Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto was named an MLB All-Star for the first time on Sunday.
On Monday, he posted his worst outing of the season.
The Milwaukee Brewers chased Yamamoto two outs into his start while tagging him with five runs — three of them earned — during a run through the entire order. Milwaukee went on to a runaway 9-1 win.
When leadoff hitter Sal Frelick took the plate for the second time in the inning, Yamamoto’s day was over. Reliever Jack Dreyer took over to record the final out of the first inning with the Brewers holding a 5-0 lead.
When his day was done, Yamamoto had allowed four hits, one home run and two walks. He didn’t record a strikeout. A seventh Brewers baserunner reached on a throwing error by Mookie Betts that allowed the last two runs of the inning to score.
Yamamoto threw 41 pitches, 25 of them for strikes, while recording two outs. His ERA spiked from 2.51 to 2.77.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto reacts to being pulled from the shortest outing of his MLB career. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
(Patrick McDermott via Getty Images)
Rough start steamrolls Yamamoto
The outing started ominously for Yamamoto, as he allowed a leadoff double to Frelick then walked William Contreras to put runners on first and second with no outs. Then he induced outs from Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich to give himself a chance to get out of the inning unscathed.
Andrew Vaughn did not allow that to happen. In his first Brewers at-bat since arriving June 13 via trade from the Chicago White Sox, Vaughn launched a three-run home run. Yamamoto left a high slider hanging over the middle of the plate on a 2-2 count, and Vaughn sent it deep over the left-center-field wall.
Vaughn previously spent time with the Brewers in the minors, but he made good on his first at-bat back in the majors after Milwaukee called him up to replace the injured Rhys Hoskins (sprained thumb) on the roster.
From there, things went from bad to worse for Yamamoto. He allowed a single to Isaac Collins, then walked Brice Turan to again put runners on first and second. Then he appeared to have the third out of the inning secured on a Caleb Durbin ground ball, but Betts one-hopped a throw to first base that Freddie Freeman couldn’t handle.
Durbin reached safely on an error, and Collins scored from second.
Andruw Monasterio then plated Turan with a single from the nine hole, and Yamamoto’s day was over. Dreyer mercifully induced a pop-up from Frelick to end the inning after taking over on the mound.
In the end, it was the shortest outing of Yamamoto’s MLB career — and arguably his worst.
The good news for Yamamoto is that this was very much an outlier. A return to All-Star form should be expected.
The loss was the fourth straight for the Dodgers (56-36), who still maintained a 6.5-game lead over the Padres (48-41) and Giants (49-42) in the NL West after the game.
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