The Los Angeles Dodgers started the final leg of their road trip with a 5-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in their first head-to-head meeting of the year.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto started on five days of rest for the first time this season, and whether to blame or not, wasn’t overly sharp in the outing. Last season, Yamamoto made 11 of his 18 starts on five days of rest. His other seven outings came with six days’ rest.
Yamamoto was moved off his schedule of starting on Fridays due to the Dodgers hitting the home stretch of playing 10 games in a row without an off day. It’s put a strain on their pitching staff that has caused concern for manager Dave Roberts as he looks to balance workloads.
Yamamoto pitched through early traffic to keep the game scoreless but was hurt by soft contact and lack of command in the bottom of the fourth. A leadoff walk was followed by an infield single, then a hit batter that loaded the bases.
Gabriel Moreno took advantage of the opportunity by driving a grand slam to the opposite field. It marked the first time in Yamamoto’s MLB career he surrendered a grand slam.
Yamamoto’s woes continued in the fifth inning as Ketel Marte lined a solo homer off the wall in right field. Yamamoto has given up multiple home runs in a start four times in his career, with two now coming in 2025.
Thursday’s start was also Yamamoto’s first this season of allowing more than two earned runs. The five runs tied a career high.
Dodgers miss opportunities
The Dodgers made plenty of hard contact against Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt, but had nothing to show for it. He pitched 6.1 scoreless innings despite allowing four hits and issuing three walks.
One of those was a single by Freddie Freeman in the sixth inning, which extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
Max Muncy’s ground-rule RBI double in the eighth inning helped the Dodgers avoid their third shutout loss of the season and nearly sparked a rally. Andy Pages hit an RBI single, only for Michael Conforto to follow that by grounding into a double play.
Shohei Ohtani added a solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning.
The Dodgers’ two shutout losses this year both came at Dodger Stadium, against the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates, respectively. The Dodgers haven’t been shut out on the road since July 26, 2024.
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