LOS ANGELES – Yoshinobu Yamamoto tossed six solid innings of two-run ball but took his first loss of the season as the Los Angeles Dodgers fell 4-1 to the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday.
Yamamoto (1-1) worked two scoreless innings at Dodger Stadium before allowing outfielder Daniel Schneemann to double and steal third. Schneemann eventually scored on a throwing error by Dodgers catcher Will Smith.
The reigning World Series MVP also surrendered a solo home run in the third inning to infielder Gabriel Arias, who gave the Guardians a 2-0 lead with his deep fly to center. Yamamoto struck out two while allowing four hits, one walk and a hit batsman.
“I did what I needed to do at a minimum. My pitches were a mix of good ones and others that still need work,” Yamamoto said. “I need to reflect on giving up the first run again, like in my previous outing. But it was good that I was able to get through six innings.”
Despite the loss, Yamamoto’s outing marked the first time a Major League Baseball team had started Japanese-born pitchers in three consecutive games, following Roki Sasaki on Monday and Shohei Ohtani on Tuesday, according to MLB.com.
Two-way superstar Ohtani went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk. In the bottom of the eighth, the four-time MVP struck out on three pitches against reliever Erik Sabrowski, ending the inning with runners on second and third.
At Rogers Centre, Toronto Blue Jays rookie Kazuma Okamoto extended his hitting streak from his MLB debut to six games with a line-drive single to left in a 2-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
“I’m trying to get at least one hit in every game,” the 29-year-old infielder said.
Elsewhere, Chicago White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami — another Japanese rookie — saw his hitting streak end at five games as Cy Young Award-winning right-hander Sandy Alcantara pitched a shutout in the Miami Marlins’ 10-0 rout of Chicago.