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Shohei Ohtani Summed Up Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Dodgers Debut With Perfect One-Liner

The two-way superstar has jokes.

Tom Dierberger

Shohei Ohtani Summed Up Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Dodgers Debut With Perfect One-Liner
Shohei Ohtani Summed Up Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Dodgers Debut With Perfect One-Liner /
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Shohei Ohtani wasn’t scheduled to play Wednesday, but he made the road trip to Surprise, Ariz., to catch the Los Angeles Dodgers battle the Texas Rangers for one reason in particular: His longtime friend and new Dodgers teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto was set to make his spring training debut.

In two innings of work, Yamamoto allowed one hit and no runs while registering three strikeouts, with 16 of his 19 pitches going for strikes. In other words, he was shoving.

Ohtani, however, wasn’t so convinced. 

“He said it was so-so,” Yamamoto said with a smile through a translator about Ohtani’s evaluation of his debut.

Classic.

Ohtani made his Dodgers debut in spring training on Tuesday. The two-way superstar went 1-for-2 with a monster home run to left-center field.

The Dodgers return to the field Thursday for a tilt against the Cincinnati Reds.

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Tom Dierberger
TOM DIERBERGER

Tom Dierberger is a staff writer and editor on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in November 2023 after stints at FOX Sports, Bally Sports and NBC Sports. Dierberger has a bachelor's in communication from St. John's University. In his spare time, he can be seen throwing out his arm while playing fetch with his dog, Walter B. Boy.

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