Dodgers 3, Padres 0: Yoshinobu Yamamoto dominates with 10 Ks over 7 shutout frames

Chad Moriyama 07/04/2026 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

This series has started with two brutal, demoralizing losses for the Padres and two thrilling, hilarious wins for the Dodgers. For an encore to that on the Fourth of July, things were a lot less dramatic thanks to Yoshinobu Yamamoto putting on a masterclass. The Dodgers didn’t do much scoring, but literally anything was enough in a 3-0 shutout win.

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Wandy Peralta took the bump for the Padres as an opener, and he got the first two outs of the 1st, but then issued a walk to Freddie Freeman on a pitch-clock violation, and Mookie Betts followed by thumping a double into the gap. Unfortunately, Freddie was cut down at the plate, but with two outs, Kyle Tucker up next, and a lefty on the mound, it’s hard to blame Dino Ebel this time.

Griffin Canning took over in the 2nd and started his outing with a clean frame, but the 3rd began with a walk, single, and wild pitch to put a pair in scoring position. With one down, Andy Pages followed with a single of his own to make it 1-0 Dodgers, but that was all they would get.

Canning worked around a lead-off walk in the 4th, and then got a clean 5th to end his time on the mound,

Kyle Hart then entered for the 6th, and his night started with Freddie Freeman celebrating his All-Star berth with his 15th of the year to make it 2-0.

He did then retire six in a row, and Mason Miller entered for the 9th since he amusingly hadn’t been used in a bit. He started by hitting Tommy Edman, who advanced to second on a groundout, and then scored on a Freddie single to make it 3-0 Dodgers.

All of that? More than enough. Much more.

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For the Dodgers, it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and he had another one of those outings where he just looked like he was in complete control.

He gave up a lead-off and two-out single in the 1st, but worked around that trouble with a pair of strikeouts in the inning.

Yoshi gave up another lead-off single in the 2nd, but saw that erased on a hit-and-run liner hit right to Freddie for a double play, helping him to face the minimum.

He continued with two strikeouts in a clean 3rd, then issued a one-out walk in the 4th but amusingly got the Padres to burn both their challenges and then got another strikeout on a bail out.

The 5th saw him resume with a clean frame that included a strikeout, and he got two more punchies to cruise through the 6th.

Yamamoto then got the first two outs of the 7th before walking a batter, but unlike the Padres yesterday, he shut that down with a strikeout to end the 7th and his outing.

Absolute and complete dominance: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K, 100 Pitches.

For the 8th, Brock Stewart entered and retired the first two batters before giving up a groundball hustle double, at which point Dave Roberts turned to Alex Vesia for a handedness matchup. All he did was throw three pitches to get three strikes for a K to end the 8th.

With Tanner Scott unavailable, it was Will Klein for the save in the 9th, and all he did was strikeout two and get a groundball for the side.

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The Dodgers improve to 59-31 on the year and have won 10 of their last 12.

The series finale is a few hours earlier tomorrow at 1:20 PM HT/4:20 PM PT/7:20 PM ET on NBC and Peacock. It’ll be Emmet Sheehan looking to find consistency against JP Sears.

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