Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts made a costly error in the eighth inning that broke Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s perfect game.
Yamamoto did his job on the play, generating weak contact on a pitch, but Betts mishandled the ball as it hit the ground.
The error was shocking on so many levels. Yamamoto was on the verge of the second perfect game in Dodgers history, an extremely rare feat for a Japanese pitcher as well.
Additionally, Mookie Betts is one of the best defenders in the sport of baseball at both right field and shortstop. He changed positions to the hardest one on the field, and Betts has shone.
Yamamoto ended up losing his no-hitter bid later on as well, with a home run coming at the start of the ninth inning.
In the end, Betts’ play was not the difference between a perfect game and a no-hitter; rather, Yamamoto lost both anyway.
However, the error cost Yamamoto history, as one more retired hitter would have set an MLB record of 46 straight retired batters.
Still, it does not take away the sting for Dodgers fans, who were seeing Yamamoto totally roll and look like his best self all day long.
Yamamoto got the win, with the Dodgers taking home an easy 7-1 victory and his ERA dropping down to 2.52.
What did Yamamoto say after the game?
“Lately, I’ve been in good form, so I pitched with confidence and went all out, throwing into the strike zone,” Yamamoto said in Japanese.
“(When the pitching coach and Muncy came to the mound) It was right after the home run, so they took some time and talked about getting the last three outs from there.”
“The defense really helped me out a lot—there were plenty of spots where I kept my pitch count low, and even on some hard-hit balls, they turned them into outs, so that was huge.”
“Getting tagged in the ninth again this year, just like last time, really makes me think baseball is tough. I’ll keep practicing and work hard to go all the way!”
2 Responses
Yet another spectacular outing from Yamamoto. I was at the game in Baltimore last September when he went 2 outs in the 9th before giving up an HR to the Orioles’ Jackson Holiday, oddly also the #8 hitter. Even worse the Dodgers pen gave up 3 more runs, all in the 9th, in that one and LAD lost 4-3.
That’s baseball. Unfortunate. I think it will be tougher now to pitch a perfect game with the ABS in place. I think there were 21 perfect games so far in the history of MLB. How many of those games would have been perfect with the ABS in place. Just one extra pitch h by the pitcher may have been the difference from a perfect game to a no hitter. How many extra pitches did Yamamoto pitch as the result of the ABS system in this game. I think the new rules surrounding ABS will make it a lot more difficult to pitch a perfect game and maybe even a no hitter. Just wondering.