Dodgers 8, Yankees 2: Yoshinobu Yamamoto with an ideally-timed dominant complete game in the first game of a doubleheader

Chad Moriyama 07/19/2026 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

Following the rainout yesterday, the Dodgers and Yankees continued their series today (and will complete it later) with its marquee pitching matchup. It was a low-scoring affair as you’d expect, but the Dodgers worked Cam Schlittler to death with foul balls, leading to an early lead and early exit. Meanwhile, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was extremely efficient and provided exactly what the Dodgers needed with a complete game before a doubleheader in an 8-2 victory.

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Yankees phenom Cam Schlittler had the Dodgers dominated early, as he struck out the side in the 1st and looked like it was gonna be one of those games. However, even that inning took 17 pitches, and that would prove a trend as well.

After another strikeout started the 2nd, Max Muncy skied a ball high into the air that was lost by Max Schuemann in the sun and Jazz Chisholm Jr. didn’t bother helping him out, and so Munce had a double.

Kyle Tucker tried to bloop him home by Anthony Volpe made up for the previous blunder with a great leaping catch.

Schlittler got out of that inning, but it took 27 pitches to do so. The 3rd thankfully saw some of their work pay off, as Tommy Edman hit a one-out single and Shohei Ohtani immediately took advantage by smashing a double into the right-center gap to score Edman for the game’s first run. Later on with two outs, Freddie Freeman added to the lead with a single to score Ohtani to make it 2-0 Dodgers before the rally stalled.

Hey, something like a cushion.

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For the Dodgers, it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the bump coming off his worst start of the season, and he got things started right with an eight-pitch 1st that included a nasty strikeout.

Yamamoto continued to cruise through a clean 2nd, helped along by Tommy Edman’s defense.

He stayed perfect through the 3rd by retiring the side in order again, including a great Max Muncy play (and Freddie Freeman dig) and some paint for a strikeout.

The dream of another perfecto run ended quickly in the 4th, as Trent Grisham smashed a ball into the second deck in right to cut the lead to 2-1.

Fortunately, that didn’t faze Yama much, as he retired the next nine to get him through the 6th that easy.

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Back to the other side.

Obviously the 3rd took a lot of pitches for Schlitter (27), and he struck out the side in the 4th after allowing a lead-off single … which took 17 more, and thus he was at 88 pitches going into the 5th. And in that inning he seemed to be showing signs of wearing down, as he hit Tommy with an 0-2 pitch, he got to second on a deflected groundout from Shohei, and then scored when Andy Pages doubled by literally throwing the bat at the ball.

3-1 Dodgers and that was all for Schlittler.

Tim Hill entered for the Yankees and minimized the damage by getting the final two outs, only issuing an intentional walk. Surprisingly, he continued in the 6th and got the first two outs there before issuing a walk. Angel Chivilli was next up to get the last out of that frame, and then he continued in the 7th with a 1-2-3 inning.

The 8th saw Jake Bird take over and a nightmare inning followed. After starting strong with a strikeout, he seemed to get Max Muncy to pop foul but Ryan McMahon couldn’t see it in the sun and it fell in. That led to a Muncy walk, Kyle Tucker blooped a single to corner the runners, and Teoscar Hernandez followed with a ground-rule double falling in down the line in right for a run.

Dalton Rushing was next and he walked to load the bases, which is when Tommy Edman opened up the game by working a full count and singling two runs in. Shohei then followed with a single of his own, and it was 7-1 just like that.

That was it for Bird, who gave way to Camilo Doval, who hit Andy Pages to re-load things, and Freddie Freeman followed with a sac fly to make it 8-1. After almost hitting Mookie Betts, he walked him to load things up again, but finally managed to end the 8th.

Doval continued in the 9th, issuing a pair of one-out walks, but with two down Alex Call got picked off third by Ali Sanchez with Shohei at the plate and a 2-0 count. Come on, man.

Anyway, that was it for the Dodgers.

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To close out the game, Yamamoto’s streak of batters retired ended on a lead-off double in the 7th. He responded to that with an infield pop-up, can of corn to center, and then got a bit fortunate on a lineout.

In the 8th, now with a comfortable lead and dealing with a long layoff, he was victimized with a lead-off “double” that Andy lost in the sun and then a bloop single from Anthony Volpe led to Yama being charged with his second run. 8-2 Dodgers.

It looked like it could get out of control, but Yamamoto bounced back by inducing a double play and then closing out the 8th without further issue.

That allowed him to try for the complete game in the 9th, and he did just that for his first regular season complete game.

Complete dominance when the Dodgers needed exactly that: 9 IIP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 102 Pitches.

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Seemingly random, but a great story from Joe Davis about Max Muncy struggling during last year’s World Series and a fix from Corey Seager via hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc that primed him for a great Game 7.

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63-36, best record in baseball, still perfect after the break.

The next game will be … soon at 1:20 PM HT/4:20 PM PT/7:20 PM ET on NBC and Peacock. It’ll be Kyle Hurt as the opener for the Dodgers, presumably with Landon Knack as the bulk guy, and the Yankees will be doing … something?

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