CLEVELAND -- It took Yoshinobu Yamamoto all of three pitches to turn Progressive Field into his playground on Monday.
First, he opened the bottom of the first inning with a 94.7 mph fastball on the black against Guardians contact savant Steven Kwan. Then he got Kwan in an 0-2 hole with a looping curveball that landed right at the bottom of the strike zone.
And he sent Kwan back to the dugout with a splitter that plunged out of the zone and generated a swinging strike.
Good morning. Good afternoon. Good night.
That stellar sequence set the tone for a dominant outing, as Yamamoto allowed just two runs in six innings in the Dodgers’ 7-2 win over the Guardians.
It marks the third straight start in which he’s gone at least six innings, and he finished off a strong month by posting a 3.00 ERA over 30 innings in May.
“He’s been really good at going deep into games, especially since we’ve had trouble with starters doing that and staying healthy,” catcher Will Smith said.
Monday’s start was Yamamoto at his finest. He racked up seven strikeouts (including two of Kwan, who entered Monday in the 99th percentile in whiff rate), and scattered three hits across his six innings.
He got 16 whiffs (10 of which were with his splitter) and had eight called strikes with his fastball.
“It's a great pitch,” Kwan said of Yamamoto’s splitter. “It really mimics that fastball and then it has a ton of down on it. He was putting it where he wanted to.”
Yamamoto also added a defensive gem in the third inning, when he fielded a bunt from Will Wilson and dove to tag Wilson out as he was sliding headfirst into first base.
It looked like Wilson had laid down a perfect bunt as it skittered past the charging Freddie Freeman, but Yamamoto ran over to grab the ball before lunging to tag Wilson.
“Afterwards he told me never to do that again,” Freeman said with a laugh. “I heard he was a Gold Glover in Japan and you can just tell he’s an athlete.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that the play resulted in Yamamoto having a “hip issue” that resulted in his mechanics being a bit off as the start went on.
He needed only 17 pitches to get through the fourth and fifth inning before needing 24 pitches to get through the sixth.
“It just didn’t seem as fine [after the play] and we pushed him a lot in his last outing,” Roberts said. “He came out of it fine.”
Both of Cleveland’s runs against Yamamoto came in dink and dunk fashion.
They scratched a run across in the third inning on a RBI fielder's choice from Kwan that was set up by a walk, single and sacrifice bunt before scoring another in the sixth inning on a RBI single from Kyle Manzardo that was set up by a double from José Ramírez that glanced off Teoscar Hernández’s glove.
Yamamoto was able to take the mound with a 1-0 lead thanks to another incredible start from Shohei Ohtani, who smashed a home run on the first pitch of the game from Gavin Williams. It’s the second straight game that he’s hit a leadoff home run. It also gives him 19 home runs, which leads all of MLB.
“It was a high-velocity fastball and he was set up away, but he yanked it into his nitro zone,” Roberts said. “Shohei’s always going to be aggressive.”
The Dodgers also seemed to have the perfect plan against Williams. While the big right-hander possesses a dangerous arsenal, he’s struggled with the first-pitch home run and his command this year, and the Dodgers took advantage of both. Williams was removed after throwing 109 pitches through 4 2/3 ineffective innings.
The Dodgers’ offense gradually piled on after Ohtani’s homer. Andy Pages rapped an RBI single in the second inning, while Hernández and Max Muncy both drove in runs in the fifth inning.
Six of the team’s nine starters collected hits, and Smith added another home run.
But all of that was insurance thanks to an assertive outing from Yamamoto.
“I feel very confident in calling him the staff ace,” Roberts said.