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A little over two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers held a commanding lead in the NL West. Now, Los Angeles finds itself in a tight divisional race. The Dodgers were counting on a strong start from Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the series opener against the Los Angeles Angels. Instead, Yamamoto hit a career low in an ugly start.
The Dodgers ace got smacked around by the Angels on Monday. Yamamoto was fighting uphill the entire outing after giving up a leadoff home run to Zach Neto. He allowed two runs on two hits and two walks in the first inning. While the second-year righty settled down a bit over the next three innings, the Angels got to him again in the fifth, piling on four more runs.
Yamamoto couldn’t make it out of the fifth. He allowed a career-high six runs in 4 2/3 innings while tying his career high with five walks. After the game, the All-Star hurler addressed the outing.
“First pitch home run and then also after that I gave up another run and that kind of threw me off the rhythm. As the game went on I was trying to make a few adjustments but unfortunately I didn’t make them,” Yamamoto said through a translator, per SportsNet LA.
Yamamoto struggles in Dodgers' loss to Angels
“As I was going to the game… my stuff wasn’t that bad. But unfortunately I started giving up runs before I found my rhythm,” Yamamoto added.
The Dodgers’ offense attempted to pick up the pitcher, rallying late. Shohei Ohtani hit an impressive milestone when he belted his 100th home run at Angels Stadium. Ohtani spent the first six seasons of his career with the Angels, winning two MVP Awards with the team.
However, the Angels' early lead was too daunting. Led by Neto’s two home runs, the Angels won 7-4. Neto got on base five times in the game. Although he was picked off of first base and caught stealing twice.
Yamamoto has mostly been exceptional for the Dodgers this season. While he had a miscue against the Brewers last month, he answered that poor outing with four straight strong starts.
The loss allowed the San Diego Padres to pull within a game of Los Angeles in the NL West. Emmet Sheehan will take the mound on Tuesday as the Dodgers attempt to right the ship.
