The game was essentially over before most fans had even finished parking. Yoshinobu Yamamoto spent Saturday night treating the Los Angeles Angels like a minor-league squad, retiring 22 straight batters over eight masterclass innings. By the time the dust settled on a 9-2 Dodgers blowout, the Angels looked thoroughly broken.
It started with a massacre. The Dodgers sent 12 men to the plate in the bottom of the first, hanging nine runs on the board before the Angels could even blink. Poor Jack Kochanowitz got the start for the visitors. He lasted exactly one-third of an inning. The Dodgers battered him for six hits and seven runs, leaving the right-hander to contemplate his life choices after throwing 38 agonizing pitches.
Andy Pages got the party started. After Shohei Ohtani beat out an infield single, Pages launched his 14th homer of the year into the left-field bullpen. Then came the deluge. Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts singled. Max Muncy loaded the bases. Ryan Ward doubled them home. By the time Zach Neto threw a ball into the stands to let three more runs score, the rout was on. Ohtani capped the nightmare with a two-run blast. Nine runs. Just like that.
Yamamoto did the rest. He gave up an RBI triple to Oswald Peraza in the first inning, snapping a scoreless streak for Dodgers starters. Then he locked it down. No walks. Four strikeouts. Just 93 pitches to breeze through eight frames. His ERA dropped to 2.68, and over his last four starts, the guy is pitching like an alien, boasting an ERA under 1.00.
This is what the Dodgers do now. They have outscored their cross-town rivals 41-5 over five games this season. They have won 18 of their last 23. Zach Neto hit a meaningless solo shot in the ninth off Jack Dreyer, but nobody cared.
The misery concludes Sunday. José Soriano takes the mound for the Angels, hoping to salvage some dignity against Emmet Sheehan. Good luck to him.
