SURPRISE, Ariz. — When Yoshinobu Yamomoto’s first duel against a major-league hitter ended, Shohei Ohtani marked the occasion with a polite applause from the Dodgers’ dugout.
Even Ohtani did not want to miss the occasion of his countryman’s first appearance against a major-league opponent. Ohtani made the half-hour trip to Wednesday’s road game, even though he was not playing against the Texas Rangers and already had completed his work day.
Yamamoto earned the golf clap from his friend with a six-pitch strikeout of the Rangers’ Marcus Semien. After Evan Carter followed with a single, Yamamoto coaxed a double-play grounder from Wyatt Langford.
The right-hander started his second inning with a strikeout of Nathaniel Lowe, retired Jonah Heim on a fly ball to left field and ended his short day with another strikeout, this one against Leody Tavearas.
The 19-pitch day – with 16 strikes and three strikeouts – was as tidy as the Dodgers could have hoped. Before the game, manager Dave Roberts said the important thing was just getting on the mound and finding something of a comfort zone.
“This is all a part of the learning curve for him,” Roberts said, remembering when Ichiro Suzuki struggled in his first MLB spring and went on to cement what is expected to be a place in the Hall of Fame. “I mean, whether Yoshinobu throws the baseball well today or he doesn’t, for me, we still have plenty of time to get him ready for the season.”
Consider the $325-million man well on his way, showing the fastball Roberts raved about earlier in the day.
“The fastball command is the most impressive thing for me,” Roberts said. “He can go glove side, he can go arm side, he can go down, he can go up. For a pitcher to be able to throw the fastball and all the different quadrants, it just opens everything else up.”
More to come on this story.
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