{"id":207426,"date":"2025-09-07T11:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/207426\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T11:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T11:00:09","slug":"orioles-jackson-holliday-hr-spoils-dodgers-yoshinobu-yamamoto-no-hitter-with-2-outs-in-bottom-of-ninth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/207426\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles\u2019 Jackson Holliday HR spoils Dodgers\u2019 Yoshinobu Yamamoto no-hitter with 2 outs in bottom of ninth"},"content":{"rendered":"

BALTIMORE \u2014 One out away from history, the Los Angeles Dodgers found a new low. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was putting the finishing touches on a historic masterpiece, getting to two outs in the ninth inning without allowing a hit before Jackson Holliday lofted a cutter that sneaked over the right-field fence.<\/p>\n

Then the Dodgers hit rock bottom, again, where the losses are cruel and the collapses are mind-boggling. Yamamoto would record the final out by a Dodgers pitcher all night as the Baltimore Orioles sprung a late two-out rally against relievers Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott, who combined to cough up the team\u2019s fifth loss in a row. A 4-3 loss ended on Emmanuel Rivera\u2019s walk-off single, extinguishing whatever momentum the sliding defending champions hoped to muster.<\/p>\n

From a no-hitter to no win at all in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s really hard to swallow,\u201d Yamamoto said after the game through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda.<\/p>\n

\n

NO-HITTER NO MORE<\/p>\n

Jackson Holliday homers with two outs in the 9th to end Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s no-hitter \ud83e\udd2f pic.twitter.com\/P0UPJYYYjV<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MLB (@MLB) September 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just when the Dodgers can\u2019t seem to slide any further, they find a way to best themselves.<\/p>\n

Treinen failed to put away Jeremiah Jackson, leaving a full-count sinker the outfielder pounded for a two-out double to start the meltdown. Then Treinen got Gunnar Henderson into a 1-2 count before hitting him in the foot with a sweeper. Consecutive walks and a wild pitch forced manager Dave Roberts to hand the ball to struggling closer Scott, who left a fastball over the plate that Rivera smacked into center field to bring home the tying and winning runs.<\/p>\n

It was the most baffling calamity yet during a streak that has come solely against teams in last place and as the team has lost seven of its last eight against teams with losing records.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to recount a game like this,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe just couldn\u2019t get that last out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to get one flipping out, and I didn\u2019t do it,\u201d Treinen said.<\/p>\n

\n

PLAY ORIOLES MAGIC RIGHT NOW pic.twitter.com\/xpdsPtLztG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yamamoto touched history before he ever even threw a pitch in the major leagues. The weight of Major League Baseball\u2019s richest contract ever for a pitcher has clung to his slight frame like an anchor ever since, even as the man thrice named Japan\u2019s best pitcher displayed his dominance for a team that would win a World Series in his first season there.<\/p>\n

History called again Saturday night. Yamamoto, the $325 million man, allowed no hits through 26 outs against the Orioles before Holliday hit Yamamoto\u2019s 112th pitch into the seats.<\/p>\n

Rain delayed Yamamoto\u2019s first pitch. He loosened up as a sold-out Oriole Park at Camden Yards crowd honored the 30th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr.\u2019s setting the all-time mark for consecutive games played before attempting to etch history of his own.<\/p>\n

Yamamoto threw two no-hitters while dominating the sport in his native Japan. In his 45th start in the major leagues, he sought to become just the third Japanese-born pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter. The two before him, Hideo Nomo and Hisashi Iwakuma, also completed their no-hitters against the Orioles.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see why the Dodgers gave him the contract they gave him after never pitching in Major League Baseball,\u201d Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said. \u201cHe was electric tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been just 24 no-hitters in Dodgers franchise history, and none since Walker Buehler started a combined effort in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2018. Yamamoto\u2019s achievement would have extended a streak of at least one no-hitter thrown in every MLB season since 2005.<\/p>\n

Yamamoto delivered while trying something new. Ben Rortvedt has been on the active roster for all of three days and in the organization for a little more than a month when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wrote his name in the lineup for a start Saturday. Starting catcher Will Smith sat on the bench, unavailable because of a badly bruised right hand that precipitated Rortvedt\u2019s call-up. Backup catcher Dalton Rushing spent Saturday morning at a doctor\u2019s office, diagnosed with a bone bruise in his right shin after fouling a ball off his leg in Friday night\u2019s Dodgers loss. That left Rortvedt to catch Yamamoto for the first time, sitting alongside the right-hander as they tried for history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I was just so focused on trying to be on the same page with him that I kind of got lost in it,\u201d said Rortvedt, who didn\u2019t realize what Yamamoto was doing until the fifth.<\/p>\n

Yamamoto, who typically delegates to his catchers, appeared to be wearing a PitchCom device on his belt to call some of his own pitches.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely bounced things back and forth when he felt something,\u201d Rortvedt said. \u201cI wanted him to have conviction with his pitches, and he definitely had that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday saw Yamamoto at his dominant best. His fastball velocity was up more than a mile per hour from his season norms. His splitter was lethal, inducing swings-and-misses at will. His curveball slowed hitters down. His cutter generated soft contact.<\/p>\n

Only a brief bout of wildness kept him from perfection through the early part of the bid, as he issued consecutive walks to start the third inning. Neither runner scored, as Yamamoto got Coby Mayo to wave at a curveball and induced an inning-ending double play one pitch later to emerge unscathed.<\/p>\n

A quick eighth gave Yamamoto leeway to pitch the ninth, entering the final frame at 104 pitches and a chance at a galvanizing moment. Yamamoto quickly struck out Alex Jackson on a splitter and got Mayo to fly out right before Holliday stepped up to the plate. Yamamoto and Rortvedt discussed the early part of their pitch sequence to Holliday, peppering him on the outer half of the plate with fastballs to set up something in. Yamamoto went to his belt and called for a cutter inside. Holliday got enough of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a good pitch,\u201d Rortvedt said. \u201cHe had conviction in it, and I think he hit his spot, too. He didn\u2019t get all of it, but he got enough to poke it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe location wasn\u2019t bad,\u201d Yamamoto said. \u201cHis swing, he just put a good swing on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

So went the no-hitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all that was on my mind, honestly,\u201d Holliday said. \u201cGoing into the eighth inning, that\u2019s what I was thinking about, \u2018Oh, man, it\u2019s going to come down to me.\u2019 So I was definitely thinking about it and kind of nervous because it\u2019s kind of a big thing. It was fun being able to break it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yamamoto\u2019s efforts still should have powered a win, exiting with a 3-1 lead and one out left to get.<\/p>\n

A Dodgers offense that slumped enough for Roberts to take the rare step of addressing the team as a collective Saturday afternoon managed to scratch across three runs. It wasn\u2019t enough, not with how things have gone for the Dodgers as of late.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gotta be able to get one out,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe just got to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That fueled Roberts\u2019 thinking as he saw his most trusted reliever lose command of the strike zone in a disastrous ninth. He got Scott up to warm up for the left-handed-hitting Colton Cowser but left his faith in Treinen until the reliever gave him no choice. The latest spin on the bullpen roulette wheel landed on Scott, who a night earlier surrendered a walk-off home run to Orioles rookie Samuel Basallo. Scott\u2019s fastball was shin-high to Rivera but caught too much plate. Rivera sent Jorge Mateo scurrying home for the winning run, and a scene no one anticipated, not even 20 minutes earlier.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how a night that should have ended in a celebration and a toast instead ended in another quiet clubhouse and a shell-shocked group.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s really no words,\u201d Treinen said. \u201cYou\u2019re paid to be a professional and at least throw strikes, and I didn\u2019t do that. Cost one of the better outings I\u2019ve ever seen in my career with Yama. He deserves better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Photo of Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Jess Rapfogel \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n