After a losing road trip, a homestand looked like an ideal time for the Dodgers to get right. Paul Skenes is a tough matchup for anybody, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto was on the mound for them at least. Well, it was Yamamoto who didn’t look sharp as the Dodger bats continued to get silenced in a 3-0 loss to the Pirates.
======
After a dominating start to the season, Yoshinobu Yamamoto wasn’t sharp today, which is not what the Dodgers needed at this time. He started the game by allowing a lead-off walk and then a steal, but rebounded with two outs that put him on the verge of escape. However, a two-out single from Enmanuel Valdez plated a run to make it 1-0 Pirates. He walked another in the inning before finally getting out of it, taking 32 pitches.
✅ Base robada #12 de la temporada.✅ Lidera MLB en robos.✅ 32 bases robadas consecutivas. pic.twitter.com/ecAT4PiFcm
— Los Piratas (@piratasbeisbol) April 26, 2025
Things started up again in the 2nd with a lead-off walk that was followed by a single, but he managed to pitch around that trouble with a pair of groundouts and a strikeout, taking another 22 pitches to put him at 54 through two frames.
It was yet another lead-off walk to start the 3rd, but he faced the minimum thanks to a double play and ended up needing just 11 pitches. Yamamoto then appeared to settle in the 4th with a clean 10-pitch inning, but the 5th was another struggle. It started with a two-base Max Muncy error, and three singles followed in the inning to plate two more runs (unearned) that made it 3-0 Pirates.
Yamamoto mostly minimized the damage despite not having it: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R (1 ER), 4 BB, 5 K, 94 Pitches.
On the other side, Paul Skenes was posting zeroes. He started with a clean 1st inning, then stranded a lead-off single in the 2nd, and worked around a bloop double in the 3rd.
The bats finally looked like they might breakthrough in the 4th when Freddie Freeman led off with a double and advanced to third on an error. However, the hottest hitters on the team could do nothing with it, as a groundout, strikeout, and flyout killed off the threat just as quick as it started.
Skenes faced a half-chance in the 5th with a two-out double but nothing came of it, and the same went for a single in the 6th. Surprisingly, Skenes came out for one batter in the 7th as well and got him, then the Pirates pen took over and ended that frame.
——
Out of the pen for the Dodgers, Alex Vesia faced the minimum in the 6th thanks to a single being erased by a Will Smith caught stealing. Luis Garcia took over in the 7th with a clean frame, and Noah Davis worked around a walk in the 8th and saved the arms by also getting the 9th with just a HBP allowed.
Still, the problem for the Dodgers was scoring runs.
Back to the bats, Andy Pages led the 8th off with a single, his third hit of the game. Then the heart of the Dodgers order made three outs in a row and he didn’t move. The 9th saw them getting a walk but nothing else.
Bart, I don’t mean to alarm you, but since April 8, Andy Pages has been the Dodgers best hitter, for better and worse.
— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) April 25, 2025 at 6:50 PM
======
The series continues on the weekend a hour earlier at 3:10 PM HT/6:10 PM PT/9:10 PM ET with Roki Sasaki looking to continue to progress against Mitch Keller.
