ATLANTA -- In hopes of avoiding a three-game sweep, the Dodgers handed the ball to Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Thursday night for a matchup against Braves left-hander Chris Sale.
Yamamoto delivered 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts to keep his team within striking distance in a tight pitchers’ duel in a 1-0 loss at Truist Park. Just as important, his deep outing provided crucial length to aid a Dodgers bullpen that was forced to use five relievers the previous night, when Roki Sasaki exited after 3 1/3 innings due to a blister.
Yamamoto’s start began with an early strike from the Braves. On his first pitch, Yamamoto left an 89.2 mph splitter up and Drake Baldwin hit it over the right-field wall for a leadoff home run. It was just the second leadoff homer Yamamoto has allowed this season, after he allowed just one each in both the 2024 and '25 regular seasons.
Yamamoto settled in quickly after the blast, answering the early homer with five consecutive scoreless frames, relying on a sharp splitter and elevated fastballs to keep the Braves off-balance.
In the third inning, Yamamoto navigated his only jam of the night. After striking out Austin Riley on a splitter, he allowed a single and a stolen base to Ha-Seong Kim, but Yamamoto responded by striking out Baldwin on a 95.3 mph sinker and getting Ozzie Albies to pop out to foul territory to strand Kim in scoring position.
Outside of the third-inning jam, Yamamoto generated consistent soft contact. Pushing past the 90-pitch mark into the seventh, Yamamoto got one quick out before a single and a lone walk brought his outing to an end at 105 pitches.