Dodger pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was serving up a gem on the mound. Over the course of seven innings, “Yoshi” was near flawless, striking out ten, not giving up any walks, and only allowing Arizona one run over his 98 pitches thrown.
“Yoshinobu was fantastic”, said Manager Roberts, “We needed a great start from him and he gave that to us.”
Adding to the Diamondbacks woes, the Dodgers jumped out to an early two run lead on the strength of back to back singles by Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts that were followed by a Freddie Freeman double. The Dodgers would later tack on another two runs giving the Dodgers are comfortable 4-1 lead when “Yoshi” exited after seven.
When asked about his performance Yamamoto said, “Overall, my pitches were all good, I was very sharp today. My Fastball was good and it made the Splitter stand out.”
Enter Dodger reliever Tanner Scott in the eighth.
Scott would erase the first two Snakes before giving up singles to Geraldo Perdomo and Ketel Marte. That brought Dodger killer Corbin Carroll to the plate. Scott served up a center cut heater that Carroll promptly took over the left centerfield wall. The game was tied and Yamamoto lost a potential and well earned victory.
Owning his mistake, Scott admitted, “I probably should have went with the slider but I trusted the fastball and I just basically put it down the middle. You never want to see the ball leave the park, especially in that situation. It’s super frustrating, it was a terrible pitch.”
Sharing his thoughts on the Scott situation Roberts stated, “Tanner got two quick outs then there was the dump single. Then a first pitch middle middle heater to Marte and then he leaves a fastball middle to Corbin Carroll, and now you got a new ballgame. Everything is middle middle. He is not walking guys, but you get good hitters who can lock in on a certain area, and they are going to have more success. When you’re consistently throwing to the same zone, that’s the predictability part of it, and that’s what guys are looking to hit.”
The Dodgers were unable to score in the bottom half of the eighth and the game headed into the ninth inning deadlocked at 4-4.
Los Angeles reliever Blake Treinen shutdown Diamondback batters with the greatest of ease, giving his Dodger teammates the chance to defeat Arizona in the bottom of the ninth.
Will Smith, who was given the day off, came up to lead off, pinch hitting for Dalton Rushing. Smith took the second pitch he saw into the bleachers in center field giving the Dodgers a much needed walk-off victory.
On his game winning homer Will Smith said, “We needed a win in this series. We had the early lead and Yoshi pitched really well. Unfortunately, they got back in it and tied it up, but we came out on top. You always have to be ready to go, not checking out of the game and just be ready for that spot.”
“It was a huge swing,” said Roberts, “I always say the game honors you. Will has been going through it, but he has been working his tail off, and today he reaps the benefit. It is so good to see from an All-Star player who is ready when called upon, and to deliver in the big moment.”
Not to be overlooked in the victory is the performance of Dodger veteran Miguel Rojas who had two hits and an RBI. The veteran has been called upon frequently as of late and is expected to be a big part of the stretch run into the playoffs.
“It feels pretty good to be able to contribute,” said Rojas, “I know my opportunities are coming in bunches now, against both righties and lefties, so I am doing everything I can to make adjustments and be ready. We have about 25 games left and it’s going to take every ounce of us to do what we want to do. We should be playing way better baseball than we did the last couple of days, and today we played a quality game. It was nice to have the W.”
The Dodgers will have the Labor Day off as they head back east and prepare to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles respectively.
“The win was big for all of us and hopefully it will build momentum for this road trip,” stated Roberts.
By William Trillo
