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LOS ANGELES >> Ten years after watching his first major league game at Dodger Stadium, Jordan Yamamoto returned Sunday for a most bittersweet experience.
The right-hander from Pearl City endured his first major league loss as the Los Angeles Dodgers routed the Miami Marlins, 9-0. Yamamoto pitched the first four innings, allowed a season-high five runs on four hits and two walks, collected four strikeouts and threw 91 pitches, with only 51 being strikes.
Intensifying his disappointment was the fact that the loss came in front of a friendly contingent that crossed the ocean to watch the 23-year-old.
That group included “a lot of my family, cousins, uncles, a lot of my friends I grew up with from Little League days, when I was 7-, 8-years old,” Yamamoto said. “You had a sense of home.”
“That’s how tight-knit Hawaii is,” the Saint Louis School alumnus said. “Family is family, doesn’t matter if you’re blood or not. If they’ve been there from the beginning, then they’ll be there till the end. It was kind of a letdown that I got too erratic and performed the way I did, with all of them taking the time out and spending the money just to watch me fail.”
Nevertheless, Yamamoto’s start closed a personal circle. He was a 13-year-old when his Pony League baseball team came to California for a tournament and visited Dodger Stadium for the first time.
“We sat in the nosebleed seats down the left-field line and we watched the game,” Yamamoto said. “It’s just kind of cool being back here 10 years later and pitching out here.”
Yamamoto’s performance diminished the coolness. In the first inning, the right-hander had a chance to prevent Justin Turner at third base from scoring when Max Muncy came to the plate with two outs. Yamamoto threw a 74 mph curveball and an 86 mph cutter for two quick strikes.
But Muncy worked the count full, then propelled an 88-mph cutter into the third row of the bleachers in left-center field for his 26th home run of the season — the first Yamamoto allowed during his six weeks in the major leagues.
The rookie experienced more problems in the third inning. Yamamoto threw two fastballs past Walker Buehler for strikes before walking the pitcher. Two pitches later, Joc Pederson sent a
91-mph fastball into the
Marlins’ bullpen down the right-field line, and the Dodgers built a 4-0
advantage.
“If I don’t have my fastball, it’s going to be a rough day,” Yamamoto said. “It was one of those days where I couldn’t get my pitches over early. When I fell behind in counts, I threw the fastball right where they were looking. They just spit on everything I threw except for the fastballs.”
With no command of his fastball, Yamamoto relied more on his curveball in the fourth, with mixed results. Kike Hernandez poked a 74-mph curve down the left-field line for a run-scoring double before Austin Barnes and Buehler took curves for called third strikes.
Yamamoto conceded only three extra-base hits in his previous six starts before the Dodgers amassed three extra-base hits in four innings.
“They’re a great hitting team, simple as that,” he said. “They don’t chase many pitches outside the zone. If you’re going to miss on a couple of pitches, like my curveball and my slider to begin the game, they’ll eliminate those out of your arsenal and just look fastball.”
Marlins manager Don Mattingly believes Yamamoto will recover quickly from his first loss.
“Jordan’s going to be fine,” Mattingly said. “He just missed spots, knowing that he made mistakes with location. He’s pretty good at self-evaluation. Jordan’s a pretty unique kid from the standpoint of his demeanor. His composure’s good.”
That composure reflects more of a veteran’s approach to pitching.
“He’s able to throw the ball where he wants, pretty much,” Mattingly said. “But he’s really good at reading bats, reading swings, being able to add and subtract to his fastball. He’ll throw his fastball at 88. He’ll throw his fastball at 93. He has a couple of different breaking balls. He has a pretty good feel for what they’re doing and he’s really unpredictable. You really never know what he’s going to throw.”
Because of Yamamoto’s demeanor, a frustrating defeat could provide a turning point.
“You learn more from bad games than from good games,” the rookie said. “I’ve just got to look at video, figure it out, talk with the coach and talk with the catcher, and fix what I need to fix.”
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