ST. LOUIS _ Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jordan Yamamoto struck out St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina to finish a shutout seventh inning at Busch Stadium on Tuesday and cap a second stellar start to begin his MLB career.
By the time he left the game, an eventual 6-0 Marlins win, the 23-year-old right-handed pitcher from Pearl City, Hawaii, had already etched his name into the Marlins record book.
Yamamoto's 14 scoreless innings (and counting) to begin his Major League career well surpassed the Marlins franchise record by a starting pitcher to open his career. Josh Beckett previously held the record with 10 scoreless innings in 2001 to start his career. Yamamoto will have a chance to extend the streak during his next start, which is scheduled for Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Yamamoto, who the Marlins obtained in January 2018 as part of the Christian Yelich trade, gave up just two hits and two walks on Tuesday while striking out seven. He threw 99 pitches, 60 of which went for strikes.
And while his fastball wasn't overpowering _ he averaged 90.8 mph with the pitch and topped out at 93.2 mph _ his sequencing and ability to command his off-speed and breaking ball pitches made up for his lack of velocity.
Yamamoto's pitching breakdown on Tuesday: 33 four-seam fastballs (24 for strikes), 34 sliders (18 for strikes), 20 curveballs (11 for strikes), eight change-ups (six for strikes) and four cutters (one for strike).
He also had help from the offense, which snapped an 18-inning scoring drought when Starlin Castro hit a leadoff home run in the fourth inning. Brian Anderson hit a two-run home run in the seventh and the Marlins (26-45) added three more runs in the eighth to cruise to the shutout victory.
Yamamoto's performance followed up a stellar MLB debut on Wednesday, during which he also threw seven shutout innings against the Cardinals at Marlins Park. Yamamoto gave up just three hits and a walk while striking out five in that game, a 9-0 Marlins win.
Yamamoto, the Marlins' No. 17 overall prospect according to MLBPipeline, spent the season at Double-A Jacksonville and had a 3.58 ERA over 65 1/3 innings with 64 strikeouts this year with the Jumbo Shrimp before being called up. He is filling Jose Urena's spot in the starting rotation with Urena on the 60-day Injured List for a herniated disc.
