by Cary Osborne
This was a version of Yoshinobu Yamamoto we had not seen this season.
Erratic, hittable, stressed.
But despite all that, and what might say something about what even a substandard version of Yamamoto looks like, he kept the Dodgers in the game.
The problem was the Dodger offense couldn’t topple Pittsburgh right-hander Paul Skenes.
Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages each had two hits against the reigning National League Rookie of the Year. The rest of the Dodger lineup was 1-for-19 against him.
The Dodgers dropped the opener of the homestand 3–0 on Friday at Dodger Stadium in what was billed as one of the premier starting pitching matchups of the season so far.
Yamamoto, though, was off track from his previous five starts.
Yamamoto entered the game with a 65% first-strike percentage. He earned a first strike on 11 of 24 batters (45.8%) on Friday. His four walks were a career high, and he reached that number in the third inning.
“Uncharacteristic,” said manager Dave Roberts. “Just command. I think that he was just missing with his fastball, the breaking ball he was just missing with. He was running deep counts. Pitch count got up, certainly in that first inning. He gave up a couple of two-out base hits for some runs, which is also uncharacteristic.”
He allowed a two-out, two-strike RBI single in the first inning to Pirates first baseman Emmanuel Valdez.
Yamamoto allowed the first two batters to reach in the second inning but got out clean.
The Dodgers trailed 1–0 heading into the fifth inning. Max Muncy’s error at third base allowed Pittsburgh catcher Henry Davis to reach to lead off the frame. He scored when the next batter Oneil Cruz singled. The Pirates added another run on a Ke’Bryan Hayes single.
Yamamoto left the game trailing 3–0. Only one of the runs was earned. His season ERA rose from 0.93 to 1.06.
https://medium.com/media/8855e56e8bc9d0b321bb0229f25b1144/href
“As the game moved on — in the second inning, third inning — I did start feeling like my stuff was getting better. However I couldn’t grind through,” Yamamoto said.
The Dodger offense had opportunities against Skenes — six at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Freeman led off the fourth inning with a double and took third base on an error by right fielder Bryan Reynolds. Freeman was left stranded, though, despite the Dodgers sending up the lethal trio of Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman and Will Smith.
Pages had a three-hit night.
He is 9 for his last 23 (.391) with four extra-base hits in his last seven games. He was 7-for-51 (.137) in his previous 16 games.
The Dodgers began the season 8–0. They’re now 16–10.
“Certain nights we just can’t put a complete ball game together,” Roberts said. “Starting pitching, the hitting, timely hitting, all that stuff just hasn’t been synced up. We’re not too far away. We’re gonna hit. And some guys are scuffling right now, but they’ll find their way.”
Premier pitching matchup goes in favor of Pittsburgh was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.