Yanks Strike Back; Sink Yamamoto. NY Yankees 7 LA Dodgers 3

June 2, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0
Ben Rice hits 425-foot BLAST to center off Yamamoto.

The Yankees sunk Dodger Ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto — scoring 4 runs against him and knocking him out of the game in the 4th inning as they worked his pitch count to 96.

Meanwhile Ryan Yarbrough fired 6 innings of 4-hit, 1-run ball as the Yanks finally won a game in the 3-game weekend series, 7-3 on a Sunday night in LA.

Ben Rice had the big hit for NY — a 2-run, 425-foot BLAST to center in the 3rd that put the Yanks up 3-1.

Jonathan Loaisiga allowed a couple of solo homers in the 7th to make it a 6-3 game, but DJ LeMahieu — who machine-gunned 4 hits in the game — had a big RBI double in the top of the 9th for an insurance run.

With Luke Weaver out due to a tweeked hamstring, Tim Hill closed with a shutout 9th, and Devin Williams threw a shutout 8th in his role as setup man.

“That’s who they are when they’re at their best,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about the Yankee offense driving up Yamamoto’s pitch count. “Similar to the Dodgers; they make you earn it. It’s what the really good offenses do — they control the strike zone. I thought we did a really good job of that today. When he was in the strike zone we took advantage of a handful of pitches we got and were able to stick those. Just a really good approach up and down the lineup from all the guys and obviously Yarb set the tone for us.”

“Since the beginning of the game I wasn’t able to control my pitches, and then during the game I was trying to make an adjustment, and I was not able to,” said Yamamoto through an interpreter afterwards. “It’s a long season; during the season sometimes this kind of issue happens. I personally don’t feel I need to make any kind of adjustment at this point.”

NY improves to 36-22, in 1st in the AL East by 5.5 games over Toronto. LA falls to 36-23, in 1st in the NL West by 2 games over San Diego.

1. The Backstory

The Yankees of course pursued Yamamoto in the winter of 2023-24, when he ultimately signed with the Dodgers for 10 years at $33 M a year. Everyone learned after the signing that Yamamoto grew up a Dodger fan.

Yamamoto went 7-2 3.00 as a 25-year-old rookie in 2024, missing 3 months of the season with a rotator cuff strain. He returned in September making 4 starts before the playoffs, and then threw a gem against the Yankees in Game 2 of the World Series.

Yamamoto came into this game at 6-3 1.97 so far in 2025. (He leaves 6-4 2.39.)

Meanwhile, Yarbrough signed a $2M, 1-year deal with the Yanks in March after Toronto released him — Yarbrough demanding the release because Toronto had him slated to start the season in the minors.

And so that was the backdrop of the pitching matchup entering the game — the Yanks looking to salvage a game in the 3-game set after being smoked 18-2 the night before, and having lost the World Series too.

2. The Martian Clutch RBI Single Puts Yanks Up in 1st

The Yanks got to Yamamoto in the top of the 1st — with 1 out, Trent Grisham singled to center. Aaron Judge fouled out, but Ben Rice worked a walk, and Jasson Dominguez aka The Martian ripped a 2-out single to left for a 1-0 Yankee lead.

3. Rice BLAST Puts NY Up 3-1 in 3rd

The Dodgers tied the game on a Tommy Edman solo homer off Yarbrough in the bottom of the 2nd, but the Yanks struck back in the top of the 3rd.

Yamamoto pitched around Aaron Judge — walking him — and Ben Rice hit a 425-foot BLAST to center off an 0-2 splitter for a 3-1 Yankee lead.

Volpe-Wells Tandem Make It 4-1 NY in 3rd

The Yanks didn’t stop — continuing to pepper Yamamoto with hits. Anthony Volpe — who worked a walk against Yamamoto in the 1st — singled to right.

Austin Wells ripped a single to right sending Volpe to 3rd.

DJ LeMahieu struck out — but Volpe scored on a Yamamoto wild pitch.

Yankees 4 Dodgers 1.

Yamamoto Relieved in 4th at 96 Pitches

The Yanks continued to pepper Yamamoto — Paul Goldschmidt leading off the 4th with a single after a 9-pitch at bat. Next batter Trent Grisham flied out in a 5-pitch at bat, and then Aaron Judge flied out in a 5-pitch at bat and Yamamoto was done — removed with 2 outs as his pitch count had climbed to 96.

Anthony Banda was brought in to relieve him, and struck out Rice to end the 4th.

Yamamoto is now 6-4 2.39 on the year.

4. Yarbrough Fantastic Again

Meanwhile Ryan Yarbrough was simply fantastic again, utilizing his array of off-speed pitches and changing speeds to keep the powerful Dodger lineup off balance.

Yarbrough got a little help from his friends — batterymate Austin Wells throwing out Andy Pages at 3rd after Pages had hit a 1-out double in the 2nd.

The out was important as next batter Tommy Edman hit a HR — the only run Yarbrough gave up.

Yarbrough’s line: 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 5 K’s, 0 walks. He wins to go 3-0 2.83.

5. Yanks Small-Ball 2 More Runs in 5th

The Yanks small-balled 2 runs off reliever Anthony Banda in the 5th.

Jasson Dominguez walked to leadoff the inning, then stole 2nd — an amazing slide as he was “just” safe with his hand — and then continued his slide over the bag with his hand leaving the bag just as leg touched the bag — as the 2nd baseman held the tag on him — then stopping his slide with his foot barely still on the bag. Other worldly.

But it was later revealed that Dominguez jammed his thumb a bit on the slide and he was removed from the game the next inning, replaced by former Dodger Cody Bellinger.

With The Martian on 2nd, Volpe grounded out but Austin Wells worked a walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. The Dodgers brought in Lou Trivino — former Yank who Yank fans barely knew — and DJ LeMahieu ripped a single to left for a 5-1 Yankee lead.

Next batter Oswald Peraza singled to center to make it 6-1 Yankees.

6. Loaisiga Coughs Up Solo HR’s

Jonathan Loaisiga allowed 2 solo HR’s in the bottom of the 7th — to Andy Pages and Max Muncy — so it was a game again at 6-3 NY.

7. Devin the Hold

Devin Williams came in and was SHARP — holding the 6-3 lead in the 8th with a 1-2-3 inning — strike out, ground out of Shohei Ohtani, and strike out of Teoscar Hernandez.

Huge.

8. LeMahieu 4 Hits — Insurance RBI Double in 9th

And NY got a huge insurance run in the top of the 9th — courtesy DJ LeMahieu.

Cody Bellinger led off with a walk off Chris Stratton, and stole 2nd after Volpe struck out. Stratton struck out Austin Wells, but DJ LeMahieu ripped a double to right for his 4th hit of the game.

9. Hill the Save

With Luke Weaver announced out with hamstring tightness, Tim Hill came in for the 9th– and pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

Hill struck out of Freddie Freeman (you read that right — imagine if he had been brought in for the 9th inning of game 1 of the World Series last year), got Will Smith to ground out, and got Andy Pages to line out to 2nd for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401695792

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