Yoshinobu Yamamoto was an inning from his first MLB no-hitter, and an inning-plus from the 25th perfect game in MLB history.
The Dodgers right-hander lost a perfect game bid against the Chicago White Sox in the eighth inning on Saturday when shortstop Mookie Betts booted an easy ground ball from Chase Meidroth. Second baseman Santiago Espinal had a chance to make a play off the deflection, but couldn’t get the throw off.
That error not only ended the perfect game bid, it also broke a string of 45 straight batters retired by Yamamoto going back to his last start. That is tied with former White Sox ace Mark Buehrle for the second-longest such streak in MLB history, behind only Yusmeiro Petit’s 46 straight in 2014.
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Sandy Koufax (1965) remains the only Dodger in history to throw a perfect game.
Yamamoto recovered with a Jacob Gonzalez groundout to end the eighth, at which point he was at 103 pitches and still chasing a no-hitter. That bid lasted two more pitches, as White Sox center-fielder Tristan Peters hammered a homer to right field to take away both the no-no and the shutout.
The Dodgers kept Yamamoto in the game at 105 pitches and had him get one more out on an Edgar Quero fly ball, then pulled him for Alex Vesia. He went a full three times through the White Sox order, allowing only a homer and a runner that reached on an error.
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He received a standing ovation his way out. Vesia proceeded to get the next two batters out to finish off a 7-1 Dodgers win.
The outing marks the second time in as many years that Yamamoto has lost a no-hitter in the ninth inning. On Sept. 6 last year, he was one out away from completing the no-no when he gave up a home run to Baltimore Orioles infielder Jackson Holliday.
Fortunately for the Dodgers, this game didn’t end like that one, as Holliday’s homer triggered a rally to walk off the future World Series champs 4-3.
This outing could have been so much more, but it was still the kind of performance the Dodgers were looking for after a one-sided 8-2 loss on Friday. They also got some good news before this game, as Shohei Ohtani rejoined the lineup after missing a game with left knee inflammation.
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The two-way star showed he was fine on the first swing of the game, clubbing a 409-foot homer off White Sox starter Sean Burke. Ohtani finished the game 1-for-3 with 2 runs and 3 walks. After a slow start (by his standards), he leads the NL in OPS at .979.
Yamamoto is posting a strong season overall, with a 3.17 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings across 13 starts. That’s not enough to put the reigning World Series MVP in Cy Young contention due to the ridiculous levels of Ohtani, Jacob Misiorowski and Cristoper Sánchez right now, but it’s another good year for a pitcher who has been exactly as advertised since signing the most expensive pitcher contract in history.
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