CINCINNATI -- At the outset of his start, Yoshinobu Yamamoto did not look like himself on the mound.
Yamamoto missed with eight of the first nine pitches he threw on Tuesday night, walking the first two Reds batters he faced -- the fourth time this season he walked multiple batters in a single inning, and the first time in his Major League career that he opened a start by issuing back-to-back free passes.
Two batters, two baserunners. But the Reds would get only one more batter aboard in the remainder of Yamamoto's seven strong innings.
After his inauspicious beginning, Yamamoto retired 21 of the 22 Reds batters he faced as the Dodgers rolled to a 4-0 victory at Great American Ball Park. He struck out seven and allowed just one hit, an Elly De La Cruz double in the bottom of the third.
One day after Tarik Skubal opened the four-game set in Cincinnati with a gem -- a three-hit, seven-inning effort -- Yamamoto raised the bar. Blake Snell is up next as the Dodgers close in on their 13th NL West title in the past 14 seasons, which they can clinch as soon as Wednesday with another win and a Padres loss.
Last postseason, dominance from the Dodgers' rotation drove their run to back-to-back championships. That could be the case again as they bid for a three-peat, and Yamamoto will be one of the arms leading the way.
Yamamoto has been a steady presence in the rotation from the time he took the ball on Opening Day, but he has looked especially sharp of late. He has recorded at least one out in the seventh inning in five consecutive starts, and completed the seventh in his past three. He has allowed more than two runs only twice in 10 second-half starts.