Yoshinobu Yamamoto shines as
Dodgers sweep Reds to reach NL Division Series
[October 02, 2025]
By BETH HARRIS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out a postseason-high
nine while pitching into the seventh inning and the Los Angeles
Dodgers broke it open with a four-run sixth to beat the Cincinnati
Reds 8-4 on Wednesday night and advance to the National League
Division Series.
The defending World Series champion Dodgers advanced to their 20th
NLDS appearance — 13th in a row — in franchise history and will face
the Phillies starting Saturday in Philadelphia. The teams last met
in the postseason in 2009, when the Phillies beat the Dodgers in the
NL Championship Series for the second straight year.
“I know we can win the whole thing,” Betts said. “We’ve got to
continue to pitch, timely hitting and play defense, and everything
should be OK.”
After hitting a franchise playoff-tying five home runs in a 10-5 win
in the NL Wild Card Series opener Tuesday, the Dodgers eliminated
the Reds by playing small ball and rapping out 13 hits — two fewer
than in Game 1. Mookie Betts went 4 for 5 with three doubles, tying
Jim Gilliam in Game 4 of the 1953 World Series for most doubles in a
single postseason game in team history.
“I think what we’re seeing is winning pitches, using the whole
field, fighting and not trying to just slug,” manager Dave Roberts
said. “I think we’re taking team at-bats.”
After the Reds took a 2-0 lead in the first, Yamamoto retired the
next 13 batters.
The Dodgers rallied to take a 3-2 lead before the Japanese
right-hander wiggled his way out of a huge jam in the sixth. The
Reds loaded the bases with no outs on consecutive singles by TJ
Friedl, Spencer Steer and former Dodger Gavin Lux.
Austin Hays grounded into a fielder's choice to shortstop and Betts
fired home, where catcher Ben Rortvedt stomped on the plate to get
Friedl. Yamamoto then retired Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz on
back-to-back swinging strikeouts to end the threat.
“I was just trying to bring my everything out there,” Yamamoto said
through a translator.
With blue rally towels waving, Yamamoto walked off to a standing
ovation from the crowd of 50,465.
“Once he got the two outs, I think he kind of smelled blood right
there and was able to attack and get the last out,” Betts said.
[to top of second column] |
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto reacts after striking
out Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz during the sixth inning in Game
2 of the National League Wild Card baseball playoff series
Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Yamamoto got the first two outs of the seventh
before leaving to a second ovation. The right-hander allowed two
runs, four hits and walked two on a career-high 113 pitches. It was
the most pitches by a Dodger in the playoffs since Walker Buehler
threw 117 in Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS.
For the second straight night, the fans' mood soured in the eighth.
Reliever Emmet Sheehan gave up two runs, making it 8-4, before the
Reds brought the tying run to the plate against Alex Vesia. He got
Friedl on a called third strike to end the inning in which Sheehan
and Vesia made a combined 41 pitches. On Tuesday, three Dodgers
relievers needed 59 pitches to get three outs in the eighth.
Rookie Roki Sasaki pitched the ninth, getting three outs, including
striking out Steer and Lux on pitches that touched 101 mph.
The Dodgers stranded runners in each of the first five innings, but
they took a 3-2 lead on Kiké Hernández’s RBI double and Miguel
Rojas' RBI single that hit the first-base line to chase Reds starter
Zack Littell.
Shohei Ohtani's RBI single leading off the sixth snapped an 0-for-9
skid against Reds reliever Nick Martinez. Betts added an RBI double
down the third-base line and Teoscar Hernández had a two-run double
that extended the lead to 7-2.
Yamamoto could have had a scoreless first but Teoscar Hernández
dropped a ball hit by Hays that would have been the third out.
Hernández hugged Yamamoto in the dugout after the Japanese star left
the game.
Stewart's two-run RBI single with two outs eluded a diving Freddie
Freeman at first for a 2-0 lead. It was Cincinnati's first lead in a
postseason game since Game 3 of the 2012 NLDS against San Francisco.
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