LOS ANGELES -- The last time Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound, he was backed by a season-high 15-run outburst in San Diego.
The margin was much more narrow on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, but it didn't matter because the now two-time All-Star Yamamoto did his part by shutting down the Padres.
Yamamoto twirled seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 victory against the Padres to secure at least a series win in the four-game set in L.A., giving the Dodgers a chance to sweep their division rivals in Sunday's finale. Yamamoto racked up 10 strikeouts in the dominant effort, tying his career high in MLB for the second time this season and the seventh time in his career.
"He looked like an All-Star," manager Dave Roberts said. "He came out with a purpose. You could see the intent tonight, execution, really good from pitch one. And gave his chance to really reset the bullpen and gave us length, and pitched like an All-Star."
The Dodgers' ace received some support from his fellow newly minted 2026 All-Star teammates. First-time All-Star Andy Pages staked Yamamoto to a lead with an RBI single in the third inning, while 10-time All-Star Freddie Freeman gave him some breathing room with his 15th home run of the season in the sixth and an RBI single in the eighth.
Throughout the Fourth of July evening, sparkles and booms flashed across the night sky, but Yamamoto ensured that the fireworks at Dodger Stadium would be kept to a minimum -- at least, until the postgame show.
Yamamoto's start began with him giving up a 110.1 mph single to Fernando Tatis Jr. on the first pitch of the game. The knock turned out to be an outlier for Yamamoto that night, as he allowed only two more hits and two more hard-hit balls in play. Tatis reached third on a two-out single from Gavin Sheets, but was stranded to end the inning.
No other Padre advanced beyond first base while Yamamoto was on the mound. Yamamoto scattered a pair of walks in the fourth and seventh innings, but he was largely in control otherwise.
"All my stuff was good -- fastball, offspeed, everything was working out really well," Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. "And also my mechanics, I was pretty much satisfied."
It was the seventh time in 16 starts this season that Yamamoto pitched at least seven innings. That's more than any other Dodger, although Justin Wrobleski is close behind with six such starts.
In his previous couple of starts, Yamamoto admitted to not having the feeling he wanted for his arsenal, particularly his splitter. The right-hander certainly had the splitter working on Saturday, as he threw it more than any other pitch (34 times) and got Padres hitters to whiff at it six times on 16 swings (38%).
"It's a game-changer," Roberts said. "And obviously the fastball command, it starts with that, which was very good tonight. But the split kind of coming out of that same window, he had these guys guessing and just kind of off-balance, and a lot of funky swings."
Yamamoto lowered his ERA to 2.49. He should have one more first-half start ahead of him -- likely next Saturday, which could rule him out of pitching in the All-Star Game. He has performed consistently overall, but he's been especially sharp on the heels of a season-worst start in which he allowed five runs to the Giants on May 12. In eight starts since then, Yamamoto has held opponents to nine earned runs in 54 2/3 innings (1.48 ERA).
The way the Dodgers see it, it's not a matter of whether Yamamoto has performed lately. They have grown accustomed to the consistent excellence their ace has exhibited throughout his time in L.A.
“He's been great his whole Dodger career, his whole Japanese career," Freeman said. "He's just a great pitcher. He really is. He's special. When you have that kind of velocity on your heater, splitter is at 93-94 and you can put the ball wherever you want in the strike zone. It doesn't matter how hard you throw, if you hit spots, hitters can't hit it."
The Padres didn't fare much better against Yamamoto in two previous matchups this season (three earned runs in 13 innings), and he was even tougher on them on Saturday.
"When he's on a roll, it's just hard to put together innings, get hits," Roberts said. "He's just a tactician out there when he's right."