Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s season can be divided into three distinct parts so far.
The thrilling opening act, when the second-year Japanese star started the season with a 4-2 record and 0.90 earned-run average in his first seven starts.
A shaky middle stanza, when the 26-year-old right-hander stumbled with a 2-4 mark and 4.43 ERA over his next eight outings from May 8 to June 19.
And lately, what he and the Dodgers hope will be a midseason revival, with Yamamoto rounding back into Cy Young-caliber form again with a 3-1 record and 1.71 ERA over his last six trips to the mound bump.
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In a 5-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, Yamamoto delivered another master class for the Dodgers at Great American Ball Park, giving up just one run on four hits while striking out nine over seven superb innings.
“He was fantastic,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It seemed like he had all of his pitches working tonight.”
Indeed, it was Yamamoto once again at his best. Filling up the strike zone. Working ahead in counts. And getting almost nothing but empty swings and soft contact after allowing his lone run in the first.
Yamamoto got 17 whiffs, gave up just two balls hit harder than 95 mph (MLB’s threshold for “hard hit” contact) and largely cruised against a Reds team battling for a National League wild-card spot.
“My stuff today was really good,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda.
“Yoshi has so many pitches,” added catcher Dalton Rushing, “he can basically manipulate anything.”
Yamamoto’s only trouble came early, when the Reds (56-51) loaded the bases on two singles and a walk in the first before scoring on a ground ball from former Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux.
After that, Rushing said he and Yamamoto made “a couple pivots” in their game plan, mixing in more sinkers and curveballs to go along with his primary fastball-splitter combination.
“We had to change lanes a little bit and kind of mix it up,” Rushing said. “Once we found our groove, it was just easier.”
From the second inning on, only one other baserunner even reached scoring position in what was Yamamoto’s fifth start this season of at least seven innings and no more than one run. At one point, he retired 10 hitters in a row, keeping the Reds quiet while the Dodgers broke open an early 1-1 tie with two runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh.
“He seemed like he got better as the game went on, which is a good sign,” Roberts said. “Overall, just outstanding.”
Monday was the start of what the Dodgers (62-45) envision as a week-long stretch of strong starting pitching.
On Tuesday, Tyler Glasnow will take the mound. On Wednesday, it will be Shohei Ohtani, who was pushed back a few days in order to pitch ahead of an off day. And after Clayton Kershaw goes on Friday in a series opener in Tampa Bay, marquee offseason signing Blake Snell will make his long-awaited return from a shoulder injury later in the weekend.
That’s the kind of star power the Dodgers hope to have for the rest of the season, crossing their fingers that the star-studded group will stay healthy and intact through the campaign’s final two months.
“We feel really good,” Roberts said of the rotation. “Kind of trying to stabilize some things in the ‘pen. But I think with the starters … [it’s] encouraging.”
Still, while Snell and Glasnow have missed significant time with injury, and Ohtani has been ever-methodically built up, it is Yamamoto who has helped carry the starting staff this season, improving to 9-7 on the year with a 2.48 ERA (third-best in the National League).
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“It’s good to see him get back, [compared to] when he was kind of middling for a bit there, to being the dominant pitcher that we know he can be,” Roberts said.
On Monday, Yamamoto got plenty of help from his offense.
Mookie Betts led the game off with a double on his hardest-hit ball (103.8 mph) in almost a month, before scoring on Teoscar Hernández’s RBI single. In the fifth, Ohtani put the Dodgers in front with a two-run double to center. In the seventh, Hernández and Freddie Freeman each singled home insurance runs.
The scoring was nice for a Dodgers offense coming off two frustrating losses full of missed chances over this past weekend in Boston.
But in the big picture, it’s Yamamoto and the pitching staff that might be most important in the team’s title defense — with Monday serving as another reminder of the firepower he, and they, possess.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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