Sports
Hernández: Yoshinobu Yamamoto bounces back from struggles to deliver under pressure
The shortest player on the field at Dodger Stadium looked as if he was the tallest.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was a giant on Friday night.
And to think the 5-foot-10 right-hander from Japan started for the Dodgers in Game 5 of their National League Division Series only because they figured their relievers couldn’t pitch the entire game.
Yamamoto turned the anticipated bullpen game for the Dodgers into something more conventional. The three innings they were counting on him to pitch became four, and eventually five. He never conceded a run.
When the game was over, the Dodgers were spraying sparkling wine and pouring beer on each other in their locker room, celebrating their passage to the NL Championship Series. In the middle of the celebration was Yamamoto, the unlikely pitcher of record in the 2-0 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Yamamoto was inconsistent for the majority his first season with the Dodgers, his adjustment to the major leagues delayed by a shoulder injury that sidelined him for three months. Not what the Dodgers were expecting from a player they signed in the winter to a 12-year, $325-million contract.
However, as Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter pointed out, “He showed up tonight.”
Bottle in hand and smile on his face, Walter continued, “Shut them out for five innings. Takes guts to do that when you struggle a little.”
A little?
Six days earlier, Yamamoto was absolutely destroyed, by the same opponent, in the same stadium. He lasted only three innings in a Game 1 defeat and was charged with five runs.
“Of course, I wasn’t able to get away with it right away,” Yamamoto said in Japanese.
Yamamoto explained that he received words of encouragement from teammates. When the Dodgers were in San Diego for Games 3 and 4, Yamamoto was invited out by Kiké Hernández.
“We talked for about two hours,” Yamamoto said.
Yamamoto added, “I think I owe my performance today to my teammates.”
Hernández said there was a reason the Dodgers invested as much in Yamamoto as they did. He said it wasn’t because he projected to be great one day in the future.
“He is great,” Hernández said.
The Dodgers could have started Jack Flaherty. However, Yamamoto was on the same six-day cycle on which he was kept in the regular season. Plus, the Dodgers thought they could rely on a pitcher who was known in his home country for his resiliency.
Around this time last year, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman watched the Japan Series between the Orix Buffaloes and Hanshin Tigers. He saw Yamamoto give up a career-worst seven runs in a Game 1 defeat, but he also saw how Yamamoto responded to the setback. In Game 6, Yamamoto threw a 138-pitch complete game and struck out 14 batters to set a Japan Series record.
Talking to Yamamoto after his Game 1 debacle in this division series, Friedman said, “You could get the sense that he wanted the ball.”
Manager Dave Roberts called attention to Yamamoto’s international experience.
“When you pitch for the WBC, for the country of Japan, those are the highest stakes you can have,” Roberts said.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers during the first inning against the Padres on Friday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Roberts figured national pride would again be a motivating factor for Yamamoto. Pitching opposite him in Game 5 was Yu Darvish, making this postseason game the first to feature two Japanese starters. The contest was broadcast live in Japan on network television.
Yamamoto returned to the Dodger Stadium mound as a new pitcher.
Between starts, the Dodgers had worked with Yamamoto on the positioning of his glove, which they believed revealed to the Padres in Game 1 which pitches he was about to throw. He started Game 5 by retiring the side in order. Yamamoto gave up successive singles to Kyle Higashioka and Luis Arráez in the third inning, but forced Fernando Tatis Jr. to ground into a double play.
Yamamoto retired the next six batters to protect the 1-0 advantage gifted to him on a home run by his muse, Hernández. Before reaching the steps descending into the dugout in the middle of the fifth inning, Yamamoto was tightly embraced by Roberts. Yamamoto had thrown only 63 pitches, but Roberts was mindful that he hadn’t pitched into the sixth inning since he blanked the New York Yankees over seven innings on June 7. His night was over, at least on the mound.
Later in the clubhouse, Yamamoto was reliving his night when Shohei Ohtani approached him with a bottle of sparkling wine pointed in his direction. Ohtani emptied the bottle’s contents on Yamamoto.
“He was overwhelming,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “It was the kind of pitching that overwhelmed and didn’t let the opponent get close.”
An extremely light drinker, Yamamoto said that even the magnitude of this victory couldn’t drive him to imbibe any of the adult beverages provided to the players.
However, he joked, “The alcohol got in me through my skin.”
At that moment, the ups and downs of the previous six months were forgotten. If a disastrous performance in October can diminish a player’s regular-season achievements, the opposite also has to be true: A memorable game in the playoffs can minimize a player’s regular-season failures.
On Friday night, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was a hero.
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Napoleon Solo took home the 2026 Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the 151st running of the race.
The favorite in Taj Mahal, the 1 horse, was in the lead from the start until the final turn until Napoleon Solo made his move on the outside and took the lead at the top of the stretch. As Taj Mahal fell off, Iron Honor, the 9 horse, snuck up, but the effort ultimately was not enough.
Napoleon Solo opened at 8-1 and closed at 7-1. Iron Honor, at 8-1, finished second, with Chip Honcho fishing third after closing at 11-1. Ocelli, one of just three horses to run both the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and Saturday’s Preakness, finished fourth at 8-1.
A Preakness branded starting gate is seen on track prior to the 151st Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park on May 16, 2026 in Laurel, Maryland. For the first and only time, Laurel Park is hosting the Preakness Stakes which is the second race of the Triple Crown jewel due to the traditional home of the race of the Pimlico Race Course undergoing complete renovations. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
A $1 exacta paid out $53.60, while a $1 trifecta brought in $597.10. But someone out there is very lucky, as a $1 superhighfive – picking the top-five finishers in order – paid out $12,015.70.
Even moreso, a 20-cent Pick 6 – picking the winners of the six consecutive races, with the final being the Preakness, paid out $33,842.34.
The race was run without the Kentucky Derby winner for the second year in a row. After Sovereignty did not run the Preakness last year – and wound up winning the Belmont Stakes – the training team of Golden Tempo opted to skip the Maryland race.
From 1960 to 2018, only three Derby winners did not run in the Preakness. Three Derby winners have skipped the Preakness in the last five years, and for the sixth time in eight years, for various reasons, the Triple Crown had already been impossible to accomplish by the time the Preakness even rolled around.
“I understand that fans of the sport or fans of the Triple Crown are disappointed, but the horse is not a machine,” Golden Tempo’s trainer, Cherie DeVaux, told Fox News Digital earlier this week.
Paco Lopez, right, atop Napoleon Solo, edges out Iron Honor, ridden by Flavien Prat, to win the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
CHERIE DEVAUX REFLECTS ON MAKING KENTUCKY DERBY HISTORY AS FIRST FEMALE TRAINER TO WIN THE RACE
Only three horses from two weeks ago – Ocelli, Robusta, and Incredibolt, were back at the Preakness. Corona de Oro, the 11 horse on Saturday, was scratched well ahead of the Derby, and Great White, who reared up and fell on his back after becoming startled shortly before entering the Derby gate, took the 13 post on Saturday.
The Preakness went off roughly 24 hours after a horse died following the completion of his very first race.
Hit Zero, trained by Brittany Russell, came into the race as the favorite. However, he finished last in the race, which was won by another one of Russell’s horses, Bold Fact — and upon crossing the finish line, Hit Zero reportedly began coughing, dropped to his knees, then put his head down and died.
The Preakness took place at Laurel Park as Pimlico undergoes renovations. It was the first time ever that Pimlico did not host the race, moving roughly 20 miles south.
Paco Lopez, atop Napoleon Solo, wins the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The Belmont Stakes, the final Triple Crown race, will take place on June 6. The race will return to Saratoga for a third year in a row as Belmont Park continues to be renovated.
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HIGH SCHOOL BOYS VOLLEYBALL
CITY SECTION FINALS
FRIDAY
At Birmingham
DIVISION I
#1 Taft d. #3 Cleveland, 25-23, 25-14, 25-21
DIVISION IV
#7 Maywood CES d. #4 Math & Science College Prep, 25-17, 25-17, 25-23
At Venice
DIVISION II
#4 Marquez d. #6 Narbonne, 23-25, 25-19, 29-27, 25-16
DIVISION III
#13 Birmingham d. #2 Legacy, 25-20, 17-25, 31-33, 25-21, 15-10
SATURDAY
At Birmingham
OPEN DIVISION
#3 Chatsworth d. #1 Granada Hills, 24-26, 25-21, 25-14, 25-18
DIVISION V
314 Franklin d. #13 Rancho Dominguez, 25-18, 25-19, 25-16
SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS
THURSDAY
At Home Sites
DIVISION 9
Vasquez d. Tarbut V’ Torah, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-10
FRIDAY
At Cerritos College
DIVISION 1
#1 Mira Costa d. #3 Loyola, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22
DIVISION 4
Sunny Hills d. Royal, 24-26, 25-22, 27-25, 25-23
At Home Sites
DIVISION 5
Bishop Diego d. St. Anthony, 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23
DIVISION 8
Temescal Canyon d. West Valley, 24-26, 25-16, 25-19, 25-23
SATURDAY
At Cerritos College
DIVISION 2
Orange Lutheran d. Edison, 3-1
DIVISION 3
Windward d. St, John Bosco, 24-26, 25–21, 25-22, 25-20
DIVISION 6
Culver City d. Garden Grove, 27-25, 25-20, 19-25, 21-25, 15-9
Sports
It’s Game 7, and we have a bet locked in as the Cavaliers and legacies are on the line against the Pistons
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The NBA takes a lot of flak for having meaningless games, and I can definitely understand it, watching on a random Wednesday in January. However, the playoffs have delivered over and over to viewers and rewarded us for putting up with garbage regular-season games.
This will be the fourth Game 7 of the playoffs. Three series have been sweeps, and the other three have been six games. That shows competitive hoops. Now, how do we bet this Game 7 in the Eastern Conference?
The Cleveland Cavaliers blew it. After not winning a road game all postseason, they took Game 5 in surprising fashion. It looked like they were going to win in six games. After all, they hadn’t lost a game at home in the postseason.
Instead, Detroit came out and blitzed the Cavs, never giving them a chance to get their footing. They lost in an ugly fashion and now have to figure out a way to win a game on the road.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden drives to the basket against the Detroit Pistons during the second half of Game 5 in the second-round NBA playoffs in Detroit on May 13, 2026. (Duane Burleson/AP)
It isn’t just the Cavs’ fate that rests in this game. It is also the legacy of James Harden and, to a lesser extent, Donovan Mitchell.
We know that Mitchell is a very good player, but he isn’t regarded as one of the best players ever. Harden is. Unfortunately, Harden has struggled in Game 7s. He’s averaged 19.1 points, 7.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds. That’s not terrible, but looking at his shooting percentages, he is at 35.3% and 22.2% in those games. He actually is 4-4 overall in the games, but in his past three, he has scored a combined 34 points over 113 minutes.
The Detroit Pistons seem to like playing with their backs against the wall. They are a gritty team, so I suppose it makes sense.
Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren reacts after allowing a pass to go out of bounds in the second half of Game 4 of the second-round NBA playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland on May 11, 2026. (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Cade Cunningham continues to deliver for the team, and he finally got some help in Game 6 from Jalen Duren. This was never going to be an easy series for Duren, but it feels like he is taking more time to mature than others. He definitely improved this year, but the consistency they need from him just isn’t there yet.
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Now as the team goes home they will need Duren to be a beast on the glass. If he can keep the Pistons in the rebounding battle, they should win this game with ease. They won Game 6 by just three rebounds, but that takes away a big dimension of what Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley do for the Cavs. It isn’t everything, though, as the Pistons won the rebounding battle in both losses in Cleveland.
I don’t see this being a runaway game for the Pistons. Mitchell and Cunningham likely will cancel each other out with scoring. Harden needs to establish himself as the third-best player on the floor. I haven’t seen him do that in the postseason, yet.
Cleveland Cavaliers All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and James Harden talk during Game 2 in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs vs. the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Ohio. (David Dermer/Imagn Images)
This is the second Game 7 of the playoffs for both of the clubs, so it isn’t like either will be caught off guard about what this entails.
If I look at it objectively, I think the Cavs have the better players. However, the Pistons have looked significantly better this season, and definitely in the playoffs overall. Both are prone to issues and slipping. The Cavs shouldn’t be as they are a veteran team.
This game has to be won by Cleveland, though. There is too much riding on the franchise and legacies of guys for them to not prepare properly for it. Maybe that’s weak analysis, but I’m taking the Cavs with the points and I do think they win outright. I expect a monster game from Mitchell, and Harden should get 10+ assists.
Either way, whoever wins will lose to the New York Knicks.
For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024
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