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<\/p>\nTORONTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0As Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto came set on the Rogers Centre mound Tuesday, he didn\u2019t let his mind drift to the last time he gazed from that exact spot. <\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t think of the snap of Alejandro Kirk\u2019s bat as it splintered, or the fluidity of Mookie Betts\u2019s movement as he started the double play, or the joy on Freddie Freeman\u2019s face as his arms flew in the air. <\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t think of the relief as a back-and-forth World Series Game 7 finally ended, or the mayhem that ensued around him as he tilted his head back and smiled. <\/p>\n
Yamamoto insisted he didn\u2019t think about the final pitch of last year\u2019s World Series during his start Tuesday. And in the Dodgers\u2019 4-1 win against the Blue Jays, his focus showed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter how important, how big the game is, I just treat every game as the same,\u201d Yamamoto said through an interpreter the day before. \u201cAnd in just normal games, I just pretend that that\u2019s the biggest game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tuesday was, by all measures, just a normal game. And Yamamoto held the Blue Jays to one run through six-plus innings. <\/p>\n
His tear began from the first pitch, a slider spotted on the outside edge that got a whiff from Toronto\u2019s George Springer. Yamamoto went on to strike out the side.<\/p>\n
If Kyle Tucker had been a little more sure-footed on a line drive over his head to lead off the second inning, Yamamoto, who gave up one run in six-plus innings Tuesday, might have had a perfect-game bid going into the sixth.<\/p>\n
It was a tough angle, slowing Tucker for a few steps. And that was enough to put the ball just out of reach, allowing Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez to jog to second base for a double.<\/p>\n
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Two batters later, Tucker made a sliding catch on a short fly ball that threatened to touch down in no-man\u2019s land. Then Yamamoto wrapped up the inning with his fourth strikeout of the game.<\/p>\n
That eight-pitch battle ended with a cutter at the top of the zone. Nathan Lukes watched it and flipped his bat toward the Blue Jays\u2019 dugout. It was a called third strike; Lukes didn\u2019t argue.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst six innings or so, he kind of had anything he wanted,\u201d catcher Will Smith said. \u201cAny pitch, he was executing. Just has command of all five, six pitches … mixing speeds, mixing locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Including that strikeout, Yamamoto retired 12 straight batters. In the midst of that stretch, he didn\u2019t let the ball leave the infield for two straight innings.<\/p>\n
The next time he faced S\u00e1nchez, Yamamoto took a different tact, throwing mostly pitches that moved down or away from the left-handed hitter. According to Statcast, the only time Yamamoto returned to the cutter \u2014 the pitch S\u00e1nchez drove over Tucker\u2019s head \u2014 he located it off the plate.<\/p>\n
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Yamamoto then came back over the plate with a curveball. S\u00e1nchez lunged at it, as the pitch fell out of the strike zone. Strike three. S\u00e1nchez grimaced.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez wasn\u2019t the only one; Yamamoto\u2019s stuff was quite literally keeping the Blue Jays off balance.<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez spun halfway around and crumpled to the ground on a check swing in the sixth inning. But Gim\u00e9nez recovered and got his hands inside a cutter to drop a soft line drive into shallow right field for a single.<\/p>\n
Yamamoto then labored through the sixth inning. He gave up an RBI double to George Springer and a walk before escaping without further damage.<\/p>\n
He returned for the seventh and appeared to strike out Kazuma Okamoto to open the inning. But Okamoto made a successful ABS challenge.<\/p>\n
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Blue Jays manager John Schneider yells at plate umpire Dan Merzel after being ejected in the fifth inning Tuesday.<\/p>\n
(Cole Burston \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n