LOS ANGELES — Friday night was a chess match that went down to the final pitch. Saturday was not that. Twenty-four hours after Freddie Freeman’s walk-off hero moment capped a tense 1-0 thriller, the Dodgers came out and made it look easy. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was brilliant over eight innings, the offense erupted for nine runs in the first inning alone, and Los Angeles walked away with a 9-2 win over the Angels in Game 2 of the Freeway Series at Dodger Stadium. Emmet Sheehan gets the ball in Sunday’s series finale. This one, however, belonged to Yoshi from the moment it started.
The Angels Blinked First
Los Angeles Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz did not survive the first inning, and the Dodgers made sure of it. The Angels actually drew first blood on an Oswald Peraza triple that scored Wade Meckler, giving the Halos a 1-0 lead before the Dodgers had even stepped to the plate. It did not last.
Shohei Ohtani led off the bottom half with a single and Andy Pages followed with a two-run blast to left, his 14th of the season, flipping the score to 2-1.
The Dodgers were not done. Mookie Betts singled and a Max Muncy soft grounder loaded the bases, then a Ryan Ward double to center scored two more. Kochanowicz uncorked a wild pitch that moved runners up, and when Alex Freeland slapped a ground ball up the middle, shortstop Zach Neto threw it away. Three more scored on the error. Just like that, it was 7-1 before anyone could blink.
Then Ohtani made it worse. After Brent Suter came on in relief, Ohtani turned on a line drive to center for his 11th home run of the season, a two-run shot that made it 9-1 and sent whatever was left of Kochanowicz’s evening spiraling into the dugout. The Angels used three pitchers before the first inning was over. The game was decided in the first twelve minutes.
Eight and Out for Yamamoto
With a nine-run cushion, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had the luxury of working clean, and he took full advantage. The right-hander was sharp from the first pitch, getting quick outs and keeping the Angels off balance for the better part of eight innings. He allowed just two hits, walked none, and struck out four while giving up a single earned run on Zach Neto’s ninth-inning solo homer, well after Yamamoto had already been lifted.
The Angels could not solve him in any meaningful stretch. Mike Trout went down twice on strikes. The middle of the order was a non-factor all night. Yamamoto worked through the sixth before the lineup finally recorded a hit off him, and even then the damage never materialized.
Eight innings, two hits, one earned run. The win improved his record to 6-4 with a 2.68 ERA.
Jack Dreyer came on to finish things in the ninth and allowed a solo shot to Neto, the only blemish on an otherwise spotless final line.
Up Next
Emmet Sheehan takes the mound Sunday in the series finale against the Angels. First pitch at Dodger Stadium is set for 1:10 p.m. PT.
