The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped their series finale to the New York Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball as Yoshinobu Yamamoto turned in his worst start of the season.
The right-hander logged just 3.2 innings and allowed four runs on seven hits with two strikeouts against three walks. Yamamoto struggled with his command out of the gate and did not look like his usual dominant self on the mound.
“Since the beginning of the game, I was not able to control my pitches, and then during the game, I was trying to make adjustments, but I was not able to do that,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda after the Dodgers’ 7-3 loss.
Yamamoto added that he did not have a good feel for his pitches and felt out of rhythm all game long. “Today it was not only the splitter, but my fastball and curveball. Overall, my command wasn’t there,” Yamamoto said.
“My condition was good. It was not bothering me at all, and I was able to get into the game without any issues, so good.”
Yamamoto’s rough start comes on the heels of an outing against the Cleveland Guardians in which he experienced some hip trouble after making a play at first base.
However, the 26-year-old noted his hip wasn’t a factor in struggling against against the Yankees.
“My condition was good. It was not bothering me at all, and I was able to get into the game without any issues, so good,” he said.
Dave Roberts critiques Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts knew Yamamoto didn’t have his best stuff from the start and hopes he can bounce back in his next outing.
“He wasn’t great today. I think he just was out of sync from the get go,” Roberts began. “I don’t know. It was just certainly the command wasn’t there with any of his pitches. So just really uncharacteristic. That first inning certainly got the pitch count up and right around the 90-pitch mark in four innings, there’s just not much benefit in continuing to push him right there where he certainly didn’t feel good today.
“So you just got to kind of wash this one. And you know, fortunately, we stayed away from some leverage guys, and we just didn’t have any answer for Yarborough tonight.”
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