Blue Jays have no answer for Yamamoto, as Dodgers even up World Series 1-1

While the Toronto Blue Jays were making all kinds of history with their offence in Game 1, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a different plan for the outcome of Game 2. The Los Angeles Dodgers crafty right hander completely silenced the Blue Jays bats that were so electric just one night ago.

Yamamoto pitched a complete game, striking out eight and allowed just one run on four hits in a 5-1 LA win. It evens the World Series at 1-1 as both teams get set to head to LA for the next three games.

Blue Jays have no answer for Yamamoto, as Dodgers even up World Series 1-1

The complete game effort from Yamamoto was the first complete game pitched in a World Series since Johnny Cueto two-hit the Mets in Game 2 of the 2015 World Series. Yamamoto barely broke a sweat most innings against the Blue Jays as they didn't have anyone reach base after the third inning, and was getting through some innings on less than 10 pitches.

He was completely fooling the Blue Jays hitters all night, getting them to swing and miss 30.4% of the time, a number that exceeds what they have been averaging throughout the postseason. In the ALDS their percentage was 20.6%, and it stayed consistent in the ALCS at 20.9%. Game 1 they sat at 17% against Blake Snell and the Dodgers bullpen.

One of the keys for this series for the Blue Jays was for their hitters to work counts, make the Dodgers starters throw a lot of pitches and get into the bullpen early while avoiding strikeouts. In Game 2 they accomplished none of those things. Even though they got the first two hitters on base with a George Springer double and a Nathan Lukes bloop single. But they were stranded and only managed two hits the rest of the way, with their only run coming in on a sacrifice fly in the third inning.

Not all is lost though as the Blue Jays are very much in this series. Kevin Gausman had an excellent start, giving up only four hits himself and at one point retiring 17 batters in a row. Unfortunately, two of the hits he gave up left the ball park. But the Blue Jays have been in this situation before, both historically and very recently in which a starting pitcher has carved up their lineup and made them look silly.

During the 1992 World Series, the Blue Jays lost Game 1 thanks to a complete game, four hit masterpiece by Tom Glavine, giving the Atlanta Braves a 1-0 series lead. Glavine also pitched a complete game in Game 4 of that series, a game that the Blue Jays won as Glavine was outdueled by veteran Blue Jay Jimmy Key.

The 2015 version of the team just went through an ALCS against a Seattle Mariners team who threw out some starters that picked apart the lineup in Games 1, 2 and 5. With the series tied 1-1, the Blue Jays go on the road where they are 3-2 so far in the postseason and will need just one win to guarantee that the series comes back to Toronto.