Yamamoto Goes the Distance as Dodgers Take Opener of Twin Bill, 8-2

Considering the way the Dodgers limped into the All-Star break, most would have gladly signed for one thing coming out of the weekend: a series win over their longtime October sparring partners, the New York Yankees.

Mission accomplished.

A rainout on Saturday turned what was supposed to be a nationally televised pitching showcase into an early Sunday doubleheader. Somewhere, a television executive probably reached for the antacid. The Dodgers simply reached for Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Actually, they didn't have to reach very far.

Yamamoto turned in the first regular-season complete game by a Dodger since Gavin Stone accomplished the feat in 2024, needing just 102 pitches to dispatch the Yankees in an 8-2 victory that gave Los Angeles the series before most West Coast fans had finished breakfast.

Simply put, Yoshi was Yoshi.

The right-hander scattered four hits, struck out seven, walked nobody and kept the Yankees from ever mounting a serious threat. More importantly, he spared every reliever in the Dodgers bullpen, exactly as manager Dave Roberts had hoped with another game still to play a few hours later.

The Dodgers finally solved rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler in the third inning when Tommy Edman singled and Shohei Ohtani ripped a 111.1 mph double into the gap. Freddie Freeman followed with an RBI single to put Los Angeles ahead for good.

Edman scored again in the fifth after being hit by a pitch, and the Dodgers buried the Yankees with a five-run eighth. Teoscar Hernández, Edman, Ohtani and Freeman all contributed as Los Angeles turned a comfortable lead into a rout.

Yamamoto's only blemishes came on a Trent Grisham solo homer in the fourth and an eighth-inning run aided by Andy Pages losing a fly ball in the afternoon sun.

Otherwise, it was nine innings of efficiency, seven strikeouts, no walks and one bullpen that got to spend the morning watching instead of warming up.

At the time, it looked like the Dodgers had set themselves up perfectly for a Sunday sweep.

Dodgers Settle for Series Win as Yankees Avoid Sweep, 2-1

As it turned out, perhaps the Dodgers could have saved a few of those runs from the morning game.

After scoring eight times behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto's complete-game masterpiece in the opener, Los Angeles managed just four hits Sunday night, falling 2-1 as the Yankees salvaged the finale of the rain-created doubleheader.

The split hardly spoiled the weekend.

The Dodgers still left New York with two wins in three games against the Yankees and opened the second half by taking a series from one of baseball's biggest rivals. Considering how they stumbled into the All-Star break, they'll happily take that outcome.

Still, the offense never found much traction in the nightcap.

Tommy Edman briefly rescued the Dodgers with a pinch-hit solo home run in the eighth inning, tying the game at 1-1 after the Yankees had pieced together a bullpen game that frustrated Los Angeles hitters most of the afternoon.

The tie lasted only minutes.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. answered with a go-ahead solo home run off Evan Phillips in the bottom of the eighth, and Yankees closer David Bednar recorded the final five outs to preserve the victory.

The Dodgers' bullpen-by-committee effort deserved better.

Will Klein opened before Kyle Hurt, Jack Dreyer, Brock Stewart and Phillips combined to allow just two runs while repeatedly escaping trouble, including a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning that kept the game within reach.

But unlike the opener, the Dodgers couldn't generate enough offense to capitalize.

Four hits. One run. Against a bullpen day, that usually isn't going to get it done.

The Dodgers will gladly settle for the series victory and now head to Philadelphia looking to build on a successful opening weekend to the second half—even if Sunday's finale served as a reminder that sometimes it's okay to save a few runs for later.