In a display of postseason firepower, the Toronto Blue Jays demolished the New York Yankees 13-7 in Game 2 of the American League Division Series, seizing a commanding 2-0 series lead and leaving the defending AL champions staring down elimination.
The Rogers Centre erupted early as rookie sensation Trey Yesavage, making just his fourth major league start, set the tone with a masterful performance. The 22-year-old right-hander, Toronto’s first-round pick in 2024, dazzled over 5 1/3 innings, allowing zero hits, one walk, and fanning 11 Yankees – shattering the Blue Jays’ franchise record for strikeouts in a postseason game. His splitter proved unhittable, tying an MLB postseason record with six consecutive strikeouts at one point.
Yesavage’s dominance gave Toronto’s offense free rein to feast on Yankees starter Max Fried. The lefty, who had owned the Jays during the regular season, lasted just three innings, surrendering five runs on seven hits, including three homers. Fried’s nightmare began in the bottom of the third, where the Jays plated three more runs to balloon their lead to 5-0.
The onslaught peaked in the fourth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. unleashed the first postseason grand slam in Blue Jays history, a moonshot to left-center that made it 9-0 and sent the crowd into delirium. Moments later, Daulton Varsho – already 3-for-3 with a homer and two doubles – crushed a two-run shot off reliever Will Warren, pushing the score to 11-0. Varsho wasn’t done; in the sixth, he belted his second homer of the night, a solo blast that extended Toronto’s cushion to 13-2 and capped his legendary 4-for-4 evening with four RBIs and four extra-base hits.
Coach SA on X (formerly Twitter): “Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with his Jose Bautista moment. ☄️415 FT 🔥111 MPH off the bat First grand slam in #Bluejays postseason history. pic.twitter.com/eZdhntKVwB / X”
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with his Jose Bautista moment. ☄️415 FT 🔥111 MPH off the bat First grand slam in #Bluejays postseason history. pic.twitter.com/eZdhntKVwB
George Springer joined the home run parade with a solo shot in the fifth, accounting for Toronto’s fifth long ball of the game. The Jays’ bats didn’t let up, amassing 14 hits in total and scoring in five of their eight innings at the plate.
The Yankees, silenced for five innings, finally stirred against Toronto’s bullpen. Cody Bellinger launched a two-run homer in the sixth, and Aaron Judge – New York’s lone multi-hit threat with a single and double – helped load the bases in the seventh. New York plated five more runs that frame, including Judge’s RBI single, before tacking on two in the eighth to close the gap to 13-7. But it was too little, too late; the damage from Yesavage and the Jays’ power surge proved insurmountable.
This marks the first time in franchise history the Yankees have allowed double-digit runs in consecutive postseason games, a bitter pill after their 10-1 Game 1 drubbing. With the series shifting to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 on Tuesday, New York faces do-or-die pressure. Toronto, riding momentum from their regular-season tiebreaker win over the Yanks (8-5 head-to-head), hasn’t advanced past the Division Series since 2016 but now stands one victory from the ALCS.
For the Blue Jays, it’s validation of their 94-68 regular-season grind. As manager John Schneider said postgame, “We’ve been waiting for this moment. The kids stepped up big.” For Aaron Boone’s Yankees, the script has flipped – from favorites to fighters. Game 3 can’t come soon enough.
