Dodgers’ Dave Roberts Heavily Praises Yoshinobu Yamamoto For Performance Against Yankees

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched out of his mind. This time, it was on the biggest stage of them all, Yankee Stadium, against the Evil Empire, the New York Yankees.

Yamamoto showed up and showed out in his Yankee Stadium debut, and even that is an understatement. The 25-year-old ace was dealing against the best team in the majors, proving why he is worth all the money the Dodgers handed him this past winter.

The bigger the stage seems for Yamamoto, the better he gets. Friday night was no exception, with him taking the baseball world by storm. The person with a front row to it all, manager Dave Roberts, was in awe of his spectacular performance, telling Cary Osborne of Dodgers Insider that the bigger the stage, the better Yamamoto performs. 

“Wow. Dodgers-Yankees coming in here and watching Yoshinobu, his best outing as a Dodger. You could just see it, he felt it,” said manager Dave Roberts. “He knew we needed it, and it brought out the best in him.”

— Dave Roberts, via Dodgers Insider

From the Olympics, World Baseball Classic, Japan Series, and now Yankee Stadium, Yamamoto deals everywhere and anywhere. The later he goes into games, the better he gets as well. That was evident in his latest gem, pitching seven incredible innings, allowing only two hits, zero earned runs, and seven strikeouts in 106 pitches. His ERA is now down to 3.00; at this rate, he could hit the 2.50 mark by the time we hit the All-Star break. 

Yamamoto has silenced the haters who’ve said he’s not worth the money and those who overreacted to his Major League debut against the San Diego Padres in Korea. All the worries are gone at the moment, and if he keeps up this level of pitching, they will be gone for good.

As long as No. 18 is on the mound for the Dodgers, L.A. has a chance to win.

Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, livestreams, and more!