Steve Webb
Game 145, 9/10/2024: Dodgers 3, Cubs 6
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Things happened in this game after the top of the fourth inning. Some of them were good, some of them were bad, some of them were downright embarrassing. But whatever all those things were, they were completely irrelevant compared to what happened before that. Let me put this as delicately as I can:
YAMAMOTO WAS F’N AWESOME!!!
Looking better than anybody had any right to expect, Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched four brilliant innings, striking out eight Cubs along the way. Pinpoint control. Devastating curveball. Painting the Corners. I would say that it was a pitching clinic, but there’s no way you could see pitching as good as this in a clinic. Let’s break it down.
In the top of the first, Yamamoto came out of the gate on fire. First, a swinging strikeout to leadoff man Ian Happ on a curveball. Then, he got Dansby Swanson to whiff on a splitter. Then, Seiya Suzuki watched a four-seamer go by for the third strikeout of the inning. Not too shabby of a start.
The second didn’t go quite as well, but he still looked good. Isaac Paredes and Nico Hoerner squeezed a couple of singles in between strikeouts of Monday’s heroes Cody Bellinger and Michael Busch. Then, a very questionable “single” off the glove of Freddie Freeman pushed home the first run of the game for the Cubbies. Between you and me and the lamppost, it was an E-3.
However, the Dodgers didn’t let their ace wear that cheap run for long. On the first pitch of the bottom of the second, Tommy Edman drilled a pitch from Shota Imanaga into the left field seats for a solo home run to tie the score at 1-1. It was Edman’s first homer in a Dodger uniform, and more evidence that he’s going to work out very nicely for this lineup. After a slow start, he is now hovering around a .300 batting average with a bunch of key hits as well.
In the third inning, Yamamoto continued to baffle Cubs hitters. He struck out the side, mixing his pitches brilliantly to do so: Ian Happ went down swinging on a splitter, Dansby Swanson watched like the proverbial house by the side of the road as Yamamoto perfectly spotted a fastball on the outside corner, and finally Yoshinobu got countryman Seiya Suzuki to chase a pitch in the dirt for the final out of the inning.
The Dodgers didn’t score in the bottom of the third, so Yamamoto took the mound in the top of the fourth trying to preserve the tie. He did just that, aided by a nifty 3-6-3 double play turned on the infield. Yamamoto came off the mound after that play at 59 pitches, exactly where Dave Roberts said he was targeting him to go in this one. His night was over, but what a brilliant night it was: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K.
The Dodgers would get a couple more runs on solo shots from Tommy Edman (his second of the game) and Max Muncy to take a 3-1 and there the score stayed until Alex Vesia came out of pitch the top of the eighth after having retired the Cubs on nine pitches in the seventh.
I don’t really want to talk about what happened next, but I suppose I must. A four pitch walk to start the inning. Vesia got yanked in favor of Evan Phillips, but an Austin Barnes throwing error on a bunt attempt put runners at first and third with nobody out. A seeing-eye single up the middle brought home one run, and then a second when Tommy Edman’s errant throw to third bounced into the camera well. With the score tied and nobody out, the Dodgers were in deep trouble.
Isaac Paredes struck out, but a grounder from Michael Busch was misplayed by Kike Hernandez at second base for the third error of the inning. A two-run double from Nico Hoerner and a productive out from Pete Crow Armstrong accounted for three more runs, and by the time the final out of the inning was merciful made, the Dodgers found themselves in a 3-6 hole.
Suffice it to say, they never were able to crawl out of it. Turns out, giving a team six outs in one inning is not that great an idea. The Dodgers had a moment of hope in the bottom of the ninth when Max Muncy gave one a ride to right center, but local product Pete Crowe Armstrong would rob him of his second homer of the night and instead end the game. *sigh*
The Dodgers will try to salvage the final game of the series with another matchup against the Cubs on Wednesday. This time Bobby Miller will try to get back on the beam against lefty Jordan Wicks (2-3, 4.03 ERA, 36 SO). First pitch will be 7:10 PDT. Then, it’s off on the last big roadtrip of the year, heading off to the South, to play first the Braves and then the Marlins. Let’s hope we can end the homestand on an up note and hit the road with some momentum. Let’s go!
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