Dodgers ride reliable Yoshinobu Yamamoto to victory over Guardians

CLEVELAND — The group of starting pitchers spread out over their roster and the injured list seem to be a constant source of concern for the Dodgers. And then there is Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Yamamoto allowed just three hits over six innings in his latest quality start as the Dodgers beat the Cleveland Guardians, 7-2, on Monday night.

“You could argue he’s been our most valuable player, given the people around him and what’s happened, versus Shohei (Ohtani) having a lot of other supporters around him on the offensive side and Freddie (Freeman), as well,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But on the pitching side, just to be able to log six or seven innings and kind of reset your ’pen, give us a good chance to win every time he goes out there has been huge. And I feel very confident in calling him the staff ace.”

The two runs Yamamoto allowed actually raised his slender ERA from 1.86 to 1.97, second in the National League to his countryman Kodai Senga (1.46) of the New York Mets. Nearly as important for the starter-starved Dodgers has been Yamamoto’s reliability. The victory over the Guardians was the seventh time in his last nine starts that Yamamoto has gone at least six innings. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in nine of his 11 starts.

Against the Guardians, Yamamoto was in charge from the start. He struck out four of the first five batters he faced. After taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his previous start, he allowed just one hit in the first five innings in Cleveland.

“Every week, every outing I reset my mind, everything. I completely reset,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter. “And whether it was good or bad I try not to take into the next outing. I just take it new every outing.”

Already a leading Cy Young Award candidate, Yamamoto made the kind of play that could win him a Gold Glove.

With runners at first and second and no outs, the Guardians’ No. 9 hitter, Will Wilson, dropped a bunt to the right side, pushing it past Freddie Freeman, charging in from first base. Yamamoto ran it down and kept going, racing Wilson to first base and tagging him out as he dove for first base.

“It’s nice to have athletic pitchers on the mound,” Freeman said with a smile.

“I heard he was a Gold Glover and all that stuff over there (three-time winner in Japan). You just can tell. He’s just an athlete. He moves really good and he’s always in a position to catch balls. So it doesn’t surprise me.”

The Guardians scored on a force out by Steven Kwan that followed Yamamoto’s play and again in the sixth inning when Teoscar Hernandez played Jose Ramirez’s soft line drive into a double. Kyle Manzardo drove Ramirez in with a single.

Roberts said Yamamoto had “a little hip issue” after the play at first base. He pulled him after 88 pitches through the six innings.

“I don’t know if that kind of got into the mechanics in that fifth and sixth inning. It just didn’t seem as fine,” Roberts said. “And then for me, I just felt that we pushed him a lot his last outing (110 pitches), so to kind of not push him to the fullest tonight made sense as he gears up for (his next start) Sunday (against the Yankees).”

Yamamoto spent the entire day pitching with a lead thanks to Ohtani.

After hitting the second pitch of Sunday’s game into the seats for his 18th home run, Ohtani was impatient Monday. He hit the first pitch of the game into the right field seats for his major-league-leading 19th home run of the season (and fifth leadoff home run this year).

“It’s nice when Shohei leads off the game with a home run every single day. That helps. It gets us going,” Freeman joked.

The rest of the Dodgers’ offense was more steady drip than explosion.

They scored a run in the second inning on an RBI single by Andy Pages then added two in the fifth as Guardians starter Gavin Williams walked six batters and threw 109 pitches in just 4⅔ innings. Mookie Betts and Freeman had back-to-back RBI singles in the sixth inning.

Will Smith added a solo home run in the ninth. Smith reached base four times in the game – two walks, a single and the homer.

“Obviously with Yoshinobu and how he’s been pitching all year, we were feeling pretty confident going into this game and he pitched like he has all year,” Freeman said. “It’s just nice to get some runs and back him up and tack on a little bit more at the end. A lot of guys contributed so hopefully we can carry that into tomorrow.”