The primary Main League Baseball begin for Dodgers rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto did not precisely go as deliberate. He began the second of two video games in Seoul, South Korea, between the Dodgers and Padres and was bounced after simply three recorded outs, having allowed 5 runs on 4 hits with a stroll, hit batsman and two strikeouts. No matter time period we wished to use on his pitches — command, management, location — it wasn’t good. 

Saturday, in his Dodger Stadium debut, Yamamoto obtained the chance to bounce again and he did precisely that towards a gifted Cardinals offense. A rain delay threw a wrench into issues, however Yamamoto nonetheless obtained by means of 5 innings of labor. 

In his 5 scoreless innings, Yamamoto did not stroll or hit anybody. He allowed solely two hits whereas putting out 5. He was reasonably environment friendly, needing 68 pitches (45 strikes) to get by means of his 5 innings in comparison with the 43 he threw in a single inning final outing. 

Yamamoto relied totally on the fastball, splitter and curve with a couple of cutters thrown in. He set issues up with the heater whereas utilizing the splitter and curve as his out pitches. The splitter drew eight swings with 4 of these being whiffs, however the curveball was his most spectacular providing. He threw it 18 instances, drawing six known as strikes and 6 swings, with 4 of these swings being whiffs. 

In fact, that aforementioned splitter was on level, too. Simply ask 2022 NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt: 

Yamamoto, 25, is within the first yr of a 13-year, $325 million deal. That deal made him the game’s richest pitcher after he spent the primary a part of his profession shining in Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball league.