{"id":101318,"date":"2025-07-29T05:54:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T05:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/101318\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T05:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T05:54:12","slug":"yoshinobu-yamamoto-delivers-master-class-in-dodgers-win-over-reds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/101318\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers master class in Dodgers’ win over Reds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CINCINNATI\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a>\u2019s season can be divided into three distinct parts so far.<\/p>\n

The thrilling opening act, when the second-year Japanese star started the season with a 4-2 record and 0.90 earned-run average in his first seven starts.<\/p>\n

A shaky middle stanza, when the 26-year-old right-hander stumbled with a 2-4 mark and 4.43 ERA over his next eight outings from May 8 to June 19.<\/p>\n

And lately, what he and the Dodgers<\/a> hope will be a midseason revival, with Yamamoto rounding back into Cy Young-caliber form again with a 3-1 record and 1.71 ERA over his last six trips to the mound bump.<\/p>\n

In a 5-2 win<\/a> over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, Yamamoto delivered another master class for the Dodgers at Great American Ball Park, giving up just one run on four hits while striking out nine over seven superb innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was fantastic,\u201d manager Dave Roberts<\/a> said. \u201cIt seemed like he had all of his pitches working tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, it was Yamamoto once again at his best. Filling up the strike zone. Working ahead in counts. And getting almost nothing but empty swings and soft contact after allowing his lone run in the first.<\/p>\n

Yamamoto got 17 whiffs, gave up just two balls hit harder than 95 mph (MLB\u2019s threshold for \u201chard hit\u201d contact) and largely cruised against a Reds team battling for a National League wild-card spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy stuff today was really good,\u201d Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoshi has so many pitches,\u201d added catcher Dalton Rushing, \u201che can basically manipulate anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Yamamoto\u2019s only trouble came early, when the Reds (56-51) loaded the bases on two singles and a walk in the first before scoring on a ground ball from former Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux.<\/p>\n

After that, Rushing said he and Yamamoto made \u201ca couple pivots\u201d in their game plan, mixing in more sinkers and curveballs to go along with his primary fastball-splitter combination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to change lanes a little bit and kind of mix it up,\u201d Rushing said. \u201cOnce we found our groove, it was just easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the second inning on, only one other baserunner even reached scoring position in what was Yamamoto\u2019s fifth start this season of at least seven innings and no more than one run. At one point, he retired 10 hitters in a row, keeping the Reds quiet while the Dodgers broke open an early 1-1 tie with two runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cHe seemed like he got better as the game went on, which is a good sign,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cOverall, just outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monday was the start of what the Dodgers (62-45) envision as a week-long stretch of strong starting pitching.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Tyler Glasnow<\/a> will take the mound. On Wednesday, it will be Shohei Ohtani<\/a>, who was pushed back a few days in order to pitch ahead of an off day. And after Clayton Kershaw goes on Friday in a series opener in Tampa Bay, marquee offseason signing Blake Snell<\/a> will make his long-awaited return from a shoulder injury later in the weekend.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the kind of star power the Dodgers hope to have for the rest of the season, crossing their fingers that the star-studded group will stay healthy and intact through the campaign\u2019s final two months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel really good,\u201d Roberts said of the rotation. \u201cKind of trying to stabilize some things in the \u2018pen. But I think with the starters \u2026 [it\u2019s] encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, while Snell and Glasnow have missed significant time with injury, and Ohtani has been ever-methodically built up, it is Yamamoto who has helped carry the starting staff this season, improving to 9-7 on the year with a 2.48 ERA (third-best in the National League).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to see him get back, [compared to] when he was kind of middling for a bit there, to being the dominant pitcher that we know he can be,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Yamamoto got plenty of help from his offense.<\/p>\n

Mookie Betts led the game off with a double on his hardest-hit ball (103.8 mph) in almost a month, before scoring on Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>\u2019s RBI single. In the fifth, Ohtani put the Dodgers in front with a two-run double to center. In the seventh, Hern\u00e1ndez and Freddie Freeman<\/a> each singled home insurance runs.<\/p>\n

The scoring was nice for a Dodgers offense coming off two frustrating losses full of missed chances over this past weekend in Boston.<\/p>\n

But in the big picture, it\u2019s Yamamoto and the pitching staff that might be most important in the team\u2019s title defense \u2014 with Monday serving as another reminder of the firepower he, and they, possess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Yoshinobu Yamamoto\u2019s season can be divided into three distinct parts so far. The thrilling opening act, when the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":101319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[27043,1582,276,2442,20645,3688,4155,2961,224,5337,65908,9548,10596,10201,5950,4712,65909,22799,2030,20410],"class_list":{"0":"post-101318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-blake-snell","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-dodgers","12":"tag-era","13":"tag-inning","14":"tag-june","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-masterclass","19":"tag-monday","20":"tag-reds","21":"tag-run","22":"tag-season","23":"tag-shohei-ohtani","24":"tag-significant-time","25":"tag-start","26":"tag-win","27":"tag-yoshinobu-yamamoto"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114934976740815985","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}