Yoshinobu Yamamoto answered the bell for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they were mired in a four-game losing streak and seemingly still reeling from being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but his effort was not enough.
Yamamoto took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before Jackson Holliday helped the Baltimore Orioles avoid becoming a footnote in MLB and Dodgers history. Holliday broke up Yamamoto’s no-hitter with a solo home run with two outs, and wound up sparking an improbable comeback for the Orioles.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts immediately went out to the mound to remove Yamamoto after he lost the no-hitter. That decision wound up leading to his team’s downfall as Blake Treinen couldn’t throw strikes and Tanner Scott gave up a walk-off hit for the second night in a row.
Following the Dodgers’ deflating loss, Roberts explained he believed the team had already extended Yamamoto in the start and there wasn’t reason to believe the bullpen couldn’t protect a 3-1 lead with only one more out needed, via SportsNet LA
“I thought he deserved a chance to get a no-hitter. I felt the guys were feeling it for him, were pulling for him, and I wanted it bad for him. I did. Once he gave up that home run, and that was still a pretty good pitch, then you’ve given up the shutout, the no-hitter. For me, I felt that we pushed him far enough. So we’ve got to be able to get one out. We’ve just got to be able to get one out.”
Yamamoto was through seven no-hit innings on 95 pitches. To that point in the game the Orioles’ only baserunners were a pair of walks with nobody out in the third inning.
Yamamoto needed just nine pitches to retire the side in order in the eighth inning. That put Yamamoto at 104 pitches when he took the mound in the bottom of the ninth.
He threw four pitches to get two outs. But Yamamoto then fell behind in the count to 2-1 to Holliday, and his fourth pitch of the at-bat was sent over the wall in right field.
Yamamoto’s night ended at a career-high 112 pitches. His previous high was 110 pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 10, 2025.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s near no-hitter
Yamamoto fell just one out short from completing the 24th no-hitter in Dodgers franchise history. It would have been team’s first since Walker Buehler started in a combined no-hitter during the Mexico Series in 2018.
Yamamoto threw two no-hitters in Japan, once each in 2022 and 2023.
The only no-hitter ever thrown at Camden Yards remains by Hideo Nomo as a member of the Boston Red Sox in 2001.
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