LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers have desperately wanted some excellent news concerning their depleted beginning rotation. Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s return got here on the excellent time.
Yamamoto took the hill Tuesday after lacking practically three months with a proper shoulder harm. The Japanese right-hander delivered one other spectacular efficiency, putting out eight and permitting one run on 4 hits over 4 dominant innings within the Dodgers’ 6-3 loss to the Cubs at Dodger Stadium.
“Very spectacular,” stated Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts. “We’ll take this each begin going ahead. Fastball command, either side of the plate. Hits the low dart, the cut up down beneath. Stealing a strike with the breaking ball. It was simply actually environment friendly. Yeah, it was actually good.”
Given how lengthy Yamamoto was sidelined, coupled with two shaky rehab outings with Triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis, the Dodgers got here into Tuesday’s begin not understanding precisely what they have been going to get out of the 26-year-old.
Proper from the beginning, nevertheless, it was evident they have been getting precisely the participant the Dodgers made the highest-paid pitcher in historical past with a 12-year deal final winter. Yamamoto wanted simply 15 pitches to strike out the aspect within the first inning. He was sitting 98 mph along with his four-seam fastball and the splitter-curveball mixture had the Cubs’ hitters utterly off-balance.
“All the things regarded good — his fastball, his curveball, cut up. It was fairly shocking,” stated Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes. “I didn’t know the way he was going to look coming again, however he regarded higher than ever.”
Within the second, Yamamoto allowed three hits, although one may’ve been referred to as an error on Freddie Freeman, as a tough hop close to first base bounced away from Freeman in what turned out to be an RBI single for Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Yamamoto was in a position to bounce again straight away, putting out the highest of the Cubs’ order for a second time within the third inning. The proper-hander, who was solely scheduled to throw three innings on Tuesday, went again out for the fourth and obtained an inning-ending double play from Michael Busch to finish his outing.
“It was good to see Yoshi again,” stated third baseman Max Muncy. “We’ve been lacking him, so it was good to see him come again. His stuff regarded actually sharp. His velo was there, the execution was there, in order that was good to see. … That’s going to be actually big for us down the stretch.”
In simply 59 pitches, Yamamoto was in a position to get 11 swings-and-misses. Six of these got here on a splitter that had an uptick of 1.7 mph above his season common. Yamamoto additionally obtained three swings-and-misses on the curveball and two on the four-seamer.
Yamamoto solely threw his slider one time on Tuesday. He threw it a season-high 13 instances in his final begin in opposition to the Yankees earlier than touchdown on the injured checklist.
“At the moment’s outing turned out significantly better than I anticipated,” Yamamoto stated by means of interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “It’s extra about reduction at present. I obtained to come back again and end what I must do. I feel I’m going to take it one sport at a time.”
No matter how Yamamoto makes use of his pitch combine shifting ahead, he delivered some much-needed reduction for the Dodgers on Tuesday. Beginning pitching depth is what in the end doomed Los Angeles within the postseason in 2023, and accidents have begun to take a major toll on the staff with simply three weeks remaining earlier than the tip of the common season.
With Yamamoto again within the rotation and delivering this time of manufacturing, the Dodgers will really feel significantly better about the place their beginning employees is heading into the stretch run.
“I really feel significantly better concerning the rotation tonight than I did 24 hours in the past,” Roberts stated.
Sadly for Yamamoto and the Dodgers, disastrous protection within the eighth in the end led to a tricky loss for Los Angeles. With a two-run lead, Barnes threw one large of Freddie Freeman at first base on a straightforward tapper in entrance of the plate. On the subsequent play, after Seiya Suzuki hit an RBI single, Tommy Edman was credited with a throwing error that was additionally aided by some miscommunication within the infield by Miguel Rojas and Muncy.
Three batters later, it didn’t get significantly better for the Dodgers. Kiké Hernández tried to use a tag as Cody Bellinger ran to second base. The ball, nevertheless, got here out of Hernández’s glove, as an alternative recording no outs on the play for the third error of the inning. In the long run, the Dodgers allowed 5 runs within the body, and couldn’t mount a comeback as they misplaced their second straight to visiting Chicago.
“This one’s on me,” Barnes stated. “I’ve obtained to make that play. It modifications the entire inning. Runner at first or first and second is lots totally different pitching. Simply the entire inning obtained screwed up.”
