LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s first taste of pitching in the postseason was accompanied by what surely was something resembling deja vu from his disastrous big-league debut nearly seven months ago.
Facing the same opponent — the San Diego Padres — the Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander struggled mightily in Game 1 on Saturday night, allowing a run three batters into the ballgame and putting the Dodgers into a pair of early deficits they came back from for a 7-5 victory.
San Diego might have known what was coming, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts speculated Saturday night.
“There are some things that I think we’re going to dig into because I think at second base they had some things with his glove and giving away some pitches,” Roberts said. “We’re going to clean that up. That’s part of baseball. So it’s on us to kind of clean that up and not give away what pitch he’s going to throw.
“We’ll clean that up internally. But I think for me it’s just the guys, they had a lot of good swings against him in three innings.”
Dave Roberts said they will dig into the possibility that Yoshinobu Yamamoto was tipping his pitches with runners on base.
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Yamamoto, who the Dodgers paid the richest sum of any pitcher in baseball history (12 years, $325 million), lasted three innings, allowing five runs.
It continued what has been a season of woes against the Padres, who have gotten to him for 13 runs in nine innings this season — including five runs in one inning in that debut in Seoul, South Korea.
Pitch-tipping had already emerged as a problem for Yamamoto during spring training, when SportsNet LA’s cameras could see clearly into his glove as he gripped each pitch during starts. That issue was limited to when Yamamoto pitched out of the windup – without runners on base who could see what the camera saw. The Dodgers tried to work with Yamamoto on his glove positioning nonetheless, sparking at least one theory among club officials that it disrupted Yamamoto’s command and played a part in his erratic inning in his debut against the Padres in Korea. He corrected the issue and finished with a 3.00 ERA in 18 starts.
Yamamoto dealt with traffic from the jump on Saturday night, as Luis Arraez smacked a single the other way on Yamamoto’s third pitch of the game and advanced to second base when Yamamoto’s first pitch to Fernando Tatis Jr. trickled out of Will Smith’s glove behind the plate. A wild pitch advanced Arraez to third, and Tatis Jr. drew a walk.
Tatis Jr. was standing on second base when Manny Machado drove a splitter over the plate into the pavilions for a two-run home run, giving the Padres a 3-0 lead in what would be a 28-pitch first inning for Yamamoto.
“Because I started carrying runners … my basic pitching strategy, what I usually have was not working,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda.
After Yamamoto retired the side in order in the second, Tatis Jr. led off the third with a double, coming home (along with Jackson Merrill, who drew a seven-pitch walk) three batters later on Xander Bogaerts’ double into the corner.
Yamamoto did not bring up any concerns about tipping pitches, noting that he “was trying to be careful. But I just kept falling behind the count.”
“I’m going to review what went wrong and what was good and then I’m going to make it workable into the next outing,” Yamamoto said.
The three-time Sawamura Award winner in Japan was pushed up to a Game 1 start as a byproduct of the schedule. Yamamoto has not thrown on regular rest all season in adherence to his routine. Having him pitch in Game 1 would line him and Game 2 starter Jack Flaherty to both be potentially available in Game 5.
Roberts said Yamamoto is “in play” for a Game 5, but stopped short of saying he would definitively start such a game if necessary.
(Photo of Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Harry How / Getty Images)
