Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting push for Cy Young Award

NEW YORK – Yoshinobu Yamamoto comes into this week with as many wins as Jacob Misiorowski. 

He has made as many starts as Misirowski and pitched more innings.

The statistic that explains the multiple degrees of separation between them in the competition for the National League Cy Young Award is earned-run average: Misiorowski is at 1.67, Yamamoto at 2.78.

But Yamamoto remains within striking distance of Misiorowski, the 24-year-old fireballer of the Milwaukee Brewers.

And by the end of the season, he will overtake Misiorowski, who didn’t pitch in the two weeks leading up his scheduled on Monday because of arm fatigue.

Yamamoto will become the first-ever pitcher from Japan to win a Cy Young Award.

Because Yamamoto remains pain-free. Because he has a track record of becoming sharper as the season progresses. And most importantly: Because the Dodgers need him to be a stabilizing force in their rotation.

The Dodgers emerged from their series win at Yankee Stadium not knowing when Shohei Ohtani would pitch next or if catcher Will Smith would even play again this season. In the middle of this uncertainty, they were able to confirm they can rely on at least one player they were counting on to deliver for them in October.

They can rely on Yamamoto.

With their scheduled game on Saturday night canceled because of an imaginary thunderstorm, the Dodgers and Yankees played a doubleheader on Sunday.

Original Saturday starter Emmet Sheehan was pushed back to the series-opener in Philadelphia on Monday, as Ohtani was scratched from his scheduled start against the Phillies on Wednesday.

With the Dodgers planning a bullpen game for the second game on Sunday, they asked Yamamoto to take down as many innings as possible in the first.

Did he ever.

The diminutive Japanese right-hander who pitched two complete games in the playoffs last year on the Dodgers’ World Series run pitched his first regular-season complete game in an 8–2 victory over the Yankees.

“That’s why he’s our ace,” manager Dave Roberts said.

As usual, Yamamoto downplayed what he did.

“Generally speaking, I don’t think about it being a doubleheader when I climb on the mound,” Yamamoto said. “I went in as if it was a normal game.”

Which isn’t to say Yamamoto wasn’t aware of the broader picture.

Of the four pitchers who started games for the Dodgers in the postseason last year, Yamamoto was the only one pitching in the major leagues.

Ohtani was shut down.

Blake Snell had just started a minor-league rehabilitation assignment.

Tyler Glasnow hadn’t faced hitters in any capacity since he was placed on the injured list in early May with back spasms.

“By focusing on each and every game, I wouldn’t say I can provide cover [for them], but I think provide the team with something that is ultimately beneficial,” Yamamoto said.

Yamamoto threw more cutters than usual and registered quick outs.

He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning when he gave up a solo homer to Trent Grisham.

“No matter how you look at it, I threw it in a place where it was going to get hit for sure,” he said of the down-the-middle fastball he served up to Grisham.

The Yankees didn’t score again until the bottom of the eighth inning, by which time the Dodgers had already scored eight runs.

“His pitch count was so good the entire game,” Roberts said. “I felt he could get us through the seventh, and then he had a good seventh, and it just felt like he could finish the game.”

Yamamoto completed the game in 102 pitches.

Roberts guessed that Yamamoto was motivated by his final start before the All-Star break in which he was charged with six runs in six innings of a loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

The manager also pointed to how Yamamoto pitched seven scoreless innings in this very ballpark as a first-year player in 2024.

“You know he likes these big games,” Roberts said.

Yamamoto was especially pleased with how his efforts completely spared the bullpen.

“I think pitching nine innings is better than being credited with a win as a pitcher,” he said.

The Dodgers lost the night cap, 2–1, but they were able to stay in the game because of Yamamoto’s contributions. Deploying seven relievers, they were tied until the bottom of the eighth inning when Evan Phillips gave up a game-deciding solo shot to Ryan McMahon.

Roberts said of the game pitched by Yamamoto: “It’s one of those things that, in one game, it’s great. But I think that the exponential effect that it has on everyone else, it’s huge, and it’s hard to really nail down how valuable that is.”

He demonstrated that last October.

He looks ready to demonstrate that again over the remaining 2 ½ months of the regular season, as well as the playoffs.

Along the way, he will make history.

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