Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto likely will be placed on injured list

De’Aaron Fox

A noticeable drop in the velocity of his four-seam fastball in the first inning was the first sign that something was not right with Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Saturday night.

The red lights then began flashing after the top of the second, when SportsNet LA cameras caught pitching coach Mark Prior hurriedly summoning manager Dave Roberts and an athletic trainer into the tunnel below the dugout and reliever Michael Grove began warming up in the bullpen.

Sure enough, Yamamoto was pulled after giving up one hit in two scoreless innings of an eventual 7-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals in front of a crowd of 50,423 in Dodger Stadium, the team announcing an initial diagnosis of triceps tightness.

“It’s a high possibility,” Roberts said, when asked if Yamamoto would be placed on the 15-day injured list as a precaution. “But we’ll get our doctors involved, and see if there’s more to it.”

Yamamoto said through his interpreter that he began feeling tightness in his triceps this past week, after he threw a season-high 106 pitches while shutting out the New York Yankees on two hits through seven innings on June 7, and “that was the reason” his scheduled Thursday night start against Texas was pushed back to Saturday.

“I was feeling it a couple days ago,” said Yamamoto, who signed a 12-year, $325-million deal in December. “But today, that tightness was gone.”

But the tightness returned during pregame warmups, and Yamamoto said he “was communicating with my coaches about that.”

Why did Yamamoto make the start if he was feeling tightness before the game?

“I was very aware of it, but it was not that serious at that point,” he said. “Then, as I was pitching, it started [to get worse].”

Dodgers pitcher Yosh
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