Yoshinobu Yamamoto strong in return, but Dodgers’ defense blunders lead away

LOS ANGELES — Given the medical travails of the Dodgers’ pitching staff this season, it might have been tempting to view Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s return Tuesday night with eyes covered, peering out between your fingers.

But it could not have gone much better.

In his first game since leaving his June 15 start with a strained rotator cuff, Yamamoto struck out the side in the first inning and eight of the first 12 batters he faced. He allowed just one run on four hits while completing four strong innings.

The eighth inning was the time to look away. The Dodgers made three errors, fueling a five-run rally that doomed them to a 6-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

“It was just a different team that I didn’t really recognize in that eighth inning,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “For seven innings I thought we played some fantastic baseball.”

Yamamoto’s reassuring performance far outweighed the sloppy finish, even if the loss allowed the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks (both winners Tuesday) to pull within 4½ and five games, respectively, of the Dodgers in the National League West.

“Everything looked good – his fastball, his curveball, split. It was pretty surprising. I didn’t know how he was going to look coming back but he looked better than ever,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said.

“It’s a big boost. He’s a really good pitcher. Coming back, not really built up or anything, he went out there and threw the ball really well the way he can. Just to have him out there was a boost for the whole team. Looking forward to seeing some more.”

Yamamoto made just two starts on a minor-league injury rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City and completed just two innings in his second start due to a high pitch count (53). But the Dodgers prioritized getting him four starts at the major-league level before the postseason over giving him more time to build back up with OKC.

Tuesday’s comeback start did wonders for their confidence in Yamamoto being able to assume a leading role in October.

“Honestly speaking, I didn’t know what to expect,” Roberts admitted. “He really showed out. I didn’t know if there was going to be rust or how he was going to command the baseball, but he passed with flying colors.

“It couldn’t have been a better outcome for us. … I feel much better about the rotation tonight than I did 24 hours ago and on the heels of Tyler (Glasnow)’s bullpen, knowing that he’s going to pitch on Friday in a simulated game, multiple innings, it’s starting to turn in terms of getting back the rotation that we had envisioned.”

Yamamoto used 15 pitches to strike out the side in the first inning, touching 98 mph with his four-seam fastball. He struck out Cody Bellinger to start the second inning for four consecutive strikeouts then gave up a run on three singles. The third was a chopper by Pete Crow-Armstrong that jumped up and caromed off Freddie Freeman’s chest behind first base, allowing the run to score.

Yamamoto struck out the side again in the third inning, then worked through an eight-pitch fourth inning aided by a 3-6-3 double play.

He finished with 59 pitches, averaging 96.3 mph on his fastball (up from 95.5 mph before his trip to the injured list). Yamamoto’s splitter was particularly effective, inducing six of the 11 swings-and-misses he got.

“I think yeah, today was pretty close to the best of the year,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter.

“My breaking ball was working pretty well today. I’d like to continue this kind of quality with it. … Today’s outing turned out much better than I expected. I think that’s because of what I was doing during the rehab.”

The Dodgers built a 3-1 lead on three solo home runs off Yamamoto’s Samurai Japan teammate from the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga. Tommy Edman jumped first-pitch fastballs for his first two home runs of the season. Max Muncy waited until a 2-and-0 count to find a fastball to his liking in the fifth inning and lined it into the right field pavilion for a solo home run.

That 3-1 lead disappeared in the eighth inning thanks to poor defense by the Dodgers.

After Alex Vesia pitched a scoreless seventh, Roberts sent him back out to start the eighth against the switch-hitting Ian Happ, turning him around to his weaker side. Vesia walked him on four pitches.

Evan Phillips came in from the bullpen. Dansby Swanson chopped a ball in front of the plate that Barnes fielded but his throw pulled Freeman off the base at first, putting the tying runs on base.

“It was horrible,” Barnes said of the inning. “This one’s on me. I’ve got to make that play. It changes the whole inning. Runner at first or first and second is a lot different pitching. Just the whole inning got screwed up.”

Both runners scored when Seiya Suzuki singled to center field and Edman’s throw to third base skipped through and into the photo well. Shortstop Miguel Rojas was lined up to cut the throw, trying to deke Suzuki so he would stay at first base. Instead, it crossed up Muncy, who was on the wrong side of the sliding baserunner as the ball bounded away.

“I mean, it was thrown right at him (Rojas),” Muncy said. “Yeah, I thought he was going to catch it.”

The Dodgers intentionally walked Bellinger to set up a double play and Phillips got a ground ball. Kiké Hernandez charged the slowly-hit ball, tried to field it and tag Bellinger as he ran past. He dropped the ball and came away empty as the go-ahead run scored.

Two more runs scored on a Nico Hoerner double and a ground out.

“There’s a lot of things that happened tonight that led to us not winning a baseball game,” Roberts said. “(Andy Pages in the seventh inning) getting picked off at first base, I think, changed the momentum. Not being able to make a play. Austin threw the ball wide. The play that Kiké (didn’t make) – it was a bang-bang tweener but turned into an error. The ball that got by Muncy somehow turned into more runs.

“The four-pitch walk to Happ to start the inning from Alex was uncharacteristic. Those are things that just can’t happen.”

The game ended with Crow-Armstrong robbing Muncy of a second home run on a drive to the center field wall.