CHICAGO — Yoshinobu Yamamoto might have been ready for the move to the United States after all – he just needed to get here.
Putting his unsettling Seoul Series debut further in the rear-view mirror, Yamamoto held the Chicago Cubs scoreless for the first five innings to earn his first major-league win in a 4-1 victory Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
Since lasting just one inning and allowing five runs in his big-league debut during the two-game series in South Korea, Yamamoto has not allowed a run. In two starts since that rocky showing against the Padres, he has thrown 10 scoreless innings with five hits allowed, two walks and 13 strikeouts.
But Yamamoto had to survive two stressful innings to start his day.
He gave up a leadoff double to Ian Happ in the first then loaded the bases with no outs when Seiya Suzuki walked and Cody Bellinger reached on an infield single when shortstop Miguel Rojas charged his chopped grounder but flipped too late to second base.
Not a problem. Yamamoto (1-1) struck out the next three batters, getting Dansby Swanson and Michael Busch on called third strikes.
In the second, the Cubs loaded the bases again, this time with two outs. Yan Gomes doubled over Kiké Hernandez’s head in center field. Yamamoto walked Happ and Suzuki reached on an error by third baseman Max Muncy.
Yamamoto froze Bellinger with a curveball for another called third strike to end that threat.
Bellinger was the first of 10 consecutive batters retired by Yamamoto to end his day after five innings with three hits allowed and eight strikeouts.
Ryan Brasier, Joe Kelly and Daniel Hudson carried the shutout into the ninth inning before Evan Phillips gave up the Cubs’ only run.
The Dodgers were having their own difficulties scoring early against Cubs lefty Jordan Wicks. They put the leadoff man on base in three of the first four innings but stranded five baserunners in that time, including Muncy after a leadoff double in the fourth. After going three for 16 with runners in scoring position in Friday’s loss, they started 0 for 8 in those situations Saturday.
But they finally broke through in the fifth inning.
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Austin Barnes led off with a single. Shohei Ohtani singled with one out and Cubs manager Craig Counsell pulled Wicks after he struck out Freddie Freeman. His reliever of choice, Jose Cuas, walked Teoscar Hernandez to load the bases, then threw a run-scoring wild pitch and gave up a two-run single to Muncy.
The Dodgers added an unearned run in the eighth inning but came up short of five runs for the first time this season, ending their franchise-record streak at 10 games to start the season.
