 2015 and has pitched the first consecutive postseason complete games since Curt Schilling tossed three in a row in 2001. Gausman allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB