Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Thu, Sep 3, 2026

Eight strikeouts, four runs — Yamamoto's splitter command was the swing factor

Yamamoto worked 7.0 innings against the Cardinals, allowing 5 hits and 4 earned runs while striking out 8 and walking 2. The strikeout total was excellent, but the earned run total ran well above his 2.67 season ERA, making this a rockier outing than his recent stretch, which included three starts of one earned run or fewer over his last five appearances.

The pitch mix tells the story. His most-used pitch was the splitter at 29 pitches (31%), but its strike rate sat at just 59% despite generating 7 whiffs, suggesting he was often working behind in the count with it. The four-seam fastball, by contrast, was sharp: 28 pitches, a 75% strike rate, and 6 whiffs. The trouble spots were the cutter and slider — the cutter posted just a 33% strike rate on 6 pitches, and the slider sat at 50% on 6 pitches, both well below his usual command. Those secondary pitches likely put him behind in counts at key moments, opening the door for the four earned runs. On the platoon split, his numbers actually skew slightly better against lefties (.179 average, .530 OPS) than righties (.196 average, .594 OPS), so today's runs weren't a matchup issue tied to batter handedness.

Unico's take: with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.0 still intact, Yamamoto's underlying stuff remains elite — tightening up the cutter and slider command should be enough to bring him right back to his season-average form next time out.