Unlike Wednesday, when the Los Angeles Dodgers scored a 5-2 victory after being down in the score almost all game, the comeback came up short on Thursday.
LA was down 9-2 at one point, and managed to make things very interesting and were as close as 12-11 on Thursday.
The San Diego Padres crossed the plate three times in the ninth frame, though, and ended up winning 15-11 to level the Seoul Series and travel back to the United States with a 1-1 record.
The Dodgers starter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, had a horrible outing and allowed five runs (all earned) in just an inning of work.
He struck out two hitters, but walked one and gave up a total of four hits in the start.
He was asked about the reasons behind the lousy game, and he gave a thorough, sincere answer.
“I wasn’t able to execute pitches from the stretch. I know how to fix it, and I’m going to talk to my pitching coaches, Mark [Prior] and Connor [McGuiness], and then get myself ready for the next one,” Yamamoto said.
Asked Yoshinobu Yamamoto about his uncharacteristic command issues:
"I wasn't able to execute pitches from the stretch. I know how to fix it, and I'm going to talk to my pitching coaches, Mark [Prior] and Connor [McGuiness], and then get myself ready for the next one." pic.twitter.com/vaPvqFiXAI
— Doug McKain (@DMAC_LA) March 21, 2024
Yamamoto’s stuff looked the part, but his command just wasn’t there.
He missed his location and paid for it on a number of occasions.
And since he worked from the stretch for most of the game, the results were not satisfactory.
After paying $325 million to get his services for the next 12 years, the Dodgers certainly hope he can be better next time.
After all, he posted a 1.82 career ERA in seven seasons in Japan and was at 1.21 last year with the Orix Buffaloes.
There is plenty of time for him to right the ship.
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