Giants 6, Dodgers 2: Yamamoto’s command was bad, umpire’s zone was worse, and big bats continue to scuffle

The rivalry between the Dodgers and Giants started with somewhat of a dud tonight, as the dueling aces narrative didn’t live up to the hype, partially thanks to the umpire putting a hefty paw on the scale. Regardless, the lineup couldn’t mount much of a challenge in a 6-2 loss.

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While Yoshinobu Yamamoto didn’t have his best command today, the umpire also squeezed him throughout, at times taking away multiple strikes per batter in key situations, leading to walks or leading to favorable counts for hitters.

He gave up a homer to Willy Adames in the 1st and then a grand slam to Casey Schmitt in the 3rd to put the Dodgers in a hole, though setting up the big blow was a flurry of brutal calls against Yamamoto.

In the end, he’ll be struck with an ugly looking line, but the fact remains that if the zone was simply called as designed, Yamamoto would likely have grinded out a five or six innings start with one or two earned instead: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 BB, 4 K, 102 Pitches.

Update

Despite being bad, this is honestly probably better than the umpire deserves. Yamamoto couldn’t stop the bleeding, but the context of a lot of these coming in the inning he gave up the grand slam makes it even worse, IMO.

Justin Wrobleski took over and was great, giving up just a solo shot and finishing the game: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 66 Pitches.

——

Offensively, it was basically Teoscar Hernandez, who had both of their hits, including his 12th dong of the year.

Other than that, the bats managed just four walks and only got another run on an early sac fly.

Yeesh.

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NL WestRecordGB
Giants41-29
Dodgers41-29
Padres38-302.0

They’ll do it again tomorrow at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET on MLB Network. It’ll be Clayton Kershaw looking to turn back the clock again against Landen Roupp.

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"A highly rational Internet troll." - Los Angeles Times