Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani & Roki Sasaki Make MLB History With Scoreless Starts

Gabriel Arteaga
3 Min Read

Originally published by DodgerBlue.com

The Los Angeles Dodgers have received stellar contributions from their starting rotation over the past month, and it’s resulted in Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto again combining to make MLB history.

Prior to Yamamoto facing the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night, he already was part of a scoreless streak that featured outings from Ohtani and Sasaki as well. They became the first trio of Japanese-born pitchers to have a scoreless start in the same season.

Making it all the more impressive is Yamamoto, Ohtani and Sasaki combined to achieve the feat over a one-week span.

Earlier this season, Ohtani, Sasaki and Yamamoto made MLB history as the first time Japanese pitchers started three games in a row.

Dodgers Japanese pitchers make more history

As for their latest achievement, the three right-handers combined to throw 18.1 scoreless innings in the past week. The streak ended when Yamamoto gave up a run in the first inning on Saturday night.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto

The stretch started with Yamamoto delivering 5.1 scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 31. Despite not providing his usual length, Yamamoto set a season high with 10 strikeouts in the Dodgers’ 9-1 win. The 10 strikeouts also equaled the most strikeouts he’s ever had in a start, which Yamamoto achieved five times last season.

Shohei Ohtani

When Ohtani faced the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 3, he allowed just two hits over six scoreless innings. That was another comfortable win for the Dodgers, which prompted manager Dave Roberts to end Ohtani’s outing at six frames.

Ohtani’s success came despite dealing with a blister on the middle finger of his right hand.

Roki Sasaki

Sasaki easily was the most impressive of the three starts as he turned in the best outing of his career. Sasaki once again dominated the Angels, this time to the tune of seven shutout innings at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

Sasaki set a career high with 10 strikeouts. His previous career-best mark was eight strikeouts, which Sasaki set in his first start against the Angels this season. Friday’s game also tied the longest of Sasaki’s career, which initially came in Anaheim as well.

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