Dodgers rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto left his start against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday after just two innings pitched and 28 pitches thrown.
The team announced that Yamamoto left with triceps tightness.
Yamamoto completed the second inning and walked down into the dugout tunnel to have a conversation with pitching coach Mark Prior. Prior can then be seen running up to inform manager Dave Roberts that Yamamoto would not be able to continue.
Michael Grove began warming up in the bullpen immediately and subsequently took over for Yamamoto.
During Saturday’s truncated start, the velocity on Yamamoto’s fastball was down from his last outing against the New York Yankees, with his slowest pitch clocking in at 93 MPH.
Los Angeles pushed back Yamamoto’s start by two days to give him extra rest. He had just thrown a career-high 106-pitch game against New York.
With the designation right now being triceps tightness, some sigh of relief can at least be taken knowing that Yamamoto does not seem to be dealing with an arm injury.