It was one of those ‘speed bump’ kind of outings for Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his final start of Spring Training 2024 against the Seattle Mariners at Camelback Ranch on Wednesday afternoon.

After striking out the side in the top of the first inning on nine pitches and retiring nine of the first 11 batters he faced (five via strikeout), the proverbial wheels fell off of the bus for the (very) hard-throwing 25-year-old Bizen, Japan native, who the Dodgers signed to a monster 12-year / $325 million free agent contract on December 27.

After his perfect first inning, Yamamoto allowed four runs on seven hits to the next 12 Mariners batters he faced to finish his final tune-up having allowed those four runs on eight hits, with one walk and one wild pitch. He did, however, strike out seven of the 23 Mariners batters he faced, so there’s that.

“I thought the first couple innings were very good, flawless, and I think the third inning, I think there was a little bit of falling behind,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame of Yamamoto’s final start of the Spring. “Wasn’t really commanding that breaking ball for a strike, leaving some fastballs up and out over, and those guys took some good swings,” added the Dodgers skipper after his team’s ugly 8-1 loss to Seattle.

“Small difference (from my last start), wasn’t able to control my ball. And then my pitch kind of gave it up a bit in the zone,” Yamamoto told reporters postgame through an interpreter. “The next one is a real game and I’m getting myself ready to go back in there.”

That ‘real game’ will be the second game of the regular season for the Dodgers on March 21 against the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea, which gives Yamamoto exactly one week to put those wheels back on the bus.

Play Ball!

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