Trey Yesavage's unconventional pre-game routine leads to a recipe for success in Blue Jays win over Yankees

They had to wait a little while longer than usual, but the Toronto Blue Jays managed to pull out a win in the Bronx, beating the New York Yankees 2-1 on a wet and soggy night at Yankee Stadium. A rain delay pushed back the scheduled start time from 7:05 p.m. ET to 9:00 p.m. ET.

One player who seemed unfazed by the delay was Blue Jays' starter Trey Yesavage who wound up pitching his best game of the season, going six innings, allowing two hits, no runs, no walks and striking out eight. Three of those K's came against Aaron Judge as the 22-year-old right hander has now struck out the Yankees star four times in five plate appearances. Judge was 0-for-1 with a walk and a strikeout in Game 2 of last years' ALDS against Yesavage.

Sometimes a delay in the start of the game, especially one that lasts two hours, can really have a detrimental effect on the guys who are starting the game. Their whole pregame routine can get thrown out the window and they are left scrambling trying to get ready on short notice. But Yesavage had a much different approach to Wednesday's game. He told reporters that he "walked around, watched his teammates play cards and drank three Red Bulls during the rain delay."

This ended up being a recipe for success for Yesavage who looked down right dominant no matter who was at the plate. After a worrying start to the year, Yesavage can now be fully looked upon to be an anchor in the rotation behind Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease.

Trey Yesavage now firmly established as an anchor in the Blue Jays rotation

Coming into the season, the hope was that Yesavage could replicate some of the success he had in during his MLB debut last season. Drafted in July of 2024, Yesavage made his big league debut in September of 2025, and went on to have a remarkable run with the team where he ended up starting Game 3 of the World Series.

But a shoulder impingement put him on the shelf to begin the season, and the worry was that he would have to take a step back and rebuild himself coming into the year. There was talk about putting an innings limit on him, and having him pitch on a three to four inning maximum per start.

However, Yesavage hasn't thrown less than four innings in any of his starts and everything he's done has been done with quality. Through five games and 25.1 innings pitched, he's allowed just three earned runs, while striking out 29 hitters and walking eight. That's the 15th most strikeouts in baseball since his season debut and his 1.07 ERA sits six.

Yes there are five pitchers who have given up less than three runs over their last three or four starts since Yesavage's debut, and two of them reside in the AL East with Ranger Suarez of the Red Sox allowing just one run in his las four starts and Nick Martinez of the Rays allowing just two runs over his last four outings.

That doesn't take anything away from what Yesavage has done for the Blue Jays and after this most recent performance, he's fully established himself as the number three guy in the rotation.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow