The Los Angeles Dodgers flip-flopped their pitching rotation this week, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto will give the new sequence a try when he faces the visiting Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.
Yamamoto had been pitching in front of left-hander Tarik Skubal for the past few weeks, with the order now reversed.
Manager Dave Roberts denied Tuesday that the change was made to line up Skubal as a Game 1 starter ahead of Yamamoto in anticipation of another playoff appearance.
Los Angeles’ magic number for clinching the National League West is seven.
“There’s still an opportunity to kind of change things, so I wouldn’t read so much into that,” Roberts said.
In starting on four days of rest Tuesday, Skubal was at his best in a 3-2 victory over the Reds. He gave up two runs on four hits with five strikeouts while pitching into the eighth inning for the first time with his new club, which acquired him from Detroit before the trade deadline last month.
Los Angeles (88-57) has won six consecutive games and will try to earn its second consecutive series sweep.
On Tuesday, the Dodgers’ Will Smith hit his first home run since May, while Teoscar Hernandez had three hits, including a go-ahead single in the fifth. Hernandez is 16-for-32 (.500) with 12 RBIs over his past nine games.
“Everybody is having good at-bats; the pitchers are throwing really good games,” Hernandez said. “Everything is clicking right now for us.”
Yamamoto will be out to improve on his worst start in nearly two months. He allowed four runs on five hits over seven innings in a no-decision last Wednesday when the St. Louis Cardinals earned an 8-6 victory in 10 innings. It was the last time the Dodgers lost a game.
Yamamoto opened that outing with no hits and just one walk in five innings before losing his way.
“Rather than the opponents making adjustments, I think it was more due to my own mistakes and my need to make adjustments,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter.
In two career starts against the Reds, he is 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 12 innings.
Cincinnati (69-76) will counter with right-hander Rhett Lowder (6-9, 5.43 ERA), who gave up seven runs (six earned) on six hits and four walks over four innings in a 10-7 loss Friday to the Milwaukee Brewers. The rookie will face the Dodgers for the first time.
Elly De La Cruz is on a surge for the Reds with a home run in four consecutive games and a .500 batting average (14-for-28) over the past seven games, with seven runs and nine RBIs. Going back to Aug. 22, De La Cruz is batting .455.
De La Cruz’s home run Tuesday came off of Skubal and went more than halfway up the left-field bleachers while measured at 444 feet. It was De La Cruz’s 25th home run, matching a career high he set in 2024.
On defense, De La Cruz took a relay throw from medium center field and fired it 200 feet to home plate to cut down Hernandez trying to score on an inside-the-park home run in the third.
“That was one of the better throws you will ever see. I mean ever,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “I turn on the old (highlights) and you see Dave Parker or somebody making throws; (Roberto) Clemente. They might be showing that one.”
–Field Level Media
