MILWAUKEE -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s return to the mound in Milwaukee wasn’t exactly the gem he delivered in a historic Game 2 start during the NLCS just seven months ago, but he didn’t need to go all nine this time to lead the Dodgers to a 5-1 win over the Brewers on Sunday afternoon at American Family Field.
Yamamoto’s encore to his dominant three-hit, one-run complete game against the Brewers in October lasted only seven innings this time around, as the Dodgers picked up the series win and finished the road trip at 7-2. The 27-year-old righty gave up seven hits, and struck out three on 92 pitches (60 strikes).
The only run off Yamamoto came in the second, when he hit leadoff batter Jake Bauers before a single and a fielder’s choice brought Bauers home from third. Only two more Brewers reached second base the rest of the game.
“I thought he was in complete control,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Even today, [he] didn’t have a feel for his curveball, kept using it, which I liked, but never had a handle on it. The split, the fastball, all that stuff, great.”
Yamamoto set down nine of the final 12 batters he faced, despite not having his best command. He threw a first-pitch strike 63% (17-of-27) of the time, which improved through his outing, and the Brewers hit seven balls with an exit velocity of greater than 95 mph, but Yamamoto worked around it all to lower his ERA to 3.09.
“[The Brewers] were swinging from the get-go,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “Kind of helped us with our gameplan, let Yoshi go deep in the game. … It was a good showing, regardless of the mix, regardless of the strikeouts. I think it was really good stuff.”
The first inning had been an issue for Yamamoto, both in Milwaukee last season (chased after two-thirds of an innings on July 7) and so far this year (seven of his 21 ER entering Sunday were from the opening inning), but he needed only nine pitches to get out of the first inning Sunday.
“They were being very aggressive, so I was just trying to be fine and hit the spot,” Yamamoto said via interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “I was focused on one hitter at a time. ... There were some situations where I was having runners on, so that made me more precise and focus on execution.”
It was also a promising sign that Yamamoto kept the ball in the yard against the Brewers. He entered the finale with nine long balls allowed in just 57 innings despite giving up only 14 across 173 2/3 frames in 2025.
He ran into trouble in the sixth inning with back-to-back singles, but forced Andrew Vaughn to roll over on a splitter low in the zone to get out of the frame at 74 pitches.
“He’s a guy that, big games, he responds. That’s what aces do,” Roberts said. “And they have the ability to weather stress, make pitches he needs to by the way of strikeout or double play, whatever he needs to be done, that’s what staff aces do. And gosh, man, not many people in recent history have done it better than Yoshi last postseason.”
The 2025 World Series MVP took the loss in his last start despite a similar outing of seven innings and one-run ball, but his offense picked him up in the finale. Kyle Tucker, who has tripled in consecutive games for the first time since Gavin Lux in 2021, drove in a pair on a three-bagger before Andy Pages crushed a two-run blast in the fifth inning on back-to-back pitches that broke open the game.
That allowed the Dodgers’ bullpen to close it down, extending their scoreless streak to 38 innings after a pair of spotless frames from Will Klein and Tanner Scott. It’s the Dodgers’ longest stretch since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and the longest by any bullpen since Cleveland in 2017 (38 2/3 innings).
But the back end only needed to cover those two innings thanks to the work of Yamamoto. The contact-heavy Brewers were able to limit the strikeouts, whiffing on only seven of their 40 swings against him, but that’s what the Dodgers paid Yamamoto $325 million to do -- get through innings no matter what.
He’s done it before against this team, and he may be tasked to do so again when it matters most.