LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto was successfully able to put his rocky MLB debut in the rearview mirror In his Dodger Stadium debut. Just about the only thing that didn’t go his way on Saturday night was the weather.
The Dodgers remained confident in Yamamoto after he allowed five runs in just one inning in his first start, on March 21 in Seoul, South Korea. That the bad outing happened nine days prior, leaving more time for Yamamoto’s 45.00 ERA to linger, didn’t help with at least the public perception. But it also gave Yamamoto time to work on his delivery.
As much of a dud that start was, it didn’t negate the myriad reasons why the Dodgers signed the 25-year-old right-hander to the longest and most lucrative contract for a pitcher in baseball history.
“The main thing I’ve seen with Yamamoto is just, the mindset, the mind frame has never wavered,” manager Dave Roberts said before Saturday’s game. “There’s still a lot of confidence there, and trying to figure some things out in his delivery, which since Korea I think we’ve cleaned some things up. I really feel like we’ll see a lot better command tonight.”
That better command showed up right away, with Yamamoto striking out the side in his first inning at Dodger Stadium. He caught Brendan Donovan looking at a curveball, then finished off Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Gorman on splitters.
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Yamamoto retired 12 of his first 13 batters faced and was cruising. But before he could warm up for the fifth inning, rain came, which halted the game for 35 minutes.
The game was scoreless at that point, but Yamamoto was able to pitch a scoreless fifth, working around a two-out double by Alec Burleson. Roberts said had the rain delay lasted a few minutes longer, Yamamoto likely wouldn’t have returned for the fifth inning.
“If we didn’t have that stoppage for 45 minutes or whatever it was, he could have gone six or seven innings tonight,” Roberts said.
In all, Yamamoto threw 45 of his 68 pitches for strikes, and allowed only two hits in his five innings.
“He did an amazing job bouncing back, not letting the first one affect him. Even the day of that first start, you couldn’t really tell what went on,” said Mookie Betts, who reached base five times and homered in his fourth straight game. “It’s really neat to see to see someone with a lot of pressure and whatnot handle that so well.”
Dodgers starting pitchers in this series against the Cardinals — Tyler Glasnow, Bobby Miller, and Yamamoto — have allowed one run on six hits in 17 innings in the first three games, with 21 strikeouts against only two walks.
“You lose a ballgame, it never feels good. But the main takeaway for us is Yoshinobu had a tremendous night, and that was the most positive thing for all of us,” Roberts said, “I don’t want to make too much of his second start, but I just really believe that this is a sign of more things to come.”
