Dodgers' Dave Roberts Not Happy With Yoshinobu Yamomoto, Will Smith in Loss to Brewers

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and catcher Will Smith recently learned they will represent the National League at this month's All-Star Game in Atlanta.

That doesn't make them immune from criticism from their manager.

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In particular, one sequence of pitches in the first inning of Monday's 9-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers drew the ire of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. Yamamoto threw five pitches to Brewers slugger Andrew Vaughn, four of them sliders.

Although the right-hander has six pitches in his arsenal, Vaughn only saw two of them. That was the problem, Roberts said, when Vaughn launched the fifth pitch he saw for a three-run home run.

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The Dodgers eventually lost, 9-1. Yamamoto didn't make it out of the first inning in what was the shortest start of his major league career.

“That particular situation, Will (Smith) was calling it and I was following his signs,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group. “I think the (first) three sliders I threw were located pretty good. But that last one, I elevated it. It got away from me.”

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Vaughn, 27, was the third overall pick in the 2019 draft by the White Sox. Chicago only recently gave up on him, trading him to Milwaukee for pitcher Aaron Civale on June 13. He had a .709 OPS and -0.5 bWAR in 610 career games with the White Sox from 2021-25.

Andrew Vaughn in Chicago (610 games): -0.5 bWAR

Andrew Vaughn in Milwaukee (1 game): 0.2 bWAR
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) July 8, 2025

The Brewers optioned Vaughn to Triple-A Nashville after the trade, then recalled him prior to Monday's series opener in Milwaukee. It was his first major league game since May 21. The home run came in his first at-bat.

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To many, it was surprising to see a borderline major leaguer take the Dodgers' best pitcher deep in his return to the big leagues.

“I mean, (Vaughn) hits in-zone spin really well, medium-speed," Roberts said, via Plunkett. "And he sees four of them in an at-bat, and the last one wasn’t a good one. You hate to say one pitch cost a game, which I don’t believe it does. But in that sense right there, that homer and then the walk and the error and the pitch count, he’s just stressed too much for me.”

The home run was unexpected on multiple levels. It was the first ever hit by a right-handed batter against Yamamoto's slider in a regular season MLB game.

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