There are pitchers’ duels. And then there is what unfolded at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.
The Dodgers beat the Mets 2-1, taking their first and only lead of the night when Kyle Tucker lofted a bloop RBI single to shallow left field off Mets reliever Brooks Raley in the bottom of the eighth.
The real story, though, was the dueling brilliance of starting pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Nolan McLean –– with the reigning World Series MVP and early-season Rookie of the Year frontrunner putting pitching masterclasses in front of 48,138 at Chavez Ravine.
The Mets scored first Tuesday, snapping a 20-inning scoreless streak on Francisco Lindor’s leadoff home run three pitches into the game. The Dodgers answered back in the bottom half of the first, with a Kyle Tucker walk and Will Smith double leading to an RBI grounder from Freddie Freeman.
After that, however, it was nothing but zeroes. Literally.
Over the next six innings, neither pitcher allowed another hit –– let alone another run –– with a Hyeseong Kim walk in the fifth representing the only baserunner in that stretch.
McLean retired 14 batters in a row before the Kim walk. Yamamoto recorded 20-straight outs before Bo Bichette hooked a two-out seventh-inning double inside the left-field foul line.
They were that dominant. Their stuff was that untouchable.
Finally, drama arose in the seventh and eighth innings.
Bichette’s double was followed by a walk from Francisco Alvarez, putting Yamamoto in his first jam of the night. However, he escaped it with a wicked splitter that fanned Brett Baty for an inning-ending strikeout.
McLean faced his own danger in the bottom of the seventh, when Max Muncy hit a two-out single. But he also got through it, retiring the side with a strikeout of Andy Pages.
That marked the end of McLean’s night, a seven-inning, one-run, eight-strikeout gem.
Yamamoto, meanwhile, kept going, getting two outs in the eighth before back-to-back base hits from Carson Benge and Lindor prompted Roberts to go to the bullpen at last.
Yamamoto received a huge roar as he exited with 104 pitches. Then, Blake Treinen preserved his 7 ⅔ inning, one-run, seven-strikeout stat line, getting Luis Robert Jr. on a called third strike in an at-bat with ample ABS challenge drama (including a failed challenge by Robert on the last pitch).
The Dodgers (13-4) took the lead the next half-inning, which was set up by a leadoff walk from Miguel Rojas and sacrifice bunt from Santiago Espinal.
Then, Alex Vesia –– and notably, not Edwin Díaz –– emerged for the save.
Yamamoto and McLean both took no-decisions. But their impacts went far beyond that.
What it means
The Dodgers might have the majors’ best offense to this point of the season.
But their rotation is proving to be an equally dangerous weapon.
The last two nights alone, Yamamoto and Justin Wrobleski have combined for 15 ⅔ innings of one-run ball. And now, the team’s starters have a combined ERA of 3.26 –– one that would be even lower if not for the early struggles of Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan.
Who’s hot
Yamamoto had been plenty good in his first three starts this season, going six innings in each of them with a 2.50 ERA.
Tuesday, however, was the first time he tapped back into the dominant form he displayed during last year’s postseason, carving up the Mets lineup with a splitter-heavy attack.
Lindor’s leadoff homer came on a 2-0 fastball in the zone. After that, Yamamoto went on the attack. He used a career-high 42 splitters, getting whiffs half the time the Mets swung at it (12 of 24). The rest of his six-pitch arsenal only threw them further off balance, helping him turn in his best start so far this year.
Who’s not
Apparently, Díaz.
Though manager Dave Roberts said he expected Díaz to pitch in this week’s series, after bypassing him for a couple games this weekend as he dealt with an early-season velocity drop, the $69 million closer was nowhere to be found in Tuesday’s ninth-inning save situation.
Instead, it was Vesia who collected the final three outs.
The plot with Díaz, meanwhile, only thickens.
Up next
The Dodgers wrap up this series, and homestand, on Wednesday against the Mets. Shohei Ohtani (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his third pitching start of the year for the Dodgers. Right-hander Clay Holmes (2-1, 1.50 ERA) goes for the Mets.
