TORONTO (AP) — Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s arms were so tired, he needed help hoisting the World Series MVP trophy.
Not a surprise, considering how well he threw in the final two games of this seven-game classic.
Yamamoto capped off one of the best pitching performances in World Series history with 2/3 scoreless innings to end the decider. That came a day after he tossed 96 pitches in the Dodgers’ Game 6 win, and he also tossed four strikeouts in Game 2 to help Los Angeles repeat as champions in a blockbuster series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Yamamoto’s heavy workload. “I’m kind of crazy to put him back there. But I felt like it was the best choice.”
It’s hard to say there. The 27-year-old Japanese slugger got out of the jam in the ninth inning, leaving the bases loaded and the score tied at 4. After grounding out the 10th, he rallied around Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s leadoff lead in the 11th inning to maintain a 5-4 lead and clinch Los Angeles’ second straight title.
“Yamamoto is the goat!” Roberts shouted moments before the Dodgers hoisted the World Series trophy.
However, even Yamamoto wasn’t sure he could get the job done in Game 7.
“Before I went in, to be honest, I wasn’t really sure if I could give my best,” he said through a translator. “But when I started to warm up, because I started to make some adjustments, then I started to think that I could do my job,” he added.
Yamamoto is the fourth pitcher to win Games 6 and 7 of the same World Series, matching Randy Johnson in 2001, Harry Brechin in 1946 and Ray Kramer in 1925. He and Johnson are the only pitchers since 1969 to win three games in a single World Series.
Yamamoto’s Game 7 hat will be sent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
“That was unbelievable,” said catcher Will Smith, who hit a tie-breaking homer for the Dodgers in the 11th. “You know, I talked to him yesterday. I said, ‘Hey, if you can give us one we’ll win.’ He gave us three. That was special. He’s going to have a few months off. I know he’s going to need it, but I’m happy for him. That was great.”
Signed from Japan to a 12-year, $325 million contract before last season, Yamamoto was 3-0 with a 1.09 ERA against the Toronto Blue Jays. The 27-year-old struck out 15 times and walked two over 17 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and 10 hits.
“He’s one of the best weapons in the game,” Toronto’s Addison Barger said. “He did a great job. It was weird for him to come in and throw the ball today after yesterday. I don’t know what they’re doing out there, how he did it without his arm falling off.”
Yamamoto’s deep arsenal of pitches is a key part of what makes him so tough, Blue Jays outfielder George Springer said.
“He’s elite,” Springer said. “There’s no other way to describe it. He’s elite. He can control six or seven different types of spin and that division is obviously difficult to reach.”
The right-hander’s Game 2 gem was his second straight complete game of the postseason. He retired the last 20 batters in a 5-1 Dodgers win.
It came after a triple-double against Milwaukee in the National League Championship Series, the first complete postseason game in eight years.
No pitcher has gone the distance in the Fall Classic since Kansas City’s Johnny Cueto fired off two batters against the New York Mets in Game 2 of the 2015 World Series.
Yamamoto wasn’t quite as sharp in Game 6, allowing one run and five hits in six innings as Los Angeles won 3-1 to force Game 7.
Including a win in Game 2 of last year’s World Series against the New York Yankees, Yamamoto is 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA in four appearances in the Fall Classic.
Arizona’s Curt Schilling was the last pitcher to throw consecutive complete games in the postseason, throwing three straight complete games in the 2001 NL Division Series and NLCS.
Orel Hershiser was the last Dodgers pitcher with a solo effort in the Series, in Games 2 and 5 against Oakland in 1988. Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax pitched two complete games of the Series in both 1963 and 1965.
Yamamoto pitched 12 complete games in his final three seasons with the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese Pacific League before joining the Dodgers.
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