Freeway Series Recap: Yoshinobu Yamamoto & Dodgers Offense Struggle In Loss To Angels

Yoshinobu Yamamoto turned in one of the worst starts of his career while the Los Angeles Dodgers were unable to hit José Soriano in a 7-4 to the Los Angeles Angels in the Freeway Series opener.

Yamamoto allowed a career-high six earned runs over 4.2 innings of work while allowing six hits and five walks. He did strike out six, but it meant little in the grand scheme of his outing.

The first pitch he threw in the game was blasted for a leadoff home run by Zach Neto to put the Angels up 1-0. A pair of one-out walks set the Angels up again, and they doubled the lead on a single from Yoán Moncada.

Yamamoto kept the Angels off the board for the next few innings, but things fell apart in the fifth inning.

He allowed two singles and hit a batter to load the bases with no one out, and Mike Trout then singled home two more runs to put the Angels up 4-0.

Moncada singled again to make it a 5-0 game, and Gustavo Campero grounded out to drive in one. Yamamoto walked the final hitter he faced before exiting the game, but Alexis Díaz stranded the runners on base.

Neto homered again in the sixth inning, this time off Díaz to make it a 7-0 game.

Dodgers offense shut down by Angels

The Dodgers couldn’t get anything going against Soriano, who threw six shutout innings. He allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out six and did not allow a runner to get into scoring position for his outing.

It wasn’t until Soriano exited the game that the Dodgers started to put things together, which came against Luis García, who spent the beginning of the season with the Dodgers.

García allowed a one-out walk to Max Muncy, then Andy Pages singled to give the Dodgers their first opportunity with a runner in scoring position.

Michael Conforto walked to load the bases with one out, but their issues persisted as Alex Freeland grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The Dodgers finally got on the board when Shohei Ohtani blasted a solo home run in the eighth inning. After singles from Mookie Betts and Will Smith, Max Muncy then blasted a three-run homer to put the Dodgers back in the game.

But the offense fell short of completing the comeback and Kenley Jansen picked up the save.