LOS ANGELES -- In the first two games of the weekend series against the Phillies, manager Dave Roberts did not push his starting pitchers to the limit. But the Dodgers' skipper knew he could rely on his ace, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, to empty the tank on Sunday afternoon.
Both Justin Wrobleski (seven innings on Friday) and Roki Sasaki (5 1/3 innings on Saturday) threw fewer than 90 pitches in their starts. Yamamoto needed 94 pitches to complete five innings as the Phillies tried to grind him out in the series finale, but Roberts still sent him out for the beginning of the sixth.
As he tends to do, Yamamoto rose to the occasion. He walked his first batter of the sixth inning, but he capped the strong outing with his 10th strikeout of the game, matching his career high. Will Klein stranded the runner left on base to close the book on another strong outing for Yamamoto: 5 1/3 scoreless innings with four hits and two walks allowed as the Dodgers took two of three from the Phillies with Sunday's 9-1 victory.
"He could have probably found a way to get through that sixth inning, but I just felt, to what cost?" Roberts said. "These guys, the good ones, the really good ones, know how to get Major League hitters out when they don’t have their best stuff, and for the most part, you don’t always have your A-stuff every outing."
Yamamoto threw 104 pitches, the fourth time his pitch count has exceeded the century mark this season. No other Dodger has thrown more than 100 pitches more than twice.
With the chance to win a series against a Phillies team that rounded into form during May, there was no pitcher the Dodgers would rather have had on the mound than Yamamoto. He has become a figure who inspires confidence for his team whenever he takes the ball.
"You can't write up a person or an athlete any better. You really can't," Roberts said before the game. "There's enough softness and discipline, but the toughness and the killer that we talk about. I could go on for a long time about him."
Yamamoto's first two strikeouts came with an assist from catcher Dalton Rushing, who challenged called balls against Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the first inning and overturned both to strikeouts. Entering Sunday, Rushing had gone 3-for-8 when making ABS challenges as a catcher.
"I’ve worked on that recently to understand the corners to give us the best advantages we can," Rushing said. "To be able to help him out like that was great. The command was a little touchy in the first, compared to where he's usually at, so just to be able to kind of 'save him' a little bit with those two challenges, I think it allowed him to settle in."
Said Yamamoto, through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda: "That was a good challenge, because I believe I was hitting my spots."
Yamamoto established himself in the zone as his outing progressed, but the Phillies extended at-bats by fighting off good pitches. Even so, Yamamoto didn't face much stress until the fifth inning, when a Rafael Marchán single and a Justin Crawford double put runners on the corners with the top of the order due up.
Yamamoto responded by striking out Schwarber and Trea Turner. It took six pitches to get Schwarber to swing through an elevated 1-2 fastball, and Turner saw just three pitches before being called out on strikes. Turner challenged, but Yamamoto had dotted the bottom outside corner.
"That was a pivotal point in the game," Roberts said. "And for him to navigate those guys, and get through that unscathed, that’s the tell of an ace."
With Alex Vesia and Tanner Scott both unavailable, leaving just-activated Jack Dreyer as the only left-hander in the Dodgers' bullpen, Yamamoto remained in the game despite his elevated pitch count to face lefty batters Harper and Brandon Marsh in the sixth inning. The Dodgers wouldn't push all of their starting pitchers in that way, but Yamamoto has earned it. And his team continues to reap the benefits of letting him do his thing.
Yamamoto ended May on a strong note, allowing two earned runs across 19 1/3 innings in his past three starts, but he's not quite satisfied. He's getting closer to where he wants to be, but he would have liked to pitch deeper into Sunday's game.
That's the tell of an ace, too.