Was Yamamoto tipping his pitches? His manager thinks so

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s performance in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Padres on Saturday night was a bumpy one. He allowed five runs -- tying his season high -- in his three innings of work. Seven of the 16 batters he faced reached base.

It was as if the Padres knew what was coming from the right-hander. And maybe they did.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated after the club’s 7-5 win that Yamamoto might have been tipping his pitches.

“There are some things that I think we’re going to dig into, because I think at second base they had some things with his glove [that were] giving away some pitches,” Roberts said. “We’re going to clean that up. That’s part of baseball. So it’s on us to kind of clean that up and not give away what pitch he’s going to throw.”

Yamamoto gave up two run-scoring hits while a runner was on second base during his start. In the first inning, he surrendered a two-run home run to Manny Machado while Fernando Tatis Jr. was at second. Two innings later, with Tatis on second and Jackson Merrill on first, Xander Bogaerts got to Yamamoto for a two-run double.

It’s worth noting that the Padres have had the most success of any team against the Japanese ace this season. They opposed Yamamoto in his first Major League start during the Seoul Series in South Korea on March 21 and tallied five runs in his first and only inning.

Yamamoto didn’t express any concern after Saturday’s game about possible pitch-tipping. He instead mentioned how falling behind in counts and surrendering baserunners got him out of his usual strategy.

“I’m going to review what went wrong and what was good, and then I’m going to make it workable into the next outing,” Yamamoto said.

That next outing could come in Game 5 (if needed) against San Diego on Friday at Dodger Stadium; Roberts said he is "in play" for that potential assignment.