Baseball: Yamamoto roughed up in 2nd spring training start

Yoshinobu Yamamoto yielded five runs in a wild three-inning spring training outing Wednesday as the Los Angeles Dodgers won 12-9 against the Chicago White Sox.

The new Dodger, who in December penned the most valuable contract ever offered to a pitcher with a 12-year, $325 million deal, was tested in his second Cactus League game, giving up six hits and three walks while striking out four.

"I threw consecutive balls, issued walks and there were lots of bad points. I didn't quite feel comfortable throwing from the set position," said Yamamoto, who had an impressive debut outing on Feb. 28 in which he hurled two shutout innings against the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers.

"I'll just stay calm and keep going. I hope to control all my pitches to where I want before the season starts."

Yamamoto played with Japanese countryman Shohei Ohtani for the first time in Dodgers blue as the two-way star went 2-for-2 with an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.

"Our offense was amazing again today," said Yamamoto, who was happy with his splitters. "I simply have to concentrate on pitching better."

© Kyodo News