In sports, stories of redemption are often the ones that pierce through our psyche and pull on our heartstrings. The game’s biggest moments always seem to find the person most deserving of redemption, call it baseball’s version of the circle of life.
Enter Yoshinobu Yamamoto from stage left, the Los Angeles Dodgers newest import who signed one of the richest contracts in baseball history in the offseason without even throwing a single big league pitch. The Dodgers invested $325 million in his electric right arm. They did it for games in October when the lights are the brightest and the moments are the biggest.
However, after a disastrous start in Game 1, that saw Yamamoto allow five runs in just three innings, many questioned if Yamamoto should be trusted with the baseball in the most important game of the Dodgers season.
Equipped with the focus and intensity of a steady flame on a melting candle, and with every nerve in his body strained like a harp-string, Yamamoto delivered the pitching performance of a lifetime, and one that the Dodgers so desperately needed.
Yamamoto threw five shutout innings, and Kiké and Teoscar Hernández both homered as the Dodgers defeated the rival San Diego Padres, 2-0, in a dramatic Game 5 of the National League Division Series on Friday night.
“He was outstanding tonight,” said Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts of Yamamoto. “I knew he wasn’t going to run from this spot. I’m looking forward to riding him through the World Series.”
With the victory, the Dodgers advance to the National League Championship series against the New York Mets.
“The job’s not done and you will see the focus, the fire going forward, with the expectation to win eight more games,” said Roberts looking ahead to the NLCS. “We’re ready to play and we’re ready to win four games against the Mets. I’m not thinking about anything else but out 26 guys and beating the Mets. That’s it.”
Maybe it was fate that the biggest moments found Yamamoto, or destiny that it was the Hernándezes that delivered, two players who have proven that they are built for October baseball: performing at their best when the pressure is at its peak.
Regardless of whether or not it was divine intervention, a twist of fate, or simply the magic of baseball, each and every moment of the decisive Game 5 was the kind of stuff you dream about as kids playing in the backyard. Dodgers vs. Padres, a budding rivalry between to division foes filled with respect, hatred, and uncoiled emotions.
“These types of games are the ones we’ve been dreaming about since we were little kids,” said Kiké Hernandez of Game 5 between the Padres and Dodgers. “We didn’t come here to win the NL West; we came to win the World Series. We were not worried about anything else other than winning tonight.”
But before the Dodgers could come spilling out of the dugout, stumbling on the dirt as they smiled, screamed and hugged each other, there first had to be a beginning to this dream. And trust me, it was a start as much mired in drama and suspense as the finish was.
Hernandez helped the Dodgers fire the first shot when he jumped all over a first-pitch fastball from Yu Darvish with two outs in the second inning. It gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead, and the team that led after four innings ended up winning every game of the series.
Kiké Hernández clubs his 14th career #Postseason homer! #NLDS pic.twitter.com/ZJQsNYiJ6S
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
Yamamoto was aware of that statistic as well, so he set the tone early with a 1-2-3 first inning.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto strikes out Fernando Tatis Jr. to get the @Dodgers crowd BUMPING 🔥 pic.twitter.com/TTlTcwfqNu
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
“He set the tone,” said Roberts of Yamamoto’s first inning. “I think that Yoshi’s had a lot of success in his professional career. I said it before; he’s pitched in big ball games. And I believed in him. I knew he was going to rise to the occasion.”
The pitching matchup in Game 5 between Yamamoto and Darvish was the first between two Japanese-born starting pitchers in MLB postseason history, so it was only fitting that they each dazzled in what turned out to be a good ol’ fashioned pitching duel between the two countrymen.
“Yoshi [Yoshinobu], Darvish, these guys that are from out of the country, they’re pitching on a bigger scale,” said Roberts who was born in Japan himself and has a Japanese mother. “They are pitching for their country. When you pitch for the WBC, for the country of Japan, those are the highest stakes that you can have. They both have done that and pitched well in those moments. I have to give Yu a lot of credit for what he did tonight.”
Yamamoto fired five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is through five innings of shutout ball! #NLDS pic.twitter.com/JvLAbHQJ2G
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
Darvish delivered 6.2 innings, with one walk and four strikeouts, but he allowed two solo home runs that proved to be the difference in the game.
“I would take that start from Yu every time,” said San Diego’s manager Mike Shildt. “I thought Yu was magnificent again. Had them off balance. Couple of swings got him. Other than that, he was really good.”
Yu Darvish takes round 1 against Shohei Ohtani. #NLDS pic.twitter.com/mbzuun8YEI
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
The second, which provided the Dodgers with a much-needed insurance run, came off the bat of Teoscar Hernandez in the bottom of the seventh inning.
FIRE 🔥
US 🔥
UP 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Ib74izP1qO— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
“I was just trying to get on base, he was pitching really good, he was dotting a lot of pitches on the corners, I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit,” Hernandez told FOX during the game. “This is why I signed here. I’ve never seen the stadium as loud as this.”
The MVP of Game 4; the Dodgers bullpen, did the rest, sending the 53,183 blue-towel waving fans into a frenzy with four shutout innings to secure the victory.
102 MPH GAS 🔥
Michael Kopech is throwing flames! pic.twitter.com/GuY1YuurCK
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
After allowing six runs in a sloppy second inning in Game 3 of the series, the Dodgers pitching staff combined for 24 scoreless innings against San Diego.
The victory was the fifth consecutive Game 5 win by the Dodgers in the postseason, and the first time they clinched a series at home since Game 4 of the 2013 NLDS against the Atlanta Braves.