Dodgers Yoshinobu Yamamoto earns milestone win

NEW YORK — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was surprised.“I didn’t know that,” he said.Counting the games Yoshinobu Yamamoto won for the Orix Buffaloes in the Japanese league, the victory picked up by the 5-foot-10 right-hander on Saturday night was the 100th of his nine-year career.“Well,” Roberts said, “that’s a milestone.”Yamamoto pitched well below his standard in the Dodgers’ 4–3 win over the Mets at Citi Field.With uncharacteristic control problems inflating his pitch count, he was limited to six innings.But he somehow gave up only one run.“I really think it’s a sign of growth to be able to hold the opponent to a run over six innings when I’m throwing like that,” Yamamoto said in Japanese.Roberts joked that he wouldn’t have toasted Yamamoto’s achievement even if he’d known about it — “One-hundred [wins] in the states, MLB baseball,” he said — but the moment offered the 27-year-old right-hander a chance to reflect on the journey from unheralded prospect to Cy Young Award candidate.“Of course, it wasn’t easy,” Yamamoto said.Out of high school, he was a fourth-round pick in the Nippon Professional Baseball draft. He performed well enough for the Buffaloes’ minor-league team as a first-year player to be promoted to the organization’s top team at 19.Fearing his frame wouldn’t hold up to the physical demands of professional baseball, Yamamoto revamped his delivery, which upset the Buffaloes.He eventually became a three-time most valuable player of the Pacific League, which earned him a 12-year, $325-million contract with the Dodgers.His transition to the major leagues was initially difficult, as he missed three months in his rookie year with the Dodgers because of shoulder problems.He’s now a two-time major league All-Star, as well as a World Series MVP.

He’s won 30 games in the majors, including 11 this year.“There were a lot of games in which I got hit,” Yamamoto said.“For some reason, those are the...