Yamamoto’s no-hit – A no-hit bid carried into the ninth by Los Angeles right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto was broken when Tristan Peters led off the frame with a homer, but the Dodgers still rolled to a 7-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Yamamoto struck out seven and reached 10
Yoshinobu Yamamoto looked locked in as the Los Angeles Dodgers opened the door to something rare, gliding into the ninth with a no-hit bid still intact. Then Tristan Peters didn’t wait around.
Peters took a 96.6 m.p.h. fastball from Yamamoto and deposited it into right field for a leadoff homer. slicing through the tension just as the sellout crowd of 37. 832 had started to feel the night tightening toward history. Yamamoto ultimately settled for a dominant 7-1 Dodgers win on Saturday. the kind of performance that leaves you wondering how close “almost” can get.
Yamamoto, the 27-year-old Japanese right-hander, wasn’t new to the late-inning heartbreak. He had also carried a no-hitter into the ninth at Baltimore on Sept. 6, only to surrender a solo homer to Jackson Holliday with two out. Los Angeles went on to lose that game 4-3. This time, the Dodgers were ready for what came next: Alex Vesia closed it out.
Still, even after the celebration, Yamamoto was left to process another near-miss. “What I did, I didn’t make it, complete it, because of the ninth inning, the no-hitter,” he said through a translator. “But how I was pitching, I was pretty satisfied.”
The numbers offered plenty to feel good about. Yamamoto improved to 4-0 and posted a 0.94 ERA in his last four starts. During his win streak, he has surrendered 14 hits and struck out 24 in 28 2/3 innings. In his previous start. he retired his last 22 batters while pitching eight innings in a 9-2 win against the Angels. and in this one. he also retired his first 23 batters against Chicago.
Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior pointed to what made Yamamoto so difficult even when danger was near. “He can attack the plate on both sides from ball to strike probably better than anybody I’ve ever seen,” Prior said.
The last thing standing between a clean late run and perfection was a series of moments that never quite looked settled—starting with a mistake in the eighth. Shortstop Mookie Betts mishandled Chase Meidroth’s two-out grounder for an error. ending a stretch that had included calm. clean work. “I’m not making any excuses. I should have made the play,” Betts said.
Betts’ apology came with the game already tilted in Los Angeles’ favor, but the path mattered. After that eighth-inning error, Jacob Gonzalez bounced to second for the final out in the eighth. Peters then took over in the ninth. sending Yamamoto’s no-hit bid into the history books of what might have been.
Yamamoto departed after Edgar Quero flied to centre for the first out of the ninth. He was met by a standing ovation from the sellout crowd as he walked off, a recognition of how thorough his control had been up to that point.
Chicago never really cracked the rhythm, and White Sox manager Will Venable didn’t pretend otherwise. “One of the best outings we’ve seen from an opponent this year,” Venable said. “The stuff was outstanding. Lived on the edges. We didn’t have a ton to hit.”
Yamamoto struck out seven and threw 109 pitches, with 74 for strikes. Before the ninth. Chase Meidroth had the best chance for a hit when he fouled a liner hook just foul before striking out swinging for the final out of the fifth. There was also a short delay before the bottom of the sixth as the grounds crew worked on the area around the pitching rubber on the mound. but the restart didn’t disrupt him—he struck out Gonzalez on a full-count cutter. Peters bounced to first. and Quero fouled out to left.
Once the night turned, the White Sox could only watch, and Betts summed up the feeling in the simplest terms. “He was in the zone. He kept it out of the middle. I mean, kept them off balance,” Betts said. “I mean that’s just Yoshi being Yoshi, you know. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
Yoshinobu Yamamoto Dodgers White Sox Tristan Peters Mookie Betts Alex Vesia no-hit bid 7-1 victory World Series MVP Mark Prior Will Venable