\n<\/p>\n
Getting animated is nothing new for Vesia. The Los Angeles Dodgers reliever is a human embodiment of a can of Red Bull, after all. But being back in Toronto was different this time.<\/p>\n
This was a rematch of a World Series he never got to pitch in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, the past two days have been hard,\u201d Vesia said.<\/p>\n
He felt it every time he looked just above the visiting dugout at the Rogers Centre to the family section where his wife, Kayla, watched him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely was looking at her, especially after the outing,\u201d he said. \u201cBut honestly, during it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was important that Kayla was on this trip. This remains a process for the couple after the death of their newborn daughter, Sterling Sol Vesia, on So maybe there was a little more to Tuesday night, when Vesia took the mound here for the first time since that day and extinguished the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 best offensive threat in the seventh inning of a 4-1 win. He did so while wearing a glove that had Sterling Sol\u2019s name and birthday stitched into it, a continued reminder.<\/p>\n As he completed his night\u2019s work, he kept his eyes on Kayla.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was awesome,\u201d Vesia said. \u201cThe adrenaline, the crowd, I feed off that.\u201d<\/p>\n The Dodgers missed Vesia in October, as they and the Blue Jays wore his No. 51 on the side of their caps<\/a> during the World Series to acknowledge what he was going through.<\/p>\n They need Vesia now, as their bullpen has gotten off to a strong start to the season.<\/p>\n Vesia inherited a mess. Yoshinobu Yamamoto\u2019s solid performance stalled in the seventh inning. A leadoff double by Kazuma Okamoto and a bunt single from Ernie Clement put runners on the corners and nobody out in a 3-1 game. That\u2019s when Vesia came in. It\u2019s a predicament Vesia immediately made worse with a leadoff walk to pinch hitter Davis Schneider to load the bases.<\/p>\n For the first time in this series, the Rogers Centre crowd rose to a roar.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the thing is, what\u2019s great about Alex is, there\u2019s just no panic,\u201d manager Dave Roberts said.<\/p>\n The bullpen\u2019s progress has made things easier on Roberts. It also freed him up to use Vesia in the game\u2019s hottest spots, like this one. Granted, it is April 7 and not last November, but this clearly meant something to Vesia. One inning showed that.<\/p>\n The left-hander has carved out a living in the majors with a fastball that moves more than anyone else\u2019s despite lacking high-end velocity. It\u2019s made him one of the most effective relievers in the sport since he arrived in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \u201cI know where to go and my strengths,\u201d Vesia said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t happen overnight. This is a long process that started back in \u201921 when I first got here. I believe in it more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Vesia averaged 91.4 mph on his fastball during his four previous appearances this season. Tuesday, it was 92 mph. The heaters zoomed out of his hand. Two of his 12 fastballs generated at least 26 inches of induced vertical break, something no pitcher had accomplished in a major-league game since the Baltimore Orioles\u2019 F\u00e9lix Bautista did it in 2023.<\/p>\n That special fastball dug him out of Tuesday night\u2019s jam. Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez chased after one above the zone, lifting a shallow fly ball that Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez could corral without allowing a run to score. Brandon Valenzuela went after a high fastball of his own, waving at a pitch above the zone for a strikeout.<\/p>\n Roberts had right-hander Blake Treinen ready to take on Blue Jays slugger George Springer, an escape hatch should things go awry.<\/p>\n Instead, he hung with Vesia. When the left-hander is at his best, he\u2019s been capable of dominating regardless of the opposing hitter\u2019s handedness.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s pitched in a lot of those pressure situations,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd when he needs to make a pitch, he does that.\u201d<\/p>\n Springer saw nothing but fastballs until Vesia got him to lift one high in the air for a flyout to escape danger. Treinen and new closer Edwin D\u00edaz recorded the final six outs after him to secure the win.<\/p>\n Vesia smiled afterward, poking fun at how difficult he\u2019d made things for himself. He put up a zero regardless. He\u2019ll gladly take how it went.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely carry (confidence) kind of on my sleeve or on the chest or however you want to explain it,\u201d Vesia said. \u201cBut tonight was a great confidence boost and just gotta keep going.\u201d\n<\/p><\/div>\n TORONTO \u2014 When his inning was complete Tuesday night, Alex Vesia leaped off the mound as he always does. He hopped so far, he practically long-jumped his way back to the dugout. Getting animated is nothing new for Vesia. The Los Angeles Dodgers reliever is a human embodiment of a can of Red Bull, after … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dodgers-Alex-Vesia-gets-his-emotional-moment-during-World-Series.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26948,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26946\/revisions\/26948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Oct. 26, in the middle of the World Series. When Vesia spoke about it this spring<\/a>, he called watching the series from home \u201ca light in our darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n
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