Trey Yesavage didn’t look like a rookie on the mound in Game 5 of the World Series. If anything, despite the even higher stakes compared to his Game 1 appearance, the Blue Jays’ 22-year-old starter was up for the task at hand, which resulted in 12 strikeouts, no walks, 3 hits and just 1 run allowed to the Dodgers across seven innings.
It was a performance for the ages, as FOX Sports Research can tell you. There was something else Yesavage did in his start, though, that barely anyone in the 120 previous World Series has ever pulled off. Yesavage struck out every batter in the Dodgers’ lineup at least once, an accomplishment that’s been nicknamed a “pitcher’s cycle” by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).
This marked just the fourth pitcher’s cycle in World Series history, per SABR, and the second this century. Here are those games.
2025 Game 5: Trey Yesavage, Blue Jays, 12 K
Yesavage picked up his first strikeout in the first, getting Mookie Betts to whiff on a low 91-mph slider. He would then strike out the side in the second, getting Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman in order. Max Muncy would take a called strike three in the third, then the top of the order would come back around, and Shohei Ohtani would strike out swinging to end the inning.
Will Smith would begin the fourth with a foul-tip strikeout, followed by Betts’ second of the day – before Betts came back around for his second K, Yesavage had already punched out seven of the Dodgers’ nine batters. He would get the two missing hitters – Enrique Hernandez and Alex Call – in the bottom of the fifth, both swinging. Smith and Freeman would both strike out one more time each, giving Yesavage his 12 strikeouts for the day – a World Series record for rookies in and of itself.
ROOKIE MAKES WORLD SERIES HISTORY😤 Trey Yesavage on 12 strikeout performance vs. Dodgers in Game 5
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Trey Yesavage discussed his historic appearance against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 with Ken Rosenthal.
2001 Game 2: Randy Johnson, Diamondbacks, 11 K
Randy Johnson threw a complete-game shutout in Game 2 of the 2001 World Series against the Yankees, striking out 11 batters while allowing just 3 hits and 1 walk across nine innings. The game started with a strikeout looking that sent Chuck Knoblauch back to the bench, and the Big Unit sat Derek Jeter down by way of the K to end the frame. Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada were checked off the cycle list in the second, then Johnson struck out the side – Alfonso Soriano, Scott Brosius and opposing starting pitcher Andy Pettitte – in the third.
Shane Spencer would strike out in the fifth, followed by Soriano’s second of the day, then Brosius would go down looking in the eighth. Johnson picked up the one remaining strikeout he had to in the ninth, getting Randy Velarde to strike out swinging for the second out of the inning, and securing both his 11th strikeout and his pitcher cycle in the process.
1968 Game 1: Bob Gibson, Cardinals, 17 K
Bob Gibson not only achieved a pitcher’s cycle in Game 1 of the ’68 World Series against the Tigers, but the Cardinals ace also set a still-standing record for strikeouts in a World Series game with 17, surpassing the 15 that Sandy Koufax had managed just five years earlier, to the day. While also besting his own previous career-high of 13 from the 1964 World Series.
Gibson also threw a complete-game shutout, allowing 5 hits and walking a single batter in a dominant 4-0 Cardinals W. He struck out Dick McAuliffe to open the game, and Al Kaline to end the first inning. Norm Cash, Willie Horton and Jim Northrup all struck out in order in the second. Bill Freehan and opposing starter Denny McLain both struck out in the third, meaning Gibson had seven of the necessary nine strikeouts through just three innings.
He’d get Kaline again in the fourth, then Don Wert’s first of the day in the fifth. Mickey Stanley would strike out in the sixth, giving Gibson the pitcher’s cycle, but he’d keep going: Cash would strike out again to end the inning, Northrup and Freehan would pick up their second each in the seventh, then pinch-hitter Eddie Matthews struck out in the eighth just for good measure. Gibson would allow a leadoff single in the ninth inning, then he struck out Kaline to tie the record, Cash to break it, then Horton to extend it and end the game.
1921 Game 6: Jesse Barnes, Giants, 10 K
This is a weird one, because Barnes didn’t start Game 6 of the World Series: that job was Fred Toney’s, but he allowed three runs to the Yankees in the first inning and was lifted before he could escape it in favor of Barnes. All Barnes would do in relief is throw 8.1 innings with 10 strikeouts. He wasn’t nearly as dominant as the others on this list – he allowed 4 hits, 4 walks and 2 more runs – but he did enough to secure a Giants’ W after a disastrous first inning by Toney, while also twirling the first-ever pitcher’s cycle in the World Series.
Barnes struck out Wally Schang looking in the second inning for his first K of the day, then got Aaron Ward and Mike McNally swinging in the third. He would strike out the side in the fourth, taking down Bob Shawkey, Roger Peckinpaugh and Elmer Miller. Shawkey was actually in a similar situation to Barnes, in that he didn’t start but was in the game as a reliever after 1.1 innings from Harry Harper – the first time the pitcher’s spot in the lineup came up, Shawkey was in it.
Wally Pipp would strike out in the fifth, followed by Ward’s second – the only repeat strikeout offender of the day against Barnes. Chick Fewster would get checked off in the sixth, followed by Bob Meusel in the seventh, securing the pitcher’s cycle and Barnes final punch out of the day.
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