Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers get back to winning with a 4-1 victory over the Rockies

By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run over six solid innings, and Jason Heyward and Will Smith had RBI doubles in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night.

Kiké Hernández also drove in a run for the Dodgers, who have won four of five after dropping Friday’s series opener in Colorado’s first win at Dodger Stadium since 2022. Shohei Ohtani stole the 100th base of his major league career, becoming the fourth Japanese-born player to reach 100 steals in the majors.

Ezequiel Tovar had three hits for the second straight night for the Rockies, who lost for only the second time in six games.

Yamamoto (6-2) rebounded impressively from his first loss in 10 starts since his major league debut, limiting the Rockies to seven hits and a walk. He struck out seven while throwing a season-high 101 pitches and battling out of trouble in his last inning.

“It was good to see him get that last hitter with the tying run at the plate,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought the fastball was commanded real well tonight. I thought the split was good at times, and the curveball usage picked up those last couple of innings. It was good to see him get through six. It was a really good deal for him.”

Three Dodgers relievers threw one scoreless inning apiece. Evan Phillips pitched the ninth to earn his ninth save in his first appearance since returning Friday from a hamstring-injury absence of nearly four weeks.

“Not going to lie, it was a very frustrating injury,” Phillips said. “It took a lot of extra effort, but I just tried to do everything to stay in that groove I was in. I was just excited to be out there with the team.”

Cal Quantrill (4-4) gave up four runs on nine hits and two walks while failing to get out of the fifth inning of his first loss since April for the Rockies.

Colorado went ahead in the second when Brendan Rodgers hit a leadoff double and scored on Brenton Doyle’s sacrifice fly, but Teoscar Hernández singled for Los Angeles in the bottom half and then motored around to score when Colorado made two throwing errors while trying to retire him after Gavin Lux’s grounder to first.

Andy Pages singled moments later and scored on Heyward’s double into the right-center gap.

“Not every day are we going to get 10 runs on the board,” Hernández said. “But we’re trying to (capitalize) on every single thing to make us better. We’re going to have ups and downs, but our starting pitching right now is keeping us in the game, giving us the opportunity to score runs.”

Ohtani walked and stole second in the third inning — but Quantrill picked him off second base, which cost the Dodgers a run because Freddie Freeman singled moments later. Roberts said Ohtani and the Dodgers were attempting to take advantage of “a tendency” of Quantrill’s.

“That’s a calculated risk we took, and I’ve got no problem with it,” Roberts said.

Ohtani and Ichiro Suzuki are the only Japanese-born major leaguers to compile 100 homers and 100 steals.

Pages singled in the fourth and scored on a single by Hernández, who drove in his first run since May 20.

Freeman then tripled to left in the fifth and scored on Smith’s full-count double, chasing Quantrill.

Yamamoto allowed two hits in the sixth, but stranded both runners in scoring position by getting Elehuris Montero to ground out with his final pitch.

“My pitch count was high and I had some runners on base, but I was just focusing on getting through the inning, that’s all,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rockies: LHP Kyle Freeland (strained left elbow) and RHP Germán Márquez (Tommy John surgery) both threw pregame bullpen sessions in LA. Freeland is still at least three weeks from returning, while Márquez is targeting early July.

Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw threw an inning of live batting practice, facing six hitters. He will throw two innings next week in his comeback from offseason shoulder surgery.

UP NEXT

In the series finale, Gavin Stone (5-2, 3.16 ERA) goes for his fourth victory in five starts Sunday when he takes the mound for the Dodgers against Austin Gomber (1-2, 2.76), who allowed just two earned runs in four starts over 26 2/3 innings in May, but was scratched from his previous scheduled start due to arm soreness.

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