When the Los Angeles Dodgers needed him most, Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered. Despite missing nearly three months during the regular season due to injury, the $325 million Japanese pitcher turned in his finest performance of the postseason yet in the Dodgers' Game 2 win in the World Series, which did not go unnoticed by manager Dave Roberts.

After a poor debut in the NLDS opener vs. the San Diego Padres — he allowed 5 earned runs in just 3 innings on the mound — Yamamoto has seemed to get better and better with each outing in the postseason. But Saturday's was big leap from the rest, as he allowed just one hit (unfortunately a massive, game-tying Juan Soto solo home run in the third inning), one run, and two walks while pitching 6.1 innings.

It marked the longest start for Yamamoto of his brief playoff career and the first time he has eclipsed 6 innings pitched since June 7 when he threw 7 scoreless innings against, coincidentally, the Yankees.

After the win, which puts the Dodgers up 2-0 in the World Series, Roberts praised Yamamoto's outing.

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“There wasn't much stress in the game,” Roberts said. “Yeah, he hasn't been in the seventh inning since that Yankee game [in June]. I felt we had a good building-block foundation.”

Several of Yamamoto's teammates and some of his opponents gave their props to the pitcher as well, with Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo calling Yamamoto “electric” and Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen saying Saturday's performance by Yamamoto was “probably one of the best starts in this postseason.”

If the series goes that far, Yamamoto is projected to start Game 6 for the Dodgers, who now just need two wins in the next potential four games to secure their first World Series title since 2020 and their first in a full MLB season since 1988.

The series will now shift to the Bronx and Yankee Stadium for at least the next two games. If the Yankees win either Games 3 or 4, there will be a third straight game in New York. In their only regular-season series vs. the Dodgers this year, the Yankees, in their home stadium, lost the first two games of the three-game series.