Dave Roberts admits Yoshinobu Yamamoto tipped pitches against Padres

The Los Angeles Dodgers didn't have the start they would have liked from Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 1 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres. Nevertheless, they were able to achieve a victory.

Yamamoto pitched just three innings, allowing five hits, five earned runs and two walks. He threw a punch. It wasn't a great MLB postseason debut for Yamamoto. His teammate Shohei Ohtani suspects part of the struggle is the difficulty of getting into the first game of a playoff series.

In a post-match press conference, Dave Roberts said: “I thought there were a few mistakes, I just felt there was some stress. I just thought they saw him well,” when asked why he subbed him out after three innings. He also admitted that he believed Yamamoto was giving pitches to the base runners at second base.

“I think there are some things we'll address because I think at second base there were some things with his glove and giving away some pitches. So we're going to clean that up, and that's part of baseball, so it's up to us to kind of clean that up and not give away what pitch he's going to throw.”

With a runner manning second base, Yamamoto gave up a home run, a double and a walk in Game 1.

Roberts hasn't lost faith in Yamamoto, however, saying, “He'll probably start,” when asked if he would be the right man for a possible Game 5 against the Padres.