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Yoshinobu Yamamoto goes 7.2 perfect and 8 no-hit innings in stellar outing that put him on the verge of immortality again – Dodgers Digest

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto goes 7.2 perfect and 8 no-hit innings in stellar outing that put him on the verge of immortality again – Dodgers Digest

The pursuit of perfection, that’s the standard Yoshinobu Yamamoto went to the mound chasing today, and he came so very close. He went 7.2 innings without allowing a baserunner before a Mookie Betts error, and then went eight innings before Tristan Peters broke up the no-hitter and the shutout with a homer. It’s Baltimore all over again.

Thankfully though, they did win this over the White Sox, 7-1, as on the other end the return of Shohei Ohtani started with a bang and kickstarted the support for him.

Sigh.

Next time.

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Let’s start with the story of the game: Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

When Yoshi has both his stuff working and his command is locked in, he’s always a threat for something special, and against the red-hot White Sox he had it all going.

He began his game with an 11-pitch frame in the 1st that included a strikeout, and then punched out two more in the 2nd.

The 3rd was a bit more of a labor by his standards with a 17-pitch clean inning that included a strikeout, but followed that up by cruising through an 8-pitch 1-2-3 frame in the 4th. Yamamoto got another strikeout and another clean inning in the 5th, then added another in another 8-pitch inning in the 6th that included a pair of nice plays.

Yamamoto started the 7th with another strikeout, and took a bit longer with 17 pitches, but he got the side in order again. That’s when the hopes for a perfect game seemed real, and he started the 8th by falling behind 3-1. However, he battled back and got a lineout, then followed with a groundout.

Tragically, he got another weak grounder to Mookie next and he just got handcuffed by it for an error to prevent the perfect game. Also have to wonder if Miguel Rojas makes that barehand play off the deflection.

Terrible.

That also stopped his streak at 45 batters in a row retired, which was second all-time. He immediately got the next batter, which kept the no-hitter intact.

Unfortunately, he also lost the no-hitter and shutout to start the 9th, as Tristan Peters hit a no-doubter to right for the first run for the White Sox. At least it was 7-1 (more on that coming).

Yamamoto got the next batter, but with 109 pitches Dave Roberts went to Alex Vesia so he could get a standing ovation.

Vesia retired the final two batters of the game to make sure an Orioles repeat really didn’t happen at least.

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As if to prove he was healthy, Shohei Ohtani returned to the lineup with a lead-off homer (14th) off Sean Burke to start the scoring immediately.

After a couple of outs, Mookie Betts singled and Max Muncy followed by hitting his 15th homer of the year to make it 3-0 Dodgers in the 1st.

The Dodgers then stranded a one-out and two-out walk in the 2nd, which would quickly become a theme despite the score. But they did manage to add in the 3rd, as a one-out single from Betts and a Max Muncy walk put a pair on for Kyle Tucker, who blooped a single to make it 4-0 Dodgers.

Tucker then stole second and a walk followed to load things up, but they were stranded there to end the 3rd. In the 4th, a walk was followed by a single but then a double play killed the rally, and similar happened in the 5th despite a new pitcher when single and HBP started things before a double play halted the momentum. Another hit batter loaded the bases, but nothing came of that.

The 6th again started with a pair of baserunners, as Shohei and Andy Pages drew walks. No double play this time, but two quick outs did follow before a wild pitch to advance both runners, and then two more walks to Muncy and Tucker forced a run in to make it 5-0 Dodgers. They did leave things loaded, however.

The 7th saw yet another walk, this one to Miguel Rojas, but he also exited the game after he seemed to tweak something avoiding a pitch at his feet. That was all in the inning.

Anyway in the 8th there was a Mookie single for his third hit of the game, followed by a Muncy homer again for his 16th. It was also his second two-run homer, and it’s almost as if the RISP worries were a sample size aberration and not anything to give a shit about. 7-0 Dodgers.

He impressed the right guy.

In the 9th, a one-out single was followed by a Shohei double play, which was sorta funny in its own way.

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Max Muncy has been getting some hilarious hits.

Dodgers legend Shohei Ohtani with Dodgers legend Miguel Vargas.

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45-26, as the Dodgers have alternated wins and losses over their past six games.

The series finale will be way too early for me at 8:10 AM HT/11:10 AM PT/4:10 PM ET. It’ll be Emmet Sheehan on the bump looking to rebound from his short outing last time against Erick Fedde.

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