ARLINGTON, Texas — Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been paid like an ace since he set foot on U.S. soil. Now he’s also pitching like one.
Yamamoto pitched seven scoreless innings, outdueling two-time Cy Young Award winner and re-animated ace Jacob deGrom as the Dodgers beat the Texas Rangers, 3-0, on Friday night at Globe Life Field.
Doing his best Shohei Ohtani impersonation, Tommy Edman provided the only run of the first eight innings when he hit deGrom’s second pitch of the game into the seats for a solo home run.
The home run was Edman’s seventh of the season in just 21 games. He has never hit more than 13 in a season but is tied with Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber for the National League lead at this point.
That high fastball was deGrom’s only mistake in seven innings. He struck out seven and allowed just two other hits.
Yamamoto didn’t make any that came back to haunt him. He struck out five of the first seven Rangers batters and eight through the first five innings, allowing four hits along the way (only one with less than two outs in the inning).
Yamamoto baffled the Rangers with his full pitch mix. They swung-and-missed 10 times in his first 36 pitches and 20 times in his seven innings – seven of 17 swings at his splitter and six of 14 at his curveball. He threw eight sliders in the game. The Rangers swung at five, missed three times.
Yamamoto finished with an MLB career-high 10 strikeouts for the second time this season.
Friday’s start against the Rangers was not a leap forward for Yamamoto. He has been pitching at this level all season.
In 29 innings over his first five starts of the year, Yamamoto has allowed just three earned runs. Opposing hitters are batting .178 (18 for 101) with 38 strikeouts.
The Rangers stressed him just once. Marcus Semien singled with two outs in the third inning and went to third base on a double to left by Corey Seager. Yamamoto got Joc Pederson to bounce out harmlessly to first base.
DeGrom was even less challenged by the Dodgers after Edman’s home run. He retired 15 of the next 17 batters, pausing only to allow a two-out single to Max Muncy in the second inning and walk Mookie Betts with two outs in the third.
Edman led off the sixth with a single but was caught stealing. When deGrom retired the next five Dodgers in order, he had completed seven innings for the first time since April 11, 2023 and only the second time in 13 starts as a Ranger spread out over three injury-challenged seasons.
After walking the 1-0 tightrope all game, the Dodgers were finally able to break through for some insurance against the Rangers’ bullpen – sparked by Edman.
Edman chopped a ground ball toward the hole at shortstop. Seager played it on the run but his throw was late and got away from first baseman Jake Burger. Edman alertly hustled to second base while Burger retrieved the ball.
Betts moved Edman to third with a ground out to the right side. After the Rangers intentionally walked Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez lined a two-strike single to right to drive in Edman. Another walk loaded the bases for Will Smith. After fouling off four straight 0-and-2 pitches, Smith drove in another run with a sacrifice fly.
Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott closed out the shutout with a scoreless inning each.
More to come on this story.