Hilarious Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto Moment Going Viral After Dodgers Debut

The two clearly had a good time together on Wednesday.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his Cactus League debut on Wednesday, and dazzled the crowd at Surprise Stadium.

The Dodgers' $325 million man threw 19 pitches across two innings of work, with 16 of them coming for strikes. He had three strikeouts and allowed one hit, but quickly got a double play and ended up facing the minimum number of batters.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto's Cactus League debut is probably done after two dominant innings:

2 IP
1 H
0 ER
0 BB
3 K

He threw 16 strikes to just 3 balls. He faced the minimum number of batters for the Dodgers.

— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) February 28, 2024

Yamamoto had a surprise guest (no pun intended) to watch him play on Wednesday: $700 million man Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani made the trip to Surprise to watch Yamamoto play, saying he wanted to support his fellow Japanese teammate in his debut.

Shohei Ohtani is in the Dodgers dugout to watch Yoshinobu Yamamoto make his Cactus League debut.

This is a road game for the Dodgers, so Ohtani traveled to Surprise with the team to watch Yamamoto.

— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) February 28, 2024

Ohtani also helped Yamamoto in the second inning when there was some confusion on the mound.

After Yamamoto's dominant second inning — in which he only needed eight pitches and struck out two Rangers — he lost track of how many outs he had recorded.

Yamamoto appeared to be doing a walk to get ready to face another batter, but fortunately, he got some assistance from Ohtani who motioned him to get off the mound because the inning was over.

After Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s dominant two innings pitched, Shohei Ohtani let him know it was time to come out😂🔥

🎥: @SportsNetLA pic.twitter.com/Dwba4t3tji

— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) February 28, 2024

When Yamamoto got back to the dugout, Ohtani had a few words for him:

"You know, we play three outs here in the major leagues."

Via Bob Nightengale, USA Today

After Yamamoto's debut, he spoke to the media, and was asked what Ohtani thought of his performance. Yamamoto said Ohtani called it "so-so." Clearly, Ohtani's a harsh critic.

Jokes aside, Yamamoto was absolutely dominant in his debut, and said he used just four of the pitches in his reporter: a fastball, cutter, splitter and curveball. His splitter was nasty, making the opposing hitters look silly in his two innings of work.

The Dodgers will have Yoshinobu Yamamoto embarrassing hitters with his devastating splitter for the next 12 years

pic.twitter.com/zWQx0WeFiP

— Doug McKain (@DMAC_LA) February 28, 2024

Yamamoto will likely make another start early next week, as he gets set to start one of the Dodgers' first two games of the season in Korea.