Even without his "best stuff" Trey Yesavage still gave the Blue Jays a chance to win

The Toronto Blue Jays have something special on their hands, it's just too bad they can't take advantage of it. On Friday night, it was another frustrating loss for the reigning American League Champions who drop to 19-25 after a 3-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

None of that can be blamed on Trey Yesavage though, the rookie starting pitcher who went six innings and struck out six. He allowed two earned runs on four hits and two walks - a perfectly acceptable pitching line and one that normally preceeds a team getting to put another notch in the win column.

Sadly, Toronto's offence was anemic once again with just five hits, two walks and two runs scored, both coming in the second inning. The game was lost in the bottom of the ninth on a Tigers walk-off single from Spencer Torkelson, who drove in the winning run off Jeff Hoffman.

After the game, Yesavage talked about his start and told reporters that he felt his stuff "wasn't great." And there may be some merit to that. The three walks ties his season high, through his first four games, but this also shows the kind of competitor he is and just how good he can be. He had a moment to reflect and added, "(This) says that even when I'm at my worst, my stuff plays."

Yesavage waiting for the rest of the Blue Jays to do their jobs when he starts

Yesavage got a late start to his 2026 season, after dealing with a shoulder impingement during Spring Training. He didn't make his first start of the year until April 28, but he's been trying to make up for lost time since then. Through four games and 19.1 innings pitched, Yesavage has allowed just three earned runs, two of those coming in the game against Detroit. However, the Blue Jays have lost two of those games, because they've managed three runs or less in three of those contests. The outlier being the 14-1 offensive explosion against the LA Angels on May 9.

While Yesavage can't control what the rest of his teammates do he's setting a precedent for himself to live up to what may almost feel like unfair, high expectations for a 22-year-old. But those are the lofty expectations for not only a guy who was a first round pick, and someone who moved through the minor league system at lightning speed, but also a guy who had more playoff starts than regular season starts in his big league career and who set a Blue Jays record for strikeouts by a starting pitcher in a World Series game.

Through four games, Yesavage is meeting, and possibly exceeding those expectations. He has a 1.40 ERA, with 21 strikeouts and a 1.29 WHIP. Opponents are having a hard time making good contact against him with his hard-hit percentage in the 99th percentile at 19.4% and his chase percentage in the 90th percentile at 36%. Along with Dylan Cease and Kevin Gausman, Yesavage has done his job when called upon, giving the Blue Jays a chance to win every time he is on the mound. Now the rest of the team needs to make good on those actions.

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