SAN FRANCISCO -- A wild throw to first base and a collision in the outfield contributed to the worst inning Yoshinobu Yamamoto has thrown in five starts this season. But when he came back out to the mound, he pitched as if the metaphorical slate had been wiped clean.
The Giants took advantage of a sloppy Dodgers defense behind a less-than-sharp Yamamoto in the first inning, driving in three runs on four hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly while sending eight hitters to the plate. Over the six innings that followed, though, the Giants could hardly touch Yamamoto.
Yamamoto rebounded from a rocky first inning to record a quality start, striking out seven across seven innings in Tuesday night's series opener against the Giants at Oracle Park. But the Dodgers failed to muster up the offense to come back from the early deficit, falling 3-1.
Yamamoto's start against the Dodgers' longtime rivals began with Giants leadoff hitter Willy Adames hitting a sharp grounder to shortstop Hyeseong Kim. Kim may have had a play at first, but his throw veered well wide of the bag, allowing Adames to advance to second on what was ruled an infield single and a throwing error.
From there, three more Giants reached before Yamamoto recorded an out. Rafael Devers opened the scoring with an RBI single. Casey Schmitt lifted a fly ball to left-center, where left fielder Teoscar Hernández collided with center fielder Alex Call. Call came up with the ball, but the Giants tacked on another run on a sacrifice fly. Jung Hoo Lee drove in a third run on a single.
In Yamamoto's first four starts, he had allowed no more than two runs in each outing, so he was already at a season high after just one inning on the Oracle Park mound. But from the second inning on, he allowed no more damage.
Just three Giants reached base against Yamamoto after the first inning. He walked Patrick Bailey in the fifth, breaking up a streak of 11 straight batters retired. He later gave up back-to-back two-out singles to Lee and Heliot Ramos following a brief but heavy downpour in the sixth. That inning looked like San Francisco's best chance to get something going against Yamamoto, but Lee was thrown out at home on an 8-4-2 relay while attempting to score on Ramos' knock.
Yamamoto finished his outing by striking out the side in the seventh inning. He not only rebounded from a tough first inning, but gave the Dodgers his second-longest start of the season.