TORONTO –– Last time he was in Toronto, Yoshinobu Yamamoto almost single-handedly neutralized the Blue Jays.
In his return Tuesday night, he needed a little help.
Through five innings in the Dodgers’ 4-1 win, the reigning World Series MVP was mimicking his Fall Classic dominance. He’d struck out six batters, including three in a row to begin the game. He’d allowed only one hit, on a second-inning fly ball that got over Kyle Tucker’s head in right.
The outing might have lacked the stakes of his previous visit to Rogers Centre, when Yamamoto logged back-to-back victories in Games 6 and 7 of an epic World Series battle.
But up to that point, he’d been almost as dominant.
Then, out of nowhere, he almost squandered the Dodgers’ 3-0 lead.
The Blue Jays finally broke through in the sixth, when Andrés Giménez hit a leadoff single and George Springer brought him home with an RBI double. In the seventh, Yamamoto left behind an even bigger jam, exiting the game with the tying runners aboard after Kazuma Okamoto doubled (staying alive via an ABS challenge that negated a called third strike earlier in his at-bat) and Ernie Clement bunted for a hit.
Just like that, reliever Alex Vesia was inheriting a high-leverage mess. And after he walked his first batter, the Blue Jays had the bases loaded with no outs.
Alas, as became their habit last October, the Dodgers found a way to escape.
Vesia prevented any runs from scoring, skipping off the bump three outs later with a pump of his fist. Blake Treinen and Edwin Díaz took care of the next two innings, sewing up the team’s fifth-consecutive win to clinch this week’s highly-anticipated rematch series.
And this time, it was Yamamoto cheering the biggest moments from the dugout, getting a lift from his teammates in a victorious six-plus-inning, one-run performance.
The Dodgers had already clinched a winning road trip with their victory in Monday’s series opener. Now, they’ve secured two series wins and have the chance Wednesday to go 6-0 on this East Coast swing.
It’s a sign that everything is clicking for the Dodgers right now –– from their offense (which now has 48 runs on the trip) to their starting pitching (led by Yamamoto and his 2.50 ERA through three outings) to their bullpen (which lowered its ERA to 2.70 after Wednesday’s three scoreless innings).
Now 9-2 overall, they are on the verge of reaching the 10-win mark faster than they have since 2021.
How about the two bats at the bottom of the order Tuesday, who helped spark all three scoring rallies for the Dodgers on the night.
No. 8 hitter Hyeseong Kim (who was a late addition to the lineup after Miguel Rojas was scratched because of a family matter) hit a leadoff double in the third inning, spurring a two-run frame that also included a 105 mph RBI single from Shohei Ohtani off the wall in right. In the fifth, he drew a leadoff walk before advancing to second on a Kevin Gausman balk.
No. 9 hitter Alex Freeland, who was in a 1-for-21 slump entering Tuesday, scored Kim in the fifth with an RBI single. Later, he added a double in the seventh, then a two-out infield single in the ninth. The latter knock was also accompanied by a throwing error from Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela, allowing Freeland to go to second. He eventually scored on an RBI single from Kyle Tucker, giving Díaz a little extra insurance for his fourth save.
And to be more specific, their manager John Schneider.
After Gausman’s balk in the fifth inning, Schneider came out of the dugout with only one intention. With his team in an early-season rut, it seemed like he was begging to get ejected from the game.
Following an extended argument, home plate umpire Dan Merzel finally obliged –– prompting a red-faced Schenider to dramatically spike his cap to the ground before berating Merzel inches away from his face.
If the outburst was intended to wake up his team, it failed. Instead, the banged-up Blue Jays dropped their sixth-straight game, and fell to 4-7 on the season.
The Dodgers will go for the series sweep Wednesday, when Shohei Ohtani will take the mound for the second time this season. He’ll face off against marquee offseason Toronto signing Dylan Cease. First pitch is at 3:07 p.m. Pacific.
