Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s last outing with the Dodgers at Great American Ballpark against the Reds didn’t go particularly well. He pitched only 5.0 innings in his shortest outing since April 12 and allowed four runs (all earned) on six hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. It wasn’t the first rough start of Yamamoto’s career, but bouncing back from those outings has been a strength of his so far.
The May 26 start in Cincinnati marked just the third time in 11 starts that Yamamoto has allowed four-plus earned runs. He’s yet to have consecutive such starts which provides plenty of optimism that he’ll bounce back Saturday night against the Rockies.
Yamamoto in his debut on March 21 allowed five runs in just 1.0 innings of work. He bounced back in his second start with 5.0 shutout innings.
He was stellar through his next six starts before giving up four earned runs in 5.2 innings of a May 13 start against the Giants in San Francisco. Yamamoto returned to form his next time out, dealing 6.1 innings of two-run ball while allowing seven hits to the Diamondbacks.
His last tough start was that May 26 one in Cincinnati. Now he gets a chance to bounce back again at home against a Rockies team that is 19th in MLB in runs per game overall, but averaging 3.9 runs per game on the road which would rank 26th in MLB.
His totals in the two games after his bad starts include 11.1 innings, 9 hits, 2 runs (2 earned), 1 walk and 13 strikeouts.
While the Dodgers offense figures itself out they’ll need their pitching to be superb. Yamamoto wasn’t great his last time out, but recent history says he’ll be much better Saturday night.
