Dodgers Interview: Smith expecting a good night for Yoshinobu Yamamoto
TORONTO — Will Smith kept his usual calm deameanor after a rough opener. “It’s tough when it doesn’t go your way,” Smith said of the bullpen’s night. “It’s one pitch at a time… keeping them calm in the moment, not letting the moment get too big, not letting the game speed up on them… just keeping them focused on one pitch at a time.” That was the theme: slow the game, simplify the task.
Smith sounded confident handing the ball to Yoshinobu Yamamoto. “He’s been great all year,” he said. “He’s got the experience from last year… he’s so focused right now. It’s going to be a fun night for him. I’ve got high expectations as always. He throws strike one, gets ahead, he’s got nasty stuff… really makes it tough on hitters.” The job, as Smith sees it, is to get Yamamoto into the count he wants, then let the arsenal play.
Toronto’s contact game is part of the scouting report. “They’re a bunch of good hitters,” Smith said. “They fight in the box… they move the ball. So it’s finding ways to get them out, keeping them off balance… when they do hit the ball, finding popups or grounders right at guys.” He added, “It’s a challenge… but I still trust our pitching more than their hitters,” and the goal is simple: “hoping to even the series tonight.”
On the Dodgers’ side of the ledger, the swings have been competitive but thin on payoff. “We’ve been putting together good at-bats,” Smith said. “It’s just coming up with a timely hit… we had bases loaded early, we’re up two-nothing… not getting the big hit there. We had plenty of opportunities. It’s coming together, someone stepping up, getting the big hit to push three or four across per inning.”
This stage brings noise, and Smith didn’t pretend otherwise. “It’s the World Series… pressure baseball,” he said. “You’ve got to embrace the emotions, but you also have to tame them. Slow the game down. Don’t try to do too much… focus on the task at hand… let the game come to you.” That’s how he framed the line between chasing and executing.
He also walked through Emmet Sheehan’s tough introduction to a dirty inning. “One pitch at a time,” Smith said. “Reminding him he’s been there, done that… he’s gotten out of bases-loaded jams before. We were able to get ahead… 0-2 counts, just couldn’t put them away. They put together some good at-bats, came with a timely hit and a couple walks.” The takeaway, not the excuse, mattered. “He’ll learn from that experience… if he’s thrown right back in there tonight or the next day, he’ll be ready.” In Smith’s view, Sheehan’s transition has been a plus: “He’s given us really good innings late in games that we’ve needed… he’s one of our guys. He’s one of the guys we’re going to have to lean on if we’re going to win this thing.”
From pitch one to mindset, the catcher kept it direct. “Who’s going to out-execute who,” he said of Game 2. The ask is clear: settle Yamamoto in, win the two-strike pitches, and cash the chance that didn’t land in Game 1. Tonight is the next swing.
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