The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Atlanta Braves, 9-0, in a game that started as a pitcher’s duel but turned into a blowout in almost the blink of an eye.
Yamamoto dealt with traffic throughout his night and was limited to just four innings pitched as he continues to build up his arm, but the right-hander also kept the Braves off the board despite all the traffic.
The Braves put the leadoff runner on base each of the first four innings, starting with a leadoff walk in the first. After Michael Harris II was given the free pass, he advanced to third on a stolen base and wild throw from Will Smith.
Yamamoto also walked Matt Olson, but he stranded both runners on base, getting out of the inning with a strikeout and two ground outs.
In the second, Sean Murphy doubled but another pair of groundouts and a strikeout kept the Braves off the board.
They had their best chance of scoring in the third inning when Harris singled and Jorge Soler followed with a double, but a great relay from Tommy Edman to Kiké Hernández to Will Smith threw out Harris at home. They also went on to leave Soler at second.
In the final inning, the Braves had another fantastic chance to score with a leadoff triple from Ramon Laureano, but a strikeout, groundout and line out kept them off the board.
That finished Yamamoto’s night with four innings pitched, allowing no runs on four hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Atlanta went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position against Yamamoto and left five runners on base.
The Dodgers did not pick up their first hit against Fried until the fifth inning, but they scored a run prior to that thanks to the hustle and heads up play from Miguel Rojas.
The veteran shortstop opened the third with a walk, advanced to second on a groundout, stole second base and scored on a wild pitch.
Tommy Edman had their first hit, a double to start off the fifth. He came around to score when Rojas was jammed but blooped a single into right field while falling at the plate.
Max Muncy was then hit by a pitch to put runners in scoring position, and after Rojas advanced to third on a fly out, Shohei Ohtani drove him in by grounding into a force out, giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.
The Dodgers took that lead into the seventh inning when they blew the game open with a six-run frame after the Braves went to the bullpen.
With one out, Rojas, Muncy and Gavin Lux drew walks to load the bases before Ohtani drove in a run on a ground ball where the Braves were unable to stop the lead runner from scoring, which left the bases loaded as well.
Betts then hit a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-0 game and Teoscar Hernández singled to make it 6-0. With two on, Freddie Freeman blasted a three-run homer to make it a 9-0 game.
In total, the Dodgers had just four hits in the game, marking the second time since 1906 that the Dodgers have scored nine or more runs on four hits. Coincidentally, the other time was also in Atlanta on June 4, 2021.
The Dodgers are now 2-0 since manager Dave Roberts reassured the team of his trust in them and their ability.
Dodgers bullpen eats innings and closes out win
Following Yamamoto, the Dodgers used four relievers to get through the game, starting with Evan Phillips in the fifth, who pitched a perfect frame and bounced back from his last outing where he allowed five runs.
Blake Treinen worked a perfect and Daniel Hudson pitched a scoreless seventh, despite walking a batter.
Brent Honeywell pitched the final two innings, needing just six pitches in the eighth and keeping the Braves off the board in the ninth.
With the shutout, it was the Dodgers 13th of the season.
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