The Los Angeles Dodgers took the first game against the New York Yankees on Friday, winning in extra innings at Yankee Stadium.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his 13 start of the regular season, and his first against the Yankees. In the offseason, the Yankees were the other team heavily interested in signing the 25-year-old, but came up short to the Dodgers.
The series opener produced his top form as he gutted out seven shutout innings against a top Yankees offense. Yamamoto tallied seven strikeouts, keeping the Dodgers in striking distance.
Over his last seven games, Yamamoto has a 2.66 ERA, 1.07 WHIP with 46 strikeouts in 44 innings. Even with how good Yamamoto has been, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believes matching up with the Yankees pushed him even further, per Juan Toribio of MLB.com:
“Coming in here and watching Yoshinobu — his best outing as a Dodger,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “You could just see it. He felt it. He knew we needed it. And it brought out the best in him. I can’t say enough about his effort tonight.”
Yamamoto ramped up his velocity, adding a few ticks to his four-seam fastball on Friday. That seemed to shock hitters, as several Yankees bats were noticeably late on his heater.
The crowd also met the moment, seeming to live and die with each spot, like a genuine playoff atmosphere:
“I enjoyed the atmosphere. That was a great stadium,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “I did know this matchup was going to draw a lot of attention compared to the other series, but just like I’ve been saying, I was just trying to do what I’ve been doing in other games.”
The Dodgers and Yankees are two of the presumed favorites when projecting a postseason series following a deep playoff run. The atmosphere, tension, and big play moments heightened the stakes on Friday.
Roberts explained that Yamamoto rose to the occasion, and in his first taste of Major League Baseball, he’s doing everything necessary to show he’s adapting just fine:
“A guy like that, who is just such a great competitor, who has pitched in big ballgames his entire adult life, I knew he wasn’t gonna run from this moment,” Roberts said. “It was good to see it, though.”
Yamamoto’s pedigree from his time in Nippon Professional Baseball seemed to have set him up for a game like this, a great indicator of what is to come with the Dodgers.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Yamamoto fired a 97 mph fastball by Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, letting out a scream after inducing an inning-ending strikeout. The rookie’s 3.00 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 83 strikeouts are an incredible marker to this point.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto set up for postseason success
Yamamoto answering the call on Friday against the Yankees is music to the ears of those within the Dodgers organization. Having both he and Tyler Glasnow at the front of their rotation is a plus sign when analyzing their future success.
In a new era of Dodgers baseball void of having Hall of Fame candidate Clayton Kershaw, or right-hander Walker Buehler at the front of their rotation, they’ll need Yamamoto to be a huge anchor to the staff for many years.
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