WASHINGTON — Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto was in trouble just once during his start Thursday.
That was in the fifth inning when he got his glove up just in time to grab the 104.8 mph line drive off of Eddie Rosario’s bat that was headed for his face.
Other than that, Yamamoto was unruffled, turning in six scoreless innings, besting lefty MacKenzie Gore in a pitchers’ duel and beating the Washington Nationals, 2-1, to complete a three-game sweep of the Nats.
The start was Yamamoto’s third scoreless effort but the first of those three to go past five innings. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out seven.
First impressions are lasting and Yamamoto’s disastrous one-inning debut in South Korea left a mark. In five starts since then, though, the rookie right-hander has a 2.00 ERA with 20 hits and 35 strikeouts over 27 innings.
He didn’t give up a hit until the third inning Thursday then stranded Jacob Young after that one-out double. Joey Meneses led off the fourth with a double but went no farther either.
After Rosario tested Yamamoto’s reflexes, the right-hander could be seen smiling and laughing as a Dodgers trainer checked him out. To back that up, he struck out the next four batters. After a pair of two-out singles in the sixth, Yamamoto induced a ground out to end his day.
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Command has been an issue at times for Yamamoto. But 70 of his 97 pitches Thursday were strikes – aided occasionally by home-plate umpire Brian Walsh’s generous strike zone. Five of Yamamoto’s seven strikeouts ended with called third strikes.
The Dodgers were more offensive, getting eight hits and two walks in the first seven innings. But the only payoff came on Teoscar Hernandez’s solo home run in the second inning. They went 0 for their first 7 with runners in scoring position – three of those at-bats by Shohei Ohtani, whose 22-game on-base streak ended – and hit into two double plays to tamp down the offense.
They finally added some much-needed cushion in the eighth inning when Mookie Betts walked, stole second and scored when Freddie Freeman dumped a 69.1 mph double down the left-field line.
The Nationals made it a one-run game again with Meneses’ RBI single off Daniel Hudson in the eighth. But Evan Phillips retired the side in the ninth to close it out.
More to come on this story.
How did Yoshinobu Yamamoto make this play?!? pic.twitter.com/hAYXw3pc83
— MLB (@MLB) April 25, 2024
Watch it fly, Teo. #LetsGoDodgers pic.twitter.com/Q4o5bJdGpn
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 25, 2024
Freddie Freeman with some insurance in the eighth. pic.twitter.com/RD6Bnoj51c
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 25, 2024