Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
In a truly shocking turn of events, Yoshinobu Yamamoto got run support early and often tonight, and he rewarded the Dodgers by cruising through seven mostly uneventful innings to lock down a 6-1 win to start the series against the White Sox.
The Dodgers have now won seven of their last eight games, and are riding a seven-series winning streak, looking to make it eight tomorrow.
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As mentioned, the bats of the Dodgers started early, utilizing a two-out rally in the 1st. Things began with walks to Will Smith and Max Muncy, and a Teoscar Hernandez single plated the game’s first run in Dills. Andy Pages then followed by ripping a double to score Muncy, and a Michael Conforto single followed to score both Teoscar and Pages. 4-0.
Put up four on 'em! pic.twitter.com/2MneFTaVVW
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 2, 2025
After a quiet 2nd, a Smith infield single started the 3rd, and he got to second on a wild pitch. After two outs followed that only advanced Smith a base, Pages came up again and singled after working himself back from a 1-2 count. That scored Smith to make it 5-0.
What an at-bat for Pages, who battles back from 1-2 and drills a single the other way for another run. pic.twitter.com/URKj5eZAbM
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) July 2, 2025
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On the other end of things was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who finally got to pitch with a lead, and for the most part it looked like it helped him settle in.
After a clean 1st, he got into minor trouble with a one-out walk and single in the 2nd, but worked out of it partially thanks to a fan not interfering with a catch.
This Dodgers fan knows ball. Salute. pic.twitter.com/pyi5JUKLYu
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) July 2, 2025
Yamamoto came right back with a dominant 3rd, including a diabolical sequence against a rookie.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto with a fastball, cutter, and split combo for a strikeout that should be illegal to do to a rookie. pic.twitter.com/745nN0SCCd
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) July 2, 2025
However, he gave up a lead-off single to start the 4th, which was cashed in with two outs by a Lenyn Sosa double to cut the lead to 5-1.
After giving up the double, Yamamoto then got 10 batters in a row to end his night in impressive fashion: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 98 Pitches.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto builds on his rain-shortened scoreless outing last time, striking out 8 over 7 innings of 1-run ball. pic.twitter.com/p7uFkvt4tO
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) July 2, 2025
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Back to the offense, Shohei Ohtani got the run Yamamoto gave up back in the 4th, hitting his 30th dinger of the year almost straight up to make it 6-1.
No. 30 for No. 17! pic.twitter.com/hjQji5CH6I
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 2, 2025
They then kinda shut things down, going scoreless over the final four frames.
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To close the game out, Jack Dreyer entered in the 8th for a scoreless inning and Anthony Banda closed the game out in the 9th with one of his own.
Anthony strikes out the side! pic.twitter.com/sgJcHGAYWz
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 2, 2025
Easy peasy.
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Old friend Miguel Vargas was giving some business to Teoscar at first.
lol https://t.co/P7J1qFtajb pic.twitter.com/5593NqhRsq
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) July 2, 2025
Speaking of Vargas, the Dodgers gave him a 2024 World Series ring today.
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| NL West | Record | GB |
|---|---|---|
| Dodgers | 54-32 | – |
| Padres | 45-39 | 8.0 |
| Giants | 45-41 | 9.0 |
The series continues tomorrow at the usual time of 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET on MLB Network. It’ll be Clayton Kershaw continuing his quest for 3000 strikeouts against Sean Burke.
