Yamamoto puts his stuff to test against White Sox

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto passed his first Spring Training test with flying colors, tossing two scoreless innings against the reigning World Series champion Rangers on Feb. 28. His second test wasn’t as clean.

In his second career Spring Training start, which ended in the Dodgers beating the White Sox, 12-9, on Wednesday afternoon at Camelback Ranch, Yamamoto allowed five runs over three innings, needing 58 pitches to get through those frames.

Yamamoto, who has drawn rave reviews due to his elite command, struggled to possess his biggest skill on Wednesday as he walked three batters.

“Overall, the number wasn’t good,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “Too many balls and walks. But one good thing was I could try what I wanted to try. I was testing a couple of things, and that was good.”

Yamamoto wouldn’t reveal exactly what he was focusing on in this start, but he got plenty of work pitching out of the stretch, something he didn’t do much in his first start against the Rangers.

The Japanese right-hander also was able to land all of his pitches at different points on the mound, leaning mostly on the four-seamer and his signature splitter. Yamamoto threw the four-seamer, splitter, cutter, two-seamer and curveball on Wednesday.

“I thought he got stronger as the game went on,” said Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes, who has caught Yamamoto in both Cactus League outings. “I thought he was still feeling out his pitches there in the first. He was throwing his curveball a lot in the second and third inning and it was a lot easier to maneuver. These games are going to happen. It’s Spring Training and I thought he finished on a strong note.”

“A little different,” added White Sox outfielder Dominic Fletcher. “Obviously, really good stuff. The splitter is really, really good. The cutter is good and then the fastball is kind of the pitch to get after if you are going to get after one. It was fun. It was good.”

While Yamamoto didn’t have his best stuff on Wednesday, he was also hurt by some defensive mistakes from the left side of the infield. Gavin Lux, who is getting the chance to be the Dodgers’ everyday shortstop this season, had a couple of errant throws that allowed the White Sox to record a pair of infield singles.

Max Muncy, who has had an impressive spring up to this point, also struggled to field a grounder in the third that bounced off his glove as he attempted to play a short hop. The ball ended up getting into the left-field corner for a double, plating two runs off Yamamoto.

“I think that with Max, it was a tweener and a backhand play. This spring, he’s been very good defensively getting off the ball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “With Gavin, it’s just more continuing to run him out there so he can build confidence, how he’s catching the baseball, his footwork and getting the ball across the diamond.”

As far as Yamamoto, Barnes said it’s “good to go through a rough patch” in Spring Training because it helps better prepare pitchers for the regular season. For Yamamoto, he has one more Cactus League outing remaining before getting set to make his Major League debut in one of the two games of the Opening Series against the Padres in Seoul, South Korea on March 20-21.

“Guys aren’t always going to have their ‘A’ stuff so you have to figure out how to maneuver when they’re figuring things out,” Barnes said. “I thought he ended up throwing pretty well.”

Camp notes

• Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers’ other co-ace, also took the mound on Wednesday in a 'B' game, allowing two runs over four innings. Glasnow, like Yamamoto, will be in line to pitch one of the two games against the Padres in Seoul, South Korea.

• Shohei Ohtani continued his hot spring, recording a single in his first two at-bats. Ohtani has now played in five Cactus League games and is 7-for-12 with a homer and a triple.

• Freddie Freeman also had a big day at the plate, smacking a go-ahead grand slam for his second homer of the spring. Freeman will get plenty of RBI opportunities now that he’s hitting third in the Dodgers’ order behind Mookie Betts and Ohtani. Freeman said he’ll play in six of the remaining eight Cactus League games, giving him plenty of at-bats to get ready for the two games against the Padres.