Yamamoto dazzles with 8 K's in 4-inning return

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers have desperately needed some good news regarding their depleted starting rotation. Yoshinobu Yamamoto's return came at the perfect time.

Yamamoto took the hill Tuesday after missing nearly three months with a right shoulder injury. The Japanese right-hander delivered another impressive performance, striking out eight and allowing one run on four hits over four dominant innings in the Dodgers’ 6-3 loss to the Cubs at Dodger Stadium.

Given how long Yamamoto was sidelined, coupled with two shaky rehab outings with Triple-A Oklahoma City, the Dodgers came into Tuesday’s start not knowing exactly what they were going to get out of the 26-year-old.

Right from the start, however, it was evident they were getting exactly the player the Dodgers made the highest-paid pitcher in history with a 12-year deal last winter. Yamamoto needed just 15 pitches to strike out the side in the first inning. He was sitting 98 mph with his four-seam fastball and the splitter-curveball combination had the Cubs’ hitters completely off-balance.

In the second, Yamamoto allowed three hits, though one could’ve been called an error on Freddie Freeman, as a tricky hop near first base bounced away from Freeman in what turned out to be an RBI single for Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Yamamoto was able to bounce back right away, striking out the top of the Cubs’ order for a second time in the third inning. The right-hander, who was only scheduled to throw three innings on Tuesday, went back out for the fourth and got an inning-ending double play from Michael Busch to end his outing.

In just 59 pitches, Yamamoto was able to get 11 swings-and-misses. Six of those came on a splitter that had an uptick of 1.7 mph above his season average. Yamamoto also got three swings-and-misses on the curveball and two on the four-seamer.

Yamamoto only threw his slider one time on Tuesday. He threw it a season-high 13 times in his last start against the Yankees before landing on the injured list.

Regardless of how Yamamoto uses his pitch mix moving forward, he delivered some much-needed relief for the Dodgers on Tuesday. Starting pitching depth is what ultimately doomed Los Angeles in the postseason in 2023, and injuries have begun to take a significant toll on the team with just three weeks remaining before the end of the regular season.

With Yamamoto back in the rotation and delivering this time of production, the Dodgers will feel much better about where their starting staff is heading into the stretch run.

Unfortunately for Yamamoto and the Dodgers, disastrous defense in the eighth ultimately led to a tough loss for Los Angeles. With a two-run lead, Austin Barnes threw one wide of Freddie Freeman at first base on an easy tapper in front of the plate. On the next play, after Seiya Suzuki hit an RBI single, Tommy Edman was credited with a throwing error that was also aided by some miscommunication in the infield by Miguel Rojas and Max Muncy.

Three batters later, it didn’t get much better for the Dodgers. Kiké Hernández tried to apply a tag as Cody Bellinger ran to second base. The ball, however, came out of Hernández’s glove, instead recording no outs on the play for the third error of the inning. In the end, the Dodgers allowed five runs in the frame, and couldn’t mount a comeback as they lost their second straight to visiting Chicago.