by Cary Osborne
Blake Snell’s extraordinary National League Championship Series Game 1 start was a bar set so high, history would say that it would take years, maybe decades for another Dodger to reach.
It took a day.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a leadoff home run to Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio in the first inning of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
Three hours later, he recorded the final out in the first Dodger postseason complete game since 2004.
Yamamoto retired the final 12 batters he faced in Milwaukee on Tuesday, striking out Andrew Vaughn to end the game in the Dodgers’ 5–1 victory. The Dodgers now head back to Los Angeles with a 2–0 lead in the NLCS.
“I feel regret (about) that home run, but I reset my mind and then I just focused on executing my own pitches,” Yamamoto said.
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Yamamoto was otherworldly in his first Major League complete game and the Dodgers’ first complete game since Gavin Stone on June 26, 2024.
It was the first postseason complete game in the Major Leagues since Houston’s Justin Verlander in Game 2 of the 2017 American League Championship Series.
The Brewers didn’t have a runner in scoring position the entire game — the second game in a row that has happened after Snell allowed one hit over eight innings in the Dodgers’ 2–1, Game 1 win.
Yamamoto recorded 15 groundball outs — the highest by a Dodger pitcher this season. He struck out seven batters. He walked one and allowed three hits in the game.
The Brewers were 0-for-11 with three strikeouts against Yamamoto’s splitter.
Yamamoto threw 111 pitches — one shy of his Major League career high (Sept. 6).
This is the fourth time in Yamamoto’s seven Major League postseason starts in which he has allowed one earned run or fewer. This one comes after a struggle in Game 3 of the National League Division Series when he allowed three runs in four innings against the Phillies.
He rebounded with force. But his team knew he would after he established himself as an ace in his second Major League season.
“I think it’s the most comfortable I’ve seen him for sure,” said third baseman Max Muncy. “The more I’ve gotten to know him, the more I still think there’s more in there. And I think he thinks there’s more in there, too, which is really hard to say because he’s been incredible this year. He’s been our most reliable guy.”
Yamamoto got a boost from the Dodger offense. All nine Dodger starters in the lineup reached base in the game.
Teoscar Hernández countered Chourio’s solo homer with one of his own in the second inning. Andy Pages gave Yamamoto a lead with an RBI single later in the frame.
Muncy extended the lead by becoming the Dodgers’ all-time postseason home run leader in the sixth inning. His solo homer — his 14th in the postseason as a Dodger — put the Dodgers up 3–1.
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Los Angeles tacked on solo runs in the seventh and eighth innings with RBI singles from Shohei Ohtani and Tommy Edman, respectively.
By that time, Yamamoto was cruising.
His eight-pitch eighth inning set up the ninth.
Anthony Banda had been warming up in the eighth, Alex Vesia in the ninth.
They weren’t needed.
The Dodgers head to LA with a rested bullpen, a lead in the series and two of the greatest starts in Dodger postseason history as momentum.
“Our guys are hungry,” said manager Dave Roberts. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. We put ourselves in a good position. But those guys, they’re not going to quit. They’re going to keep playing hard. And we know that. And we’ve got to play our best baseball.”
2025 NLCS: Yamamoto can play that game, too was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.