Yamamoto and the Dodgers get back to winning with a 4-1 victory over the Rockies
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.
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 an injury absence of nearly four weeks.
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.
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.
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.
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.
