Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his long-awaited return to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday and turned in a fantastic outing against the Chicago Cubs.
The right-hander allowed just one run on four hits and collected eight strikeouts in his first Major League start since June 15. He struck out the side in the first and third innings and also faced the minimum in the fourth.
Yamamoto’s only trouble came in the second when he gave up three singles, including one that should’ve been called an error on Freddie Freeman.
All-in-all, Yamamoto was pleased with his performance against the Cubs, via Juan Toribio of MLB.com:
“Today’s outing turned out much better than I expected,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “It’s more about relief today. I got to come back and finish what I need to do. I think I’m going to take it one game at a time.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was also satisfied with Yamamoto’s start, highlighting his excellent command of his pitches:
“Very impressive,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “We’ll take this every start going forward. Fastball command, both sides of the plate. Hits the low dart, the split down below. Stealing a strike with the breaking ball. It was just really efficient. Yeah, it was really good.”
Austin Barnes, who caught Yamamoto on Tuesday, believes the rookie looked as good as he has all season:
“Everything looked good — his fastball, his curveball, split. It was pretty surprising,” said Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes. “I didn’t know how he was going to look coming back, but he looked better than ever.”
Given that he was sidelined for nearly three months and had a shaky rehab assignment, the Dodgers have to be very encouraged with Yamamoto’s outing against the Cubs.
The 26-year-old generated 11 swings and misses on 59 pitches and showed the same flashes of dominance that he displayed before his injury.
With the regular season winding down, Yamamoto will likely have three more starts to continue building up for the playoffs.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 2024 season
After taking a no-decision against the Cubs, Yamamoto remains with a 6-2 record this season but lowered his ERA to 2.88, FIP to 2.51 and WHIP to 1.06 in 78 innings pitched across 15 starts.
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