Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto works during the ninth inning of Game 2 of the World Series in Toronto on Saturday.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
On the brink of capping an incredible one-season turnaround, the Blue Jays are a win away from their first World Series win since 1993. They go into Friday’s Game 6 with the L.A. Dodgers on the ropes.
But the defending world champions won’t go quietly when the series resumes Friday in Toronto, especially with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound to start Game 6 – the same iron-armed ironman who pitched a complete-game gem against the Jays in Game 2 of the series.
Yamamoto dominated while pitching all nine in a 5-1 win for the Dodgers in Game 2. The 27-year-old right-hander allowed one run on four hits with no walks and eight strikeouts, retiring 20 straight batters to end the game.
Only George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Nathan Lukes and Ernie Clement managed to register hits against Yamamoto that night.
After doing the same to the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, Yamamoto became the first pitcher to throw a complete game in successive postseason starts since Curt Schilling in 2001.
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“Yes, it did give me a certain level of confidence,” said Yamamoto. “But now my mind is reset and then just focusing on the new game.”
Yamamoto even volunteered to pitch in Monday’s marathon 18-inning Game 3 when the Dodgers were getting thin on relief pitchers, despite being just two days removed from throwing 105 pitches in his complete nine innings in Game 2. He warmed up in the late extra innings of Game 3, but the Dodgers finished the game right before they needed to call him out of the bullpen.
He keeps batters off balance by mixing his six-pitch repertoire, including a four-seam fastball, splitter, curveball, cutter, sinker and slider.
Yamamoto (3-1, 1.57 ERA) has been stellar in the postseason, as the Dodgers are trying to become MLB’s first repeat champions since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees. Yamamoto has a shot to become the first pitcher since Tom Glavine with the 1992 Atlanta Braves to throw two complete games in a World Series.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto's Game 2 performance was described by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts as 'outstanding, uber-competitive and special.'Brynn Anderson/The Associated Press
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called Yamamoto’s Game 2 performance “outstanding, uber-competitive and special.”
“He’s pitched in huge ball games in Japan. He’s pitched in the WBC. Players that have the weight of a country on their shoulders, that’s pressure,” said Roberts. “I just feel that part of his DNA is to just perform at a high level in big spots and control his heartbeat and just continue to make pitches”
The Jays, who lead the series 3-2, will surely be confident, having just taken two of three from the Dodgers in Los Angeles and getting to host in Toronto until the series is decided. They have outscored the Dodgers 29-18 through five games.
They’ll send Kevin Gausman (2-2, 2.55 ERA) to start, who featured in the pitcher’s duel with Yamamoto in Game 2. Gausman was great in that game also, having lasted 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and three runs, with no walks while punching out six.
“I think we just kind of relish the opportunity to go out and go against the grain of everybody thinking maybe these guys don’t have it any more,” said 34-year-old Gausman, of the Jays rotation.
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Gausman will be the latest to face the Dodgers’ superstar Shohei Ohtani. The Japanese two-way star has crushed a team-leading three homers versus the Jays in the World Series so far, two doubles, plus five RBI.
Like he does nearly everywhere in baseball, Ohtani hits well at Rogers Centre. In 16 career regular season games at the Dome – including 72 plate appearances – Ohtani has four homers and 12 RBI, a .417 OBP and 1.027 OPS.
In the first two games of this World Series, in Toronto, he had a single homer (off Braydon Fisher in Game 1), plus two RBI and an OPS of .958.
With a 1.395 OPS through five games in the Fall Classic, Ohtani has a chance at World Series MVP if the Dodgers could rally for two straight wins.
Ohtani was the Game 4 starting pitcher, so he’s not slated for another start, but he has insisted he’d be ready to come out of the bullpen if needed, which would be a first in his Major League career.