Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto stars in World Series Game 2 vs. Yankees

LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto continues to prove his worth in his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers signed the 26-year-old Japanese star pitcher to help the team return to the World Series. He made his World Series debut on Saturday provided a dominant performance in the 4-2 Dodgers win about the New York Yankees in game 2.

“It was made for those moments,” said Teoscar Hernández. “We rely on him. Earlier today I told him it was going to be a good evening for him, and he did. He gave us the opportunity to score some points. He put some zeros on the board and we won the game.”

Yamamoto allowed just one hit while striking out four and walking two in 6⅓ innings. He retired eleven batters in a row after giving up a homerun to Juan Soto in the top of the third inning.

“I thought we had a lot of good at-bats against him in the first couple of innings, which allowed him to play some longer at-bats,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Once he got a little bit of that lead, he kind of got into the rhythm and did a really good job attacking on the first attack. It was hard to be patient with him when he was on the attack and moving forward.”

Why did Yoshinobu Yamamoto no longer pitch in Game 2?

After facing Giancarlo Stanton, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts walked to the mound to take the ball from Yamamoto, who received a standing ovation from most of the 52,725 fans in attendance. Yamamoto threw 54 strikes on 86 pitches.

“I tried to focus on taking on one hitter at a time,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter. “I could throw the strike whenever I wanted.”

Saturday was one of Yamamoto’s longer MLB outings. He hadn’t pitched into the seventh inning since a regular-season game against the Yankees on the road in June. He allowed just two hits in that outing.

“There wasn’t a lot of stress in the game,” Roberts said of his mentality before using Yamamoto on Saturday. “He hasn’t been in the seventh inning since that Yankee game. I think he threw 76 pitches, so I felt like we had a good building block foundation.”

Roberts added that he wanted Yamamoto to pitch against Stanton to extend his usage to just one more batter before removing him from the game.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto contract

Yamamoto signed a 12-year deal worth $325 million as a free agent in December 2023.

When is Yoshinobu Yamamoto next pitching for Dodgers?

Yamamoto could be available to pitch in Games 6 or 7 of the World Series if needed.

Roberts told reporters in September that the plan was to rest Yamamoto for five days between starts and that they would not try to force him to take a shorter rest just because it was the postseason.