Yoshinobu Yamamoto surging at just the right time for Dodgers’ depleted rotation

A Los Angeles Dodgers rotation filled with injuries has seen a new ace emerge in right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Yamamoto pitched like the leader of a rotation — and perhaps one of the game’s top starters — in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and giving up no runs.

“He’s turning himself into a staff ace,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game.

Austin Riley doubled with two outs in the sixth inning for Atlanta’s first hit off Yamamoto (4-2). The right-hander lowered his ERA to 0.90, the best mark in the major leagues. He left the game with a 2-0 lead after allowing one hit with two walks and six strikeouts in six scoreless innings.

Yamamoto confirmed he feels he is pitching at the same top form he showed in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in his native Japan.

“Yes, I’ve been able to be at a high level,” Yamamoto said through a translator. “I think it feels very close to my top pitching.”

Yamamoto said he wasn’t focused on the possibility of a no-hitter, but Roberts said it entered his thoughts “for a quick minute.”

“He had no-hit stuff tonight,” Roberts said, adding the right-hander’s control and mastery of his splitter set the foundation for his dominance.

“I thought tonight the splitter was fantastic,” Roberts said. “His command was back to being who he is. The last (game) he wasn’t that sharp.”

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But even when giving up four walks in a 3-0 loss to Pittsburgh on April 25, Yamamoto’s less impressive starts have still been above par. He has yet to allow more than five hits or two earned runs in any of his seven starts this season.

The emergence of Yamamoto as an ace is especially important as the Dodgers try to adjust to having three starting pitchers on the injured list. The staff is without Blake Snell (shoulder inflammation), Tyler Glasnow (shoulder inflammation) and Clayton Kershaw (recovery from toe and knee surgery).

Yamamoto has allowed only four earned runs in 40 innings. For Roberts, that places him among the game’s elite starting pitchers.

“You look at a handful of guys that when they take the mound you know they’re going to go six innings and give you a chance to win the game,” Roberts said.

“There’s been so much consistent production from Yoshi, it is real.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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