Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw seven scoreless innings on Friday. (Elijah Smith/MLB)

by Cary Osborne

From his first bullpens in Spring Training this year, Yoshinobu Yamamoto exuded confidence on the mound.

It’s as if he knew what was coming.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, in his second Major League season, has been one of the top starting pitchers in Major League Baseball to this point of the 2025 season.

Friday was his standout game.

The right-hander was rarely stressed against the Texas Rangers, as he unloaded his quiver and filled the strike zone with various pitches. Yamamoto shut the Rangers out over seven innings, guiding the Dodgers to a 3–0 win to open a three-game series in Texas.

He now has a National League-leading 0.93 ERA.

“The confidence, it’s real,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I just think that he’s got so much conviction with every pitch, every throw that he makes. And there’s just no more doubt.”

Yamamoto earned 20 swings and miss — a career best. His previous best was 18 on April 19, 2024.

He struck out 10 batters, tying the career-high he set March 28 against Detroit.

He had one inning with multiple runners on base — the third inning where he induced an inning-ending groundout off the bat of Joc Pederson. The Rangers were 0-for-4 against him with runners in scoring position.

Yamamoto recorded outs with five different pitches and strikeouts with four different pitches. But it was his splitter that was again the leader.

The Rangers were 0-for-9 against the offering with four strikeouts. Opponents are 3-for-39 with 20 strikeouts against the Yamamoto splitter — 18 on a swing and miss.

He threw eight sliders and earned three outs off the pitch. He threw five total sliders in his four previous starts this year.

“His execution has just been unreal all year,” said second baseman Tommy Edman. “He just has so many ways to get ahead of hitters. He’s 2–0, he can dump in a curve ball, he can just dot a fastball away. Just so many ways to get back in the count. And then once he’s up in the count, he’s got a lot of pitches to put them away. He has something for every situation, and he’s been executing all of them.”

Yamamoto is now riding an 18-consecutive scoreless innings streak.

Since his rough Major League debut in Seoul, South Korea on March 21, 2024 (one inning, five earned runs), Yamamoto has started 26 Major League games including the postseason.

In those 26 starts, he has a 2.37 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP, a 10.3 strikeouts-per-nine-innings rate and 4.6 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

The Dodgers needed the seven shutout innings from Yamamoto.

Edman, in the leadoff spot with Shohei Ohtani on the paternity list, led off the game with a home run off two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom. deGrom shut the Dodgers out over his final six frames.

The Dodgers added two runs in the ninth with an RBI single from Teoscar Hernández and a sacrifice fly from Will Smith.

The combo of Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott shut the Rangers out over the final two frames.