With ample run support, Yamamoto tinkers during dominant 8 innings

LOS ANGELES -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto ended May on a strong note, and in his first start of June on Saturday night, he officially put the ghosts of his worst big league career start behind him.

Facing the same Angels franchise that tagged him for a career-high six earned runs last August, Yamamoto allowed just two hits across eight dominant innings to help secure a 9-2 Dodgers victory at Dodger Stadium.

The Angels managed to strike first. After Yamamoto retired Zach Neto and Mike Trout on groundouts to open the game, Wade Meckler kept the top of the first alive with a bunt single. The next batter, Oswald Peraza, hit a line-drive triple to center field on a 92.4 mph splitter, driving in Meckler to give the Angels an early 1-0 lead. Eight of the 23 earned runs Yamamoto has allowed this season have come in the first inning.

"I allowed the first run of the game, but after that I just tried to stay composed and kept my pitch count low," Yamamoto said through interpreter Hiro Sonoda. "That was a good thing, so then I was able to go through to the eighth inning."

The Dodgers' offense responded immediately with a nine-run explosion in the bottom of the frame, providing a substantial cushion. Back on the mound for the second inning, Yamamoto seemed completely unfazed by the lengthy half-inning on the bench, sitting down 22 consecutive batters to close out his performance. The streak officially began with Nolan Schanuel’s groundout to end the first inning and carried him through a clean eighth frame.

That concentration on the mound did not go unnoticed by the Dodgers' dugout. Manager Dave Roberts praised his starter's ability to maintain a high level of intensity despite the lopsided score.

"You catch a big lead and pitchers start losing focus and walking guys or not making pitches," Roberts said. "Tonight, he was pitching like it was a tie ballgame. He continued to make pitches, get soft contact, be efficient."

Throughout the night, Yamamoto kept the Angels off-balance by mixing his four-seam fastball and sinker -- both hitting the mid-to-high 90s -- with his splitter, slider and curveball. Because of the massive run support, Yamamoto and catcher Dalton Rushing utilized the flexibility of the scoreline to test out pitch selections.

"I did sort of experiment [on] some stuff today since I was given a lot of run support," Yamamoto acknowledged. "I was trying to be precise with that location and the course of the pitches."

Rushing echoed that sentiment, noting the benefits of managing the game with a comfortable cushion.

"You get up big like that and you don't want to get too cute to an extent, but you also want to understand and see what he's capable of," Rushing said. "[You want to] kind of throw a couple more tricks up your sleeve, in a way. And for him it's so easy because he has eight pitches that he can throw wherever he wants. We tried a few new tricks and we'll carry them over into his next one."

Yamamoto capped his 93-pitch performance by forcing Jo Adell and Nick Madrigal into consecutive groundouts, followed by a Donovan Walton popout to third baseman Santiago Espinal. Yamamoto did not give up a home run for his third consecutive start and issued zero walks on the night, finishing with two hits, one earned run and four strikeouts. The deep performance also preserved the bullpen ahead of Sunday's series finale.

Coming into the matchup, Roberts had emphasized the importance of pitchers navigating Major League lineups when they do not have their absolute best feel for their pitches, calling it a true indicator of a high-level starter. By adjusting after a challenging opening frame, Yamamoto did exactly that on Saturday night.