LOS ANGELES – Ryan Yarbrough moved with purpose across the field during batting practice at Dodger Stadium on Friday afternoon, attempting to remain under the radar as he retraced his steps toward the visitors’ clubhouse. The left-hander carried a 2024 World Series ring, the home team having quietly recognized the 67 1/3 innings he tossed for them early last season.
Yarbrough slipped the ring into his locker without fanfare; few of his current teammates would care to see it displayed. The Yankees are more interested in Yarbrough’s present than his past, and the crafty left-hander silenced one of the game’s most thunderous offenses on Sunday, helping salvage the series finale with a 7-3 victory at Dodger Stadium.
Limiting the Dodgers to Tommy Edman’s solo homer over six sharp innings, Yarbrough outpitched ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto in what seemed like a lopsided matchup on paper.
“I just had a really good game plan going into it, seeing what they’ve done really well this series,” Yarbrough said. “I’m just trying to understand what I do well and keep them off balance. That was the biggest thing.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone has described Yarbrough as “a throwback,” while Ben Rice called him “a joy to watch.” Both phrases fit. The 33-year-old expertly changed speeds, altered arm angles and dotted corners in improving to 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA (six earned runs in 26 innings) across five starts since being plugged into the Yanks’ rotation.
Offering a sellout crowd of 54,031 little to cheer about, Yarbrough generated 17 swings and misses, seven of which came on his sweeper. Only the Pirates’ Paul Skenes (18) has induced the Dodgers to swing and miss more in a game this season -- and suffice it to say, no one is mistaking Yarbrough’s arsenal for Skenes’.
“He’s not going to light up the radar gun, but all his pitches feel like they get on you,” said DJ LeMahieu, who enjoyed his first four-hit game since July 26, 2021, vs. Boston. “His fastballs look like they get on you, and his offspeed looks extra slow. He’s just one of those guys who has got good stuff. He knows what he’s doing out there.”
That scouting report clicked in the home clubhouse, too, where Los Angeles’ Max Muncy said Yarbrough’s delivery made for a tough visual in the late afternoon shadows.
“He might only be throwing mid-80s, but it feels so much harder than that,” Muncy said. “He’s a tall guy; he’s got long arms, so he’s got good extension. He’s got the funky delivery with the low slot, so it always makes his ball feel a lot harder than what it actually is.”
Rice’s two-run homer in the third inning highlighted the attack against Yamamoto, as the Yanks worked deep counts to drive up the right-hander’s pitch count and knock him out of the game after 3 2/3 innings -- Yamamoto’s first time failing to complete five frames this season.
Jasson Domínguez delivered a first-inning RBI single as Yamamoto labored in a 28-pitch frame, one in which the Yanks left the bases loaded. They’d have more chances for damage; Rice slugged a hanging splitter a Statcast-projected 425 feet in the third, a big-boy blast that landed on the netting beyond the center-field wall.
Later in the frame, Yamamoto bounced a wild pitch that allowed Anthony Volpe to trot home with a fourth run. This was a version of Yamamoto the Yanks hadn’t yet seen; a far cry from the hurler who handcuffed them to one hit over 6 1/3 innings in Game 2 of the World Series.
“He’s a tough guy to face; he’s got really good command, good stuff,” Rice said of Yamamoto. “I think just being aggressive to our zones helped us, and laying off some of those pitchers’ pitches early.”
LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza added run-scoring singles in the fifth to pad the Yanks’ lead, helping them conclude their West Coast trip on a positive note after Los Angeles outscored them, 26-7, in the first two games of the series.
“After that mess of a game [Saturday], to come back like we did showed a lot,” LeMahieu said.
Andy Pages and Muncy hit seventh-inning homers off Jonathan Loáisiga, but the Bombers' bullpen finished it from there -- even without closer Luke Weaver, who warmed up but was unable to appear due to hamstring discomfort that will require further attention in New York.
Boone acknowledged the “noise” surrounding this Fall Classic rematch, and though they largely downplayed it as three games in May, the Yanks would have preferred a different outcome. Even so, Boone opted to zoom out, applauding the club’s 6-3 road trip that also included series victories in Denver and Anaheim.
“This team has bounced back from whatever tough losses we’ve had. We’ve had a handful of them in the first couple of months,” Boone said. “They played a really great game to give us a really good trip going back home.”