Dodgers Interview: Yamamoto Blames Rough Outing on Command
LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto met the cameras after Game 3 and kept it even. He called the Phillies’ lineup tough and put the three-run fourth on himself. He walked through his plan, the misses, and what he felt still worked.
“I thought from the first pitch I was calmer than usual and very composed,” he said. “In the fourth, the leadoff home run hurt, and then they kept adding. If I could have limited the damage right there, the flow of the game might have been different.”
On the Schwarber at-bat that tied it, Yamamoto explained the approach and where it slipped. “For his second plate appearance, I wanted to work mostly away,” he said. “I fell behind in the count, and on the third pitch the fastball was hit. The plan was outside, but I did not execute.”
He did not feel like the entire mix abandoned him. “Overall it was not terrible,” he said. “The splitter was the one pitch I could not put in the right spot.” He thought other tools were there. “My fastball was good,” he said. “The cutter and the other pitches were effective often enough that I tried to cover with those.”
Yamamoto kept tinkering as the outing went on. “I worked to make the splitter better while I was on the mound,” he said. “I tried to use all my pitches and adjust within the game.”
He circled back to the inning that turned it. “It started with the first hitter,” he said. “A leadoff homer, then they kept pushing, and that is where I needed to stop it. If I get the first out or keep it to one, maybe we are playing a different game.”
There was no excuse offered for the traffic that followed. “I walked off thinking about the misses,” he said. “When you get behind against that lineup, you put yourself in a spot where they can sit and do damage.”
Asked whether nerves or environment played any role, he stayed on execution. “I felt steady,” he said. “The problem was not emotion. The problem was location.”
He also gave credit to the other dugout for sticking to a plan. “They were patient when I fell behind and aggressive when I came back to the zone,” he said. “That is what good hitters do.”
Looking ahead to adjustments, Yamamoto kept it simple. “It starts with getting strike one,” he said. “From there I can expand and use the whole plate.” He wants the feel of the splitter back in the zone. “That pitch can work to any hitter and in any count when it is right,” he said. “I need to get it to the bottom of the zone more consistently.”
There was no change to his belief in the group or his own routines. “I will study these at-bats and prepare the same way,” he said. “Calm, clear, and ready to compete.”
He closed by framing the night as a lesson, not a weight. “I had chances to hold it to one run and I did not,” he said. “I will learn from that and be better the next time I take the ball.”
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