Even though the Dodgers, as a team, won Game 2, you wouldn’t be entirely wrong to claim that Yoshinobu Yamamoto singlehandedly took over this one, doing so with what could only be described as an anachronistic effort. While our loyalties lie with teams, we often fall in love with individuals to take us to that place of fandom. It’s no stretch to ponder if Yamamoto inspired a bunch of new Dodger fans in the US and particularly overseas with what he did on the mound.
Perhaps the biggest compliment one
could come up with for what Yamamoto and the entirety of the Dodgers rotation have done in the playoffs is this: with no basis other than simple logic, Dave Roberts has surely broken the record for most time spent sitting back on the dugout in a single postseason. Notice his posture in many of these outings in which we’ve seen a Dodger starter mowing down hitters like they belong in a separate league, and the word tense, commonly associated with playoff baseball, wouldn’t even cross your mind.
Following a rocky Blake Snell outing, Yamamoto overcame early struggles and cruised to the point that any questions for a change were never posed. Sure, Roki Sasaki stayed loose in the ninth in case the Blue Jays built a rally, only as a precautionary move. Yamamoto was so locked in that a one-two-three ninth felt inevitable, and that’s exactly what we got.
Inevitable, though, is a dangerous word for moments and performances such as these, for it often devalues the effort level and skill to stand out so spectacularly. Saying Yamamoto felt inevitable is more a figure of speech than anything else, for up until the very end, the need to execute at a high level remained the same. Nothing is automatic, as Snell’s Game 1 outing proved, and even here, Yamamoto’s outing could’ve gone in an entirely different direction early on.
Scoring in the top of the first to take the air out of the building a bit, the Dodgers nearly gave that lead back right away with the first two reaching off Yamamoto. While the splitter was his most utilized pitch in this performance, Yamamoto zeroed in on the curveball to get him out of that jam.
Yamamoto had the scorching-hot Vladimir Guerrero Jr. up with runners at the corners and no outs in the first. Down in the count 2-0, the Dodger starter refused to cave and got Vladdy to swing over the top of a splitter at the bottom of the zone.
A few pitches later, with the Jays’ star hitter fouling off multiple splitters, Yamamoto threw the first curve of the at-bat and managed to miss Vladdy’s bat without leaving the zone once again.
There was no inevitability in this battle of heavyweights that could easily be interpreted as game-defining given the outing’s progression. Yamamoto located his pitches well and executed an outstanding game plan, eventually getting out of the inning with a soft liner and another strikeout on a curve, this time against Daulton Varsho.
The second time through the order, once again this same portion of the lineup gave him fits, but he minimized the damage to one run, getting Varsho to chase a splitter out of the zone for a weak contact.
Getting nastier as the game progressed, Yamamoto outlasted Kevin Gausman, who eventually caved, in what was an outstanding pitcher’s duel, allowing a couple of key homers to Will Smith and Max Muncy in the top of the seventh. Those long balls are yet another example of the unwavering focus to do what Yamamoto did, as his opponent was almost as impressive but paid the price for the mistake of throwing one too many fastballs to Smith. Muncy’s home run—there is nothing you can do about it, just a great piece of hitting.
If one complete game was impressive, two in a row is the type of accomplishment that’ll generate everlasting memories from a pitcher who’s everything the Dodgers hoped they were getting, and then some.
