On the 7th, Los Angeles Dodgers’ Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound on the road against the Baltimore Orioles, delivering a rollercoaster performance. Just one out away from completing a no-hitter, he was broken up by a home run. Ultimately, he pitched 8.2 innings, allowing only one run, but the Dodgers were dramatically overturned and suffered their fifth straight defeat.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts commented after the game, saying Yamamoto’s performance was truly outstanding, “which makes this loss even more painful.” Roberts noted that “falling from heaven to hell in one game is rare,” and had hoped Yamamoto’s strong pitching would carry into the final game of the series tomorrow, “but in the end, everything flipped.”

Yamamoto threw 112 pitches over 8.2 innings, setting a personal career high in MLB. Through eight innings, he issued only two walks and allowed no hits, maintaining a fastball speed of 154 km/h in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately, with two outs, Jackson Holliday hit a home run, ending the no-hit bid. The relief pitcher Blake Treinen then allowed the bases to become loaded, and Tanner Scott, who followed, gave up the walk-off hit to Orioles batter Emmanuel Rivera.

“I wanted to give Yamamoto a chance to complete the no-hitter,” Roberts said, explaining that the whole team was rallying behind him. “Everyone was anticipating that moment, but after he got hit, both the no-hitter and shutout were lost, and he had already pitched long enough.”

Yamamoto expressed his frustration after the game that the team couldn’t secure the win. When asked if he wanted to finish the game himself, he said he had expected to be taken out once a hit was given up, since he had already thrown many pitches earlier and had not even planned on pitching into the ninth inning.

This marks the Dodgers’ fifth consecutive loss. In their last eight games, all against teams with below .500 winning percentages, they have lost seven times. Yamamoto stated the team is currently in a very tough situation but hopes everyone can fight together and strive for victory.

Regarding missing the no-hitter by just one pitch, Yamamoto said, “I’m very regretful. That last pitch was my own choice, so there’s both frustration and the feeling of ‘ah, it was hit.’” He also shared that he felt very good during the game, not just using his wrist but involving his whole body. “The quality of each pitch was good. Although I issued a walk midway, being able to adjust the count within the strike zone and correct my pitches on the fly was probably why I pitched well today.”

Even though he was playing on the road, Yamamoto received enthusiastic cheers from the crowd as he left the mound. However, he admitted that his pitch count had reached a critical point, so he was mentally prepared to be replaced: “The cheers from the fans were very loud and gave me great encouragement. But the pitch count was already quite high, and I didn’t expect to pitch that late. I just wanted to give it my all.”

Talking about the final confrontation with Holliday, Yamamoto said, “We had previously discussed the pitching strategy, and I followed that plan. But a few pitches missed the strike zone, so I finally chose a cutter.” He also shared that the moment the ball was hit, he immediately knew “it was going to go out of the park,” and it indeed resulted in a solo home run, breaking the no-hit deadlock.

After the game, Dodgers manager Roberts said about Yamamoto: “Yamamoto was truly exceptional today, even beyond ‘exceptional.’ So losing this game hurts a lot. The team actually performed well in many aspects, which makes it even harder to accept. We wasted such an amazing performance from him.”

Regarding the decision to let Yamamoto continue pitching into the ninth inning after throwing 104 pitches through eight innings, Roberts explained: “I felt he deserved a chance to challenge for the no-hitter. Everyone in the team felt that, and we were all hoping it would happen. The home run wasn’t a bad pitch, but it ended both the shutout and no-hit bid. I thought he had pitched enough, so I decided to pull him then. At that point, there was just one out remaining.”