Run support has been hard to come by for Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2025, but the Los Angeles Dodgers broke that trend with a 6-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox to open their final home stand before the All-Star break.
The Dodgers did most of their scoring in the first inning, which was also unusual to see after a month of June where they often found themselves trailing early in games.
Their rally began with two outs when Will Smith and Max Muncy worked walks. Teoscar Hernández then singled home the first run of the game and Andy Pages doubled home another run.
Michael Conforto then delivered with a two-run single to cap off the four-run first inning. Those runs proved to be all the Dodgers needed with Yamamoto on the mound.
Yamamoto ended his night pitching seven innings while allowing just one run on three hits. He added eight strikeouts and only walked one.
The lone run Yamamoto allowed came in the fourth inning when Andrew Benintendi singled and came around to score on a two-out double from Lenyn Sosa.
But that came after the Dodgers scored their fifth run in the third inning on a single from Pages to drive in Smith, who reached on a single. The Dodgers also added another run in the bottom of the fourth when Shohei Ohtani blasted his 30th home run of the season.
That marked Ohtani’s fifth consecutive season with at least 30 homers, joining Aaron Judge as the only players to accomplish that. However, a few others have a chance to join them this year.
Following Yamamoto, Jack Dreyer was given the eighth inning, and he pitched a scoreless frame despite walking a hitter. Anthony Banda then entered for the ninth inning, finishing the game out by striking out the side to secure the win.
Dodgers extending National League West lead
With the win, the Dodgers are now eight games ahead of the San Diego Padres for second in the National League West and nine games ahead of the San Francisco Giants for third.
The Dodgers also overtook the Detroit Tigers for the best record in MLB at 54-32 after entering the game in a tie for the top spot.
On June 10, the Dodgers were in a near-tie for the NL West with both the Giants and Padres with all three clubs within one game of each other.
At that point, the Dodgers were also four games behind the Tigers for the best record and trailed the New York Mets by three games for the best record in the NL.
Since that point, they have gone 14-4 to begin running away with the division.
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