TORONTO — Los Angeles Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw leaned back against his locker Saturday trying to describe what he just witnessed.
He has three Cy Young awards and two World Series championships.
He has won an MVP award, made 11 All-Star Games, won five Cy Young titles and a Gold Glove, too.
But never, ever in his 18-year career, did he ever see what teammate Yoshinobu Yamamato accomplished Saturday night, going where no man has gone in 33 years.
Yamamoto, after pitching a four-hit complete game and retiring the last 20 batters he faced in the Dodgers’ 5-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays to even the World Series at one-game apiece, may have just changed the future of baseball.
He just brought back a golden age of pitching.
In one glorious night, Yamamoto became the first pitcher since Curt Schilling of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001 to throw consecutive complete games in the postseason, with Atlanta’s Tom Glavine the last to do it including a World Series game.
He was the first pitcher to end a World Series game by retiring 20 consecutive batters since Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956, and only the second in 99 years, dating back to Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1926.
And he was the first Dodgers pitcher to strike out at least eight batters without a walk in a World Series complete game since Sandy Koufax in 1963.
“There’s not enough adjectives, superlatives, anything you want to say,’ Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “To do it in back-to-back starts, in less than 110 pitches, it’s amazing.’
So now he knows what the boys must have felt like a century ago when Alexander and Cy Young were pitching?
Or maybe back even further.
“Maybe we got our own new Old Hoss (Radbourn),’ Freeman said.
Well, it’s safe to say we’ll never see the Dodgers let Yamamoto throw at least 425 innings for six consecutive seasons like Old Hoss, let alone 678 innings back in 1884 – but you get the idea.
Considering that no pitcher had thrown a complete game in the World Series since Johnny Cueto in 2015, did Kershaw imagine that he’d ever see the feat?
“I don’t think anybody could have predicted that,’ Kershaw said. “But you know, maybe it’s a sign of where baseball should, and will get back to. I think it’s always fun to have great starting pitching matchups, and to see him go deep into games, maybe this gives some people some ideas for the future, hopefully.’
Considering the way Yoshinobu was pitching, retiring the last 20 batters he faced with complete ease, his pitch count of 105 pitches was as irrelevant as the number of sunflower seeds spit onto the Rogers Centre field.
“The way Yosh is throwing right now and the way we’re built right now,’ Kershaw said, “he could throw 150 pitches if he wants. …
“I just think the way he throws the baseball is like perfect. No wasted movement. So efficient. He came here with a fastball, curveball, split and now he’s throwing sinkers, cutters, sliders. So, he’s got six pitches with command that he uses really well.’
Yes, there’s a reason why he was the most coveted free agent pitcher two years ago before signing a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers.
They wouldn’t have won the World Series without him a year ago.
And they’re not in position for a repeat this year without him going 3-1 with a 1.57 ERA in the postseason..
Since giving up five runs in the first three innings of his postseason debut a year ago, he is yielding a 1.62 ERA, striking out 40 batters over 44 ⅓ innings, with the Dodgers going 6-1 in his starts.
When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts couldn’t stop with the praise.
“Outstanding, uber competitive, special,’’ Roberts said. “It was one of those things he said before the series, losing is not an option, and he had that look tonight.’
The Blue Jays, who came out swinging at the first six pitches they saw, with George Springer opening with a double and Nathan Lukes following with a single, thought they were on him.
Nope.
They not only failed to hit the ball out of the infield the rest of the inning but managed only two hits the rest of the game.
The Blue Jays looked absolutely clueless.
“He was unbelievable,’ Springer said. “He did what he does best. … He showed why he is who he is. …
“Just one of those situations where a very, very elite guy had a great game.’
Yamamoto was so dominant that after Alejandro Kirk’s sacrifice fly in the third inning, Yamamoto allowed only three balls to leave the infield the rest of the game.
“My pitching style is just keep attacking the zone,’ Yamamoto said.
The Dodgers bullpen spent the entire game just soaking in the atmosphere, with Rōki Sasaki only warming up in the ninth inning.
“I mean, he could have went another 30, 40 pitches tonight,’ Roberts said.
And even at 140 pitches, he still would be better than anyone else the Dodgers could have brought in from the bullpen.
Yamamoto is built for this moment. He may be only in his second year pitching in the major leagues, but he was a star in Japan, Eiji Sawamura Award three times before setting foot in LA.
“He’s pitched in huge ball games in Japan,’ Roberts said. “He’s pitched in the WBC. Players that have the weight of a country on their shoulders, that’s pressure.
“So, I just feel that part of his DNA is to just perform at a high level in big spots and control his heartbeat and just continue to make pitches.’’
The only time Yamamoto was in the least bit of trouble was in the first inning when he threw 23 pitches, and then he never broke a sweat the rest of the game.
“It’s amazing,’ Freeman said. “As he was going along in the fifth, sixth, seventh, I was just thinking about how poised and how he was in control of the game, and what he was trying to do … He just throws it whenever he wants. He sets up hitters, understands hitters’ swings and he’s just incredible.’’
And when he takes the ball to start the game, Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior says, he expects to finish it.
“I love it,’ Roberts said. “I love feeling that the starter is the best option to go six, seven, eight [innings], and what Yamamoto is doing, nine innings. You got to be efficient, you got to have the weapons to be able to take down a lineup three times, four times, whatever it is, and you got to want to do it.
“So he is a throwback player. It’s a lot of fun to root for a guy, and you feel good about leaving a guy like that in.’’
Yamamoto, who has easily become baseball’s most dominant pitcher this entire postseason, is scheduled to start Game 6 back in Toronto.
The Blue Jays believe that after seeing Yamamoto for the first time, they’ll be more prepared.
One little problem, as the Dodgers cautioned leaving the clubhouse.
The way they’re pitching, and with the next three games back at Dodger Stadium, there may not be a Game 6.
“That’s our hope,’ Freeman said.
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