Yamamoto to make Dodgers debut Thursday on TSN
Published
Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers got to see Shohei Ohtani in action for the first time in a regular-season game Wednesday in Seoul against the San Diego Padres.
The wait is almost over on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, too.
The Dodgers and Padres wrap up their two-game Seoul Series Thursday morning where Yamamoto gets the ball against righty Joe Musgrove.
Watch the game LIVE at 6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. PT on TSN4, TSN5, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Yamamoto debuts with one of the most impressive resumes of any Japanese pitcher to make the jump to MLB. The 25-year-old righty won three straight pitching triple crowns in Japan’s NPB League with the Orix Buffaloes. He signed a 12-year, $325 million deal with the Dodgers last December and, according to reports, passed on a bigger offer to join Ohtani in L.A.
Yamamoto made three starts during the spring with his new team and the results didn’t exactly go as planned. In those three outings, Yamamoto’s ERA sits at 8.38 and he’s allowed a total of 15 hits and four walks in just 9.2 innings. But Yamamoto does have 14 punchouts, and many of the hits allowed in his second outing were infield singles.
“It’s spring training. Guys aren’t always going to have their A-stuff, so you have to figure out how to maneuver when they’re figuring things out. I thought he ended up throwing pretty well. Some unlucky breaks out there. A ball off him and some tough hops,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said via the Los Angeles Times.
Yamamoto said he couldn’t be more excited to begin his big league career.
“I’m having a king of cloud-nine feeling. And also, this is the first time the opening games of the regular season are in Korea. So, I’m looking forward to performing my best for the Korean fans,” he said last week through an interpreter.
The Dodgers won the first game of their season Wednesday, benefitting from a glove malfunction from Padres’ first baseman Jake Cronenworth that led to the go-ahead run scoring in the eighth inning. The Dodgers would add two more in the frame and went on to win 5-2.
Ohtani collected two hits, an RBI and a stolen base in his first regular-season game in Dodger blue, including an RBI single in the eighth that helped the Dodgers extend their lead.
“Just a good night overall for Shohei,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “The bigger picture it's significant because you've got such a generational talent that is on your ballclub in a big market in Los Angeles. There's a lot more eyeballs on the Dodgers and on Major League Baseball.”
Former Nippon Ham Fighters star Yu Darvish allowed an unearned run and two hits in 3.2 innings for the Padres, while Tyler Glasnow gave up two earned in five innings of work in his Dodgers debut.
Both teams will return to spring training over the weekend before restarting their regular season on Opening Day March 28.