LOS ANGELES — When Yoshinobu Yamamoto did find the strike zone Friday, it only made matters worse.
In a battle with his command from the jump, Yamamoto walked a season-high five in just 4⅔ innings – including three in a span of five batters that came before Casey Schmitt’s grand slam – and the San Francisco Giants walked away with a 6-2 victory.
Not since 1999 had the Giants and Dodgers waited this long to meet for the first time in a season. And yet the Dodgers looked as if they still weren’t ready for the showdown between rivals, who are in an early-season battle for first place in the National League West.
The Dodgers and Giants are now tied for the top spot at 41-29, following San Francisco’s run of nine victories in its past 10 games.
Not only did Yamamoto get bounced around for five runs on six hits in his second outing of less than five innings this season, the offense had just two hits, both against Giants right-hander Logan Webb in his seven innings of work.
The Dodgers are now 2-2 in a key stretch of 10 consecutive games against the San Diego Padres and Giants.
“It’s really critical,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the run against two of the top NL clubs. “You see the schedule, you see the opponents, you see where your ball club is at, and you just want to keep trudging along and play good baseball.”
Asked about his hopes for Yamamoto before the game, Roberts had just one pressing sentiment: “For me, it’s just get ahead and be efficient.” It was anything but, as the 4⅔-inning outing came after he lasted 3⅔ innings against the New York Yankees on June 1.
Yamamoto now has multiple walks in six consecutive outings and eight of his last nine in a stretch that includes a pair of games with at least four walks.
A hint of what was ahead came when the Giants took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a home run from Willy Adames. The Dodgers tied it in the second without the aid of a hit, with Will Smith scoring on an Andy Pages sacrifice fly, but only because Giants catcher Andrew Knizner dropped the ball after first making the tag.
It all fell apart on Yamamoto in the third inning. Jung Hoo Lee walked on six pitches. Heliot Ramos walked two batters later on five pitches. Wilmer Flores walked two batters after that on five pitches.
Schmitt wasn’t as patient. He hit a 1-and-1 split-finger pitch well into the left field pavilion for his first career grand slam. Schmitt entered feeling the sting of a ninth-inning error Thursday that led to a loss against the Colorado Rockies and the end of an eight-game losing streak.
That blunder is behind him now.
The Dodgers didn’t get on the scoreboard again until the seventh inning, when Teoscar Hernandez hit a home run off of Webb, his 12th of the season. Including his fourth-inning single, Hernandez had the Dodgers’ only two hits.
Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski settled into a groove after replacing Yamamoto before allowing Knizner’s first home run of the season in the seventh. Wrobleski gave up one run on four hits in 4⅓ innings with no walks and five strikeouts.
More to come on this story.
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