Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Near No-Hitter

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was present on the mound.

And he was close.

Three outs away from a historic no-hitter.

However, it slipped away. Yamamoto made a critical error, allowing a home run to Tristan Peters, who blasted a fastball over the right-field stands at Chicago’s Leight Field.

Despite the Dodgers winning 7-1, the no-hitter was dashed, much like Peters’ impressive hit.

This felt reminiscent of last September when Yamamoto was one out away from a no-hitter against the Orioles but gave up a home run to Jackson Holiday.

Reflecting on the game later, Yamamoto smiled and stated, “Baseball is difficult,” during an interview in Japanese.

After Peters’ home run, manager removed Edgar Kero to bring in Alex Beshear, who closed out the game with the final two outs.

Yamamoto ended his outing with 8 and a third innings, 7 strikeouts, no walks, and just one hit allowed.

In the long run, he will look back at this game without any regrets.

Given his recent performances, it seems inevitable that he will have another shot at a no-hitter. Having already pitched them in the Japanese League for two seasons, it feels just a matter of time before he achieves something similar in the Major Leagues.

What he delivered against the White Sox wasn’t a fluke. Yamamoto possesses six different pitches, and when his fastball is working like it was in this game, hitters face an uphill battle.

“It’s not just the quantity;” pitching coach Mark Prior commented, “It’s the ability to pitch into four different quadrants and execute with efficiency that makes him special.”

The White Sox may have a top-five offense in the American League, but on this day, they resembled a struggling team. Yamamoto was consistently one step ahead.

Prior noted, “He’s surgical on every pitch… From a hitter’s perspective, it must be challenging to zero in on a specific pitch or location.” Though he had a couple of off moments, he mostly dominated the zone.

Yamamoto skillfully used a cutter to left-handed hitters and a sinker to right-handed ones. Remarkably, the ball count did not even reach three until the fifth inning.

Perfect until the eighth inning, a fielding error by shortstop Mookie Betts led to a runner on base. “I just missed my usual ground ball,” Betts admitted, not making any excuses.

Yamamoto remained unfazed and even gave Betts a friendly tap on the back as he went back to reviewing his notes.

Over recent weeks, Yamamoto has been accumulating impressive performances. Since a rough outing against the Giants on May 12, he has started five games, earning four wins and suffering only one loss with an astounding ERA of 1.01.

In his last outing before this one, he pitched seven perfect innings after giving up a few runs in the opening inning against the Angels.

“Every time he takes the mound, we feel like he has a solid chance to do something remarkable,” Prior noted.

What Yamamoto has shown is a sign of more incredible moments to come.