Baseball: Yamamoto throws 6 shutout frames, but Dodgers fall to Cards

The Mainichi

13 hours ago

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (Kyodo) -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw six scoreless innings, but the Los Angeles Dodgers offense was kept quiet in a 2-1 walk-off loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.
Pursuing his seventh win of the season, the Japanese right-hander left the mound with the game still scoreless after fanning nine while scattering four hits and two walks.
The Dodger lineup continued its recent struggles with a lack of timely hitting, leaving three runners stranded in the third and two in the sixth at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals broke the ice on Alec Burleson's RBI single in the eighth before Shohei Ohtani scored on a wild pitch to tie it for the Dodgers in the top of the ninth. St. Louis walked off on Nolan Arenado's single in the bottom of the inning.
"You sometimes win games thanks to your team scoring a lot of runs, but there are other games where you just have to persevere," Yamamoto said. "That's baseball."
The Los Angeles ace had his first matchup against Lars Nootbaar, his Samurai Japan teammate from the 2023 World Baseball Classic, striking him out as he led off for the Cardinals and fanning him again to end the second with the bases loaded.
"I was really looking forward to it," Yamamoto said. "I definitely pitched carefully (in the second inning). I think I threw a lot of good pitches."
Ohtani went 1-for-4 with a walk as he extended his hit streak to four games and gave the Dodgers their first run in 18 innings.
In other MLB action, Seiya Suzuki homered twice to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 6-1 win against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
The Japanese outfielder broke the ice with a line-drive solo blast to left with two out in the first inning. He delivered another solo shot to complete the scoring in the eighth, flying high over left field with his 16th home run of the season.
Suzuki spoke after the game about his friendly rivalry with teammate Pete Crow-Armstrong to lead the Cubs in home runs. The American outfielder kept his nose in front with homer No. 17 in the seventh inning.
"I keep asking him to remind me how many home runs he's hit so far," Suzuki said.