CHICAGO — Yoshinobu Yamamoto might have been ready for the move to the United States after all – he just needed to get here.
Putting his unsettling Seoul Series debut further in the rear-view mirror, Yamamoto held the Chicago Cubs scoreless for the first five innings to earn his first major-league win in a 4-1 victory Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
Since lasting just one inning and allowing five runs in his big-league debut during the two-game series in South Korea, Yamamoto has not allowed a run. In two starts since that rocky showing against the Padres, he has thrown 10 scoreless innings with five hits allowed, two walks and 13 strikeouts.
“Especially his last spring outing, the first game in Korea, I don’t think that’s who he is,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “And the way he has acted and gone about his business, you can tell that’s not who he is. So the last couple starts have been really fun to watch. I think we can expect more of that.”
Yamamoto certainly expects more of himself. A three-time Sawamura Award winner in Japan (their equivalent of the Cy Young Award), the poor start in South Korea didn’t have him doubting himself.
“I didn’t really think about it,” he said through his interpreter. “The season is long. We have a long way to go. I just took it one game at a time and I focused on one game at a time.”
He had to focus on one hitter at a time to survive two stressful innings to start his day against the Cubs.
Yamamoto gave up a leadoff double to Ian Happ in the first then loaded the bases with no outs when he walked Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger reached on an infield single when shortstop Miguel Rojas charged his chopped grounder but flipped too late to second base.
“I think he just didn’t want a repeat of Seoul,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You could see it.”
Yamamoto never got back on track in that first start. This time, he fought back to strike out the next three batters, getting Dansby Swanson and Michael Busch on called third strikes.
“When you’re bases loaded nobody out — that could have been the game,” “Roberts said.
“I was just trying to get a strike,” Yamamoto said. “The one thing I was trying to avoid was a walk. That’s not the way I wanted to allow a run.”
In the second, the Cubs loaded the bases again, this time with two outs. Yan Gomes doubled over Kiké Hernandez’s head in center field. Yamamoto walked Happ and Suzuki reached on an error by third baseman Max Muncy.
Yamamoto froze Bellinger with a curveball for another called third strike to end that threat.
“At the beginning I was struggling a little bit, but that was because I was falling behind in the count,” Yamamoto said. “But after that, I got to bounce back and then in the fourth and fifth inning I thought I was great.”
He was. Bellinger was the first of 10 consecutive batters retired by Yamamoto to end his day after five innings with three hits allowed and eight strikeouts. A beer shower awaited in the post-game clubhouse to celebrate his first major-league win after Ryan Brasier, Joe Kelly and Daniel Hudson carried the shutout into the ninth inning. Evan Phillips gave up the Cubs’ only run.
“I think Yoshi’s awesome,” said Austin Barnes who caught Yamamoto for the first time Saturday. “I think he’s going to be fine. Obviously he pitched great against the Cardinals, pitched really good today. When he gets his feet under him, I think he’ll be one of the best pitchers in this game.”
The Dodgers had their own difficulties scoring early against Cubs lefty Jordan Wicks. They put the leadoff man on base in three of the first four innings but stranded five baserunners in that time, including Muncy after a leadoff double in the fourth. After going three for 16 with runners in scoring position in Friday’s loss, they started 0 for 8 in those situations Saturday.
But they finally broke through in the fifth inning.
Barnes led off with a single. Shohei Ohtani singled with one out and Cubs manager Craig Counsell pulled Wicks after he struck out Freddie Freeman. His reliever of choice, Jose Cuas, walked Teoscar Hernandez to load the bases, then threw a run-scoring wild pitch and gave up a two-run single to Muncy.
The Dodgers added an unearned run in the eighth inning but came up short of five runs for the first time this season, ending their franchise-record streak at 10 games to start the season.
