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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Miami Marlins’ and Saint Louis alum Jordan Yamamoto pitches to St. Louis Cardinals’ Paul DeJong during the first inning of a baseball game today in Miami.
Wearing No. 50 in honor of his hometown state, Jordan Yamamoto made the most of his Major League Baseball debut.
The 2014 Saint Louis alumnus and now Miami Marlins right-hander tossed seven shutout innings to earn the win against the St. Louis Cardinals today allowing three hits and two walks with five strikeouts in a 9-0 victory.
Miami led 6-0 when Yamamoto, who also drove in a run with a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the sixth inning, got Kolten Wong to fly out to right on his 95th pitch thrown to end the top of the seventh inning.
ALWAAAAYYYSS BUUUUUUUUUUNNNTTTTT. #JuntosMiami pic.twitter.com/Tj6AewnDOu
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) June 13, 2019
A 12th-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2014 draft, Yamamoto received a $330,000 signing bonus and spent four seasons in rookie ball and Single-A before he was traded as part of the deal that sent reigning National League MVP Christian Yelich to the Brewers for four prospects in January 2018.
He was promoted to Class AA at the end of last season and was 3-5 with a 3.58 ERA in 12 starts for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in Double-A this year before finding out Tuesday he had been called up to the big leagues.
With his parents and sister in the stands after packing and making an 11-hour flight from Hawaii to Miami just in time for the start of the game, Yamamoto retired the first seven batters he faced and recorded his first MLB strikeout against Wong.
6⃣⬆️6⃣⬇️#Marlins No. 17 prospect Jordan Yamamoto is off to a strong start in his #MLB debut and used a nasty breaking ball to record his first career strikeout. pic.twitter.com/BlbZXqquVA
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 12, 2019
He gave up his first two hits to start the fourth inning and had runners on the corners with nobody out but got out of the jam with an inning-ending double play.
Wong singled off Yamamoto to start the fifth but was erased on another double play turned by the Marlins. Yamamoto struck out two more in a perfect sixth inning and allowed a two-out walk in the seventh before Wong’s flyout. He threw 61 of his 95 pitches for strikes.
Wong’s at-bat against Yamamoto was the first time a player from Hawaii hit off a pitcher from Hawaii since Wong faced Kauai’s Kirby Yates in a 2017 game.
Yamamoto is the first Saint Louis alum to play in the major leagues since Brandon League played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Dodgers from 2004 to ‘14.
He is ranked as the Marlins’ 17th-best prospect according to MLBPipeline.
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