Copyright Newsweek
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays in an 18-inning thriller in Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night. In a game with many twists and turns, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, warming up in the 18th inning, caught broadcaster Joe Davis' attention. Yamamoto, who threw a 105-pitch complete game in Game 2 on the heels of a 111-pitch complete game in the National League Championship Series, appeared to be the next man up for manager Dave Roberts. That was even though he had thrown the back-to-back complete games for the first time in his career. Davis serves as a broadcaster for Dodgers games during the season for Spectrum SportsNet LA. He is familiar with the Dodgers and Yamamoto and he is on call for the World Series on FOX. When he saw Yamamoto warming up in the 18th inning after pitching just two days ago, he was shocked. "Oh my goodness," Davis said on the Fox broadcast, as heard in a clip posted by FOX Sports on X. Yamamoto's complete game in the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers was the first since Justin Verlander in 2017. He was the first pitcher since Curt Schilling in 2001 to do it back-to-back starts. It's obviously an increasingly rare feat in an era where everything is so closely monitored. Despite that, Yamamoto reportedly went up to the Dodgers' pitching coach, Mark Prior, during the 17th inning and volunteered to pitch. He loosened, but did not need to enter thanks to Freddie Freeman's walk-off home run. The Dodgers were running out of relievers, and their ace was ready to step up. Will Klein gave the Dodgers four scoreless innings, however, preventing the Dodgers from using a starter.
