Dodgers Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting second-half push for Cy Young Award

NEW YORK – Yoshinobu Yamamoto comes into this week with as many wins as Jacob Misiorowski. He has made as many starts as Misirowski and pitched more innings.The statistic that explains the multiple degrees of separation between them in the competition for the National League Cy Young Award is earned-run average: Misiorowski is at 1.67, Yamamoto at 2.78.But Yamamoto remains within striking distance of Misiorowski, the 24-year-old fireballer of the Milwaukee Brewers.And by the end of the season, he will overtake Misiorowski, who didn’t pitch in the two weeks leading up his scheduled on Monday because of arm fatigue.Yamamoto will become the first-ever pitcher from Japan to win a Cy Young Award.Because Yamamoto remains pain-free.Because he has a track record of becoming sharper as the season progresses.

And most importantly: Because the Dodgers need him to be a stabilizing force in their rotation.The Dodgers emerged from their series win at Yankee Stadium not knowing when Shohei Ohtani would pitch next or if catcher Will Smith would even play again this season.In the middle of this uncertainty, they were able to confirm they can rely on at least one player they were counting on to deliver for them in October.They can rely on Yamamoto.With their scheduled game on Saturday night canceled because of an imaginary thunderstorm, the Dodgers and Yankees played a doubleheader on Sunday.Original Saturday starter Emmet Sheehan was pushed back to the series-opener in Philadelphia on Monday, as Ohtani was scratched from his scheduled start against the Phillies on Wednesday.With the Dodgers planning a bullpen game for the second game on Sunday, they asked Yamamoto to take down as many innings as possible in the first.Did he ever.The diminutive Japanese right-hander who pitched two complete games in the playoffs last year on the Dodgers’ World Series run pitched his first regular-season complete game in an 8–2 victory over the Yankees.“That’s why he’s our ace,” man...