With each successive outing, the 12 year / $325 Million contract given to international superstar right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto seems to sting Dodgers fans less and less; after all, it’s not our money, right? (Ticket, parking, and Dodger Dogs prices notwithstanding).

On Tuesday night in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 51,496, the 25-year-old Bizen, Japan native, who the Dodgers signed to that free agent contract on December 19, 2023, had what was by far his best outing to date against the visiting Miami Marlins.

In his 8.0 innings pitched on Tuesday night (joining Tyler Glasnow as the only Dodgers starter to complete eight innings thus far this season (of which they had zero in 2023), Yamamoto allowed only two runs on five hits, while striking out five and walking none.

So dialed in was Yamamoto that he threw 19 consecutive strikes before throwing his first ball, which no Dodgers pitcher has done since pitch-tracking data began in 2000.

“I think that it’s good for the starters to put themselves in a position to go deep in a game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame of Yamamoto. “And that comes with throwing strikes, being efficient, not having your stuff kind of taper back. Tyler’s done it a handful of times. Yoshi’s done it a few times, Gavin Stone’s done it a few times. So that’s been really helpful for all of us. And I think most importantly for them to feel that when it gets to the sixth inning, the seventh inning, that there’s still some more gas in the tank that they can still be effective.”

“Their line-up, everybody was being overall very aggressive, but I was ahead in the count,” Yamamoto told reporters through an interpreter following his fourth win of the season. “In the first inning I gave up a home run with the first pitch, but after that, I stayed calm and I was being able to execute my pitches with good Mechanics.”

The game was in the bank after 28 pitches into the bottom of the first inning when Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy slugged his first grand slam of the season and sixth of his career, a 381-foot opposite field blast to left-center field, to give the Dodgers a (very) early 4-1 lead.

“Max Muncy going the opposite field is really big,” former Dodger and current Dodgers broadcaster Orel Hershiser recapped postgame.

The Dodgers would pile on four more runs bottom of the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Dodgers right fielder Andy Pages, a Marlins throwing error, and a two-run home run by Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux, his first of the season.

With their win, coupled with a San Diego Padres loss, the Dodgers increased their lead over the Friars to 6.5 games in the NL West. And though “It’s still early,” as many like say, it’s hard for Dodgers fans not to smile about that.

Play Ball!

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