TORONTO – Yoshinobu Yamamoto held the Toronto Blue Jays to a run over six-plus innings to earn the win as the Los Angeles Dodgers prevailed 4-1 for their fifth straight victory Tuesday, aided by the opening run driven in by compatriot Shohei Ohtani.
Yamamoto (2-1) got off to a perfect start at Rogers Centre by striking out the side in the first inning and had three more 1-2-3 frames through the fifth in a solid 97-pitch effort, striking out six while allowing five hits and a walk overall.
“I was managing to pitch the way I wanted to with both my fastballs and breaking balls,” said Yamamoto, who shone on his return to the ballpark where he won the World Series MVP in November.
“The opposing team was batting aggressively but things were clicking for me, and I was also able to keep my pitch count low.”
Ohtani plated the game’s first run, lining a drive to the right-field wall for an RBI single in the two-run third off Kevin Gausman (0-1), and Alex Freeland also singled in a run off the right-hander in the fifth for a 3-0 lead.
Yamamoto gave up his only run in the sixth on a George Springer double and was tested further in the seventh when the Blue Jays’ Japanese rookie Kazuma Okamoto, who successfully made an Automated Ball-Strike Challenge earlier after a pitch was called a strike, doubled to center.
Yamamoto got the hook from skipper Dave Roberts after letting the next batter reach on a bunt. Reliever Alex Vesia had a bases-loaded jam with no outs but retired the next three batters to preserve the two-run lead for Yamamoto and the Dodgers.
“I was happy to face him in the majors. It was good as I was able to attack the zone somehow,” Yamamoto said after his first big-league encounter with Okamoto, who flew out twice against the right-hander before the double.
Ohtani has reached in 42 consecutive MLB games to move within one of the Japanese record set by Ichiro Suzuki in 2009 while at the Seattle Mariners, while Okamoto went 1-for-4.
“I stood in the batter’s box really looking forward to it,” Okamoto said of the matchup with his Japan teammate Yamamoto. “I believe I was able to hit when I needed to.”