How Did Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto Feel During His First Season in Los Angeles?

Los Angeles Dodgers He already had the best record in baseball before taking the field Saturday in Denver.

But they needed one last strong performance from Yoshinobu Yamamoto as they prepared for the postseason. Yamamoto delivered and helped the Dodgers to a commanding 13-2 victory with five solid innings on the mound.

“Great tuning for Yoshinobu” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game: “I thought the fastball was really good. There was life. I thought the pitch was really good. There were some near misses. The separation got better as the game went on. The curveball was good.”

Although the Dodgers were not playing for the seeding or standings, the focus was on Yamamoto regaining his form in his fourth start. Since I came back from the injured list. The rookie right-hander allowed two runs over five innings, marking the first time he reached that distance since being activated.

“I feel fine,” Roberts added.. “I think Yoshi’s pitch count was good. It was great to get him through the fifth inning. There’s definitely going to be a lot more adrenaline when the postseason starts. But then he’ll have time to heal. So I think he’s in a good spot accumulation-wise.”

Yamamoto, who had been feeling under the weather earlier in the week, got off to a bit of a shaky start, giving up a home run to Ezequiel Tovar in the third inning. But after that, he found his rhythm, using his mix of pitches — a four-seam fastball, curveball and splitter — to strike out six batters over his five innings of work.

“It wasn’t a perfect season for me due to my injury because I was away from the team,” he said. Yamamoto confessed through his translator Yoshihiro Sonoda. “But I learned a lot, experienced great things, and my teammates helped pick up the wins to get us into October. I really appreciate that and will do my best to contribute.”

Yamamoto finished his rookie season with an impressive 3.00 ERA despite a midseason shoulder injury that sidelined him for part of the year. With the offseason on the horizon, he will look to improve on his last outing as he is expected to throw five or six innings in Game 2 or 3 of the NL Division Series.

He will face the Padres, who have secured a Wild Card spot, or one of the D-backs, Mets or Braves who are still competing for the remaining playoff spots.

“It will be a must-win situation.” Yamamoto said he was looking forward to his first match in the playoffs. “I will do my best to give everything I have and win.”