Straight Talk: Yamamoto rues good-pitch, bad-pitch homer results after loss
John E. Gibson
Host · Writer
"Straight Talk" is a regular feature in which The Sporting Tribune's John E. Gibson offers a full translation of media availability with Dodgers Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. He will also help translate when Lakers star Rui Hachimura and LA Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida are asked questions in Japanese.
The job of interpreters in the heat of the moment is difficult without the ability to write down questions and answers and re-hear responses for proper context. That's where John comes in to help. John currently works as a Japanese-English interpreter and covered pro baseball in Japan for about 20 years. His experience as a sports reporter includes stints at The Orange County Register, The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Redlands Daily Facts, The Yomiuri Shimbun’s English newspaper in Tokyo and The Epoch Times.
LOS ANGELES – Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3-3) serves up three longballs in his start on Tuesday night at home as Los Angeles sees its skid hit four with a 6-2 Loss to the San Francisco Giants. Yamamoto only surrenders six hits with no walks and eight strikeouts over 6.1 innings, but homers continue to plague him as his ERA goes to 3.60.
Q: Yoshi, when you look at this outing, it seemed like the home runs really are what got to you. Of course, a couple of hits late in your outing, but those three home runs, in specific. What were you seeing in those three at-bats in how they were able to get to you?
Yamamoto: Well, first of all, in general, I feel like I was able to throw a lot of good pitches. The ones that were hit for home runs were mistakes that were in spots that should’ve resulted in extra-base hits, and those guys did a good job of hitting them.
Q: With how you started this, that first inning has proven to be a bit more challenging to start this year, but with your efficiency and how you used your entire pitch mix, what was the focus for you in your first inning of work today?
Yamamoto: For a while now, and particularly this season, I have allowed a lot of first-inning runs. So that’s what I have in mind often as an issue for me even when I train. Today I just went out there with confidence. I took the mound, thinking about the runs I’ve given up to start out games, and things went better today. I’ll examine things and try to carry that over into my next outing.
Q: Yoshi, what is causing the home run rate, in general, this season?
Yamamoto: There are reasons for each home run, so it depends, but in terms of today, if I were more cognizant of home runs, I think the results probably would have been different. So, as far as my pitching, I think it’s very basic things. With that said, to be better going forward, I have to start by being more careful with my pitches to improve that.
Q: Do you see any pattern over the course of the season?
Yamamoto: There are homers that were just good hitting, and I’ve made juicy pitches that were hit for home runs, too. There are various reasons, depending on the homer itself.
