Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto Showed Why Team Gave Him Massive Deal, Ironically Against Yankees

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has played on some of the biggest stages baseball has to offer — the Olympics, the World Baseball Classic, the Japan Series, and now Yankee Stadium.

Through his first 12 starts this season, the rookie had shown glimpses of how good he was in Japan. However, he was on another level Friday night.

He held the Yankees scoreless for seven innings in what many described as a playoff atmosphere.

“The things that he did in Japan he showed today,” Teoscar Hernández told reporters after the game. “He didn’t win three MVPs and three (Nippon Professional Baseball league equivalent) Cy Youngs straight just because he was Yoshinobu. He’s a good pitcher. And he showed today.”

Yamamoto threw 29 pitches at 97 mph or higher and came into the game only reaching that velocity three times all season. He limited the Yankees to only two runners in scoring position — in the first and second innings.

Yamamoto allowed four hard-hit balls the entire game and his line was: seven innings pitched, two hits, two walks, seven strikeouts, and no runs allowed.

“Wow. Dodgers- Yankees coming in here and watching Yoshinobu, his best outing as a Dodger. You could just see it, he felt it,” said manager Dave Roberts. “He knew we needed it, and it brought out the best in him.”

Yamamoto proved why the Dodgers signed to such a lucrative 12-year $325 million contract before ever throwing an MLB pitch. Ironically, it just happened to be against one of the historic rivals of the Dodgers.