Yamamoto ‘better than ever’ in return; L.A. loses
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers played one of their sloppiest defensive games of the season and watched it end on a robbed home run by Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. But Tuesday night provided them with an unmistakable dose of optimism — Yoshinobu Yamamoto returned after a three-month hiatus, and his stuff looked as sharp as ever.
Before the Dodgers lost 6-3, dropping their division lead to 4½ games, Yamamoto limited the Cubs to only a run in four innings of work, during which he struck out eight batters. His fastball averaged more than 96 mph. His splitter and curveball looked devastating. His command was as sharp as anyone could have reasonably expected, considering he hadn’t pitched in a major league game since suffering a strained rotator cuff June 15.
“It was pretty surprising,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said. “I didn’t know how he was gonna look coming back from this, and he looked better than ever.”
The Dodgers have been ravaged by injuries to their rotation throughout the season and entered Wednesday with only one lock, Jack Flaherty, to start games for them in October.
But then Tyler Glasnow, out since Aug. 11 with what the team has described as elbow tendinitis, threw his second bullpen session, prompting trainers to clear him for a two- to three-inning simulated game Friday.
And then Yamamoto looked a lot like the player the Dodgers imagined when they awarded him a 12-year, $325 million contract this offseason, the largest ever for a starting pitcher.
“I feel much better about the rotation tonight than I did 24 hours ago,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s starting to turn in terms of getting back to the rotation that we had envisioned.”
Yamamoto began his outing with three consecutive strikeouts — of Ian Happ swinging at a curveball in the dirt, of Dansby Swanson swinging through a splitter that darted just below the strike zone and of countryman Seiya Suzuki looking at a full-count fastball that painted the outer edge of the plate.
The Cubs tacked on a run in a second inning after ground balls were mishandled by shortstop Miguel Rojas and first baseman Freddie Freeman. But Yamamoto struck out the side again when the Cubs’ lineup turned over in the top of the third and ended his outing by getting former Dodgers prospect Michael Busch to ground into an inning-ending double play in the fourth.
Yamamoto, speaking through an interpreter, said, “Today’s outing turned out much better than I expected.”
He threw 59 pitches and should be stretched to about 75 pitches when he takes his turn Monday, with three starts left to prepare for the postseason.
“We’ll take this every start going forward — fastball command, both sides of the plate, hits the low dart, the split down below that, stealing a strike with the breaking ball,” Roberts said. “It was really good.”
SEATTLE — Julio Rodriguez homered to become the first player in major league history with 20 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases in each of his first four seasons, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 on Sunday.
Rodriguez hit a two-run shot in the third inning — his 100th career homer — and the slugging and speedy center fielder also added his 21st stolen base of the season after singling in the fifth inning.
“That’s a very big accomplishment,” Rodríguez told reporters, according to MLB.com. “I know my family’s very happy, and I’m sure they’re thinking of all the things I had to do to be able to get here. To be able to do it with this team and this organization is awesome. I’m just excited to see where things are going to go from here.”
Jorge Polanco added a solo shot in the second, and shortstop J.P. Crawford smacked a two-run blast in the fourth against Rangers starter Jacob deGrom (10-4), who became the fastest pitcher in major league history to reach 1,800 career strikeouts by games and innings Sunday.
The Rangers kept things close by pushing across three runs against Mariners starter Logan Evans (5-4), but tallied only one run against the Mariners bullpen before closer Andrés Muñoz locked down his 25th save of the season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
MIAMI — Kyle Stowers hit a three-run homer and the Miami Marlins defeated the New York Yankees 7-3 on Sunday, completing their first-ever sweep of the Yankees in a series of three or more games.
The Marlins (55-55) reached .500 for the first time since April 15, when the team was 8-8. Since June 13, the Marlins are 30-14; that’s tied with the 2003 team for the most wins in a 44-game span in franchise history, according to ESPN Research.
The 2003 Marlins went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series in six games.
Marlins starter Edward Cabrera (5-5) pitched six innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts and one walk. His only blemish came against the first batter he faced. Trent Grisham drove Cabrera’s 98.1 mph four-seam fastball to right-center.
Miami rookie Jakob Marsee, who made his major league debut on Friday, was 2-for-4 and finished a single short of the cycle.
Stowers made it 6-1 when he connected on an 0-2 fastball from Brent Headrick, who entered in the fourth with two on after starter Luis Gil (0-1) was lifted 3⅓ innings into his season debut.
Gil, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, struck out three and surrendered five runs and five hits while issuing four walks in his return from a high-grade lat strain. He threw 77 pitches.
Gil’s shaky debut comes at a rough point in the season for the Yankees, whose inconsistency has prompted a rash of criticism, the latest coming from former Yankees stars Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez on Fox’s pregame show Saturday night.
“They make way too many mistakes,” Jeter said. “Way too many mistakes, and you can’t get away with making that number of mistakes against great teams.”
Added Rodriguez: “Where’s the accountability?”
Boone addressed those criticisms before Sunday’s game, saying it comes with the territory of being the Yankees, but he added after the loss that it’s “gut-check” time for his club.
New York’s weekend series at Miami included the Yankees blowing a six-run lead in a wild 13-12 loss on Friday, before a 2-0 loss on Saturday.
The Yankees had a seven-game lead in the AL East in late May. By July 2, the lead was gone and the Yankees have been looking up at Toronto in the division ever since. The red-hot Boston Red Sox, who were more than 10 games behind the Yankees about two months ago, have overtaken their rival for the second spot in the AL East and AL wild-card lead.
“It’s getting late,” Boone said. “And it’s certainly not too late for us. I am confident that we’re going to get it together. But that’s all it is right now is, you know, it’s empty until we start doing it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
SEATTLE — Julio Rodriguez homered to become the first player in major league history with 20 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases in each of his first four seasons, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 on Sunday.
Rodriguez hit a two-run shot in the third inning — his 100th career homer — and the slugging and speedy center fielder also added his 21st stolen base of the season after singling in the fifth inning.
Jorge Polanco added a solo shot in the second, and shortstop J.P. Crawford smacked a two-run blast in the fourth against Rangers starter Jacob deGrom (10-4), who became the fastest pitcher in major league history to reach 1,800 career strikeouts by games and innings Sunday.
The Rangers kept things close by pushing across three runs against Mariners starter Logan Evans (5-4), but tallied only one run against the Mariners bullpen before closer Andrés Muñoz locked down his 25th save of the season.
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