"Straight Talk" is a regular feature in which The Sporting Tribune's John E. Gibson offers a full translation of media availability with Dodgers Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. He will also help translate when Lakers star Rui Hachimura and LA Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida are asked questions in Japanese.
The job of interpreters in the heat of the moment is difficult without the ability to write down questions and answers and re-hear responses for proper context. That's where John comes in to help.
John currently works as a Japanese-English interpreter and covered pro baseball in Japan for about 20 years. His experience as a sports reporter includes stints at The Orange County Register, The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Redlands Daily Facts, The Yomiuri Shimbun’s English newspaper in Tokyo and The Epoch Times.
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-1) said his stuff wasn’t that bad after he tossed six innings of two-run ball on Wednesday at home in a 4-1 loss to the Cleveland Guardians. Yamamoto allowed four hits, a walk and hit a batter, while fanning just two before departing with the Dodgers down 2-0.
Q: Yoshi, just looking at the stats tonight, it seemed like you didn’t have your best stuff, but how did you find still navigating to get through six innings of work, only giving up two runs?
Yamamoto: My stuff wasn’t that bad. It turned out that I allowed a lot of runners, but, yeah, I feel like I managed to pitch in the zone and at least do my job and keep us in the game.
Q: Do you feel like your command was where you wanted it tonight?
Yamamoto: Well, it breaks down into me having good pitches and then ones that could have been a little better.
Q: Dave (Roberts) kind of called it a grind overall. Is it encouraging, though, to still be that efficient and only give up two runs, even when you’re not really feeling your best?
Yamamoto: As far as how I felt out there, and the splitter was one of those pitches, it really was just a case of me being just a little bit off. That’s the way I felt, but overall, I’m in a good place. Today, as far as the way the game went, I again allowed the first run. That’s something I need to look at, but the positive is that I was able to get through six innings – I think that was a good thing.
Q: Yoshinobu, for the first time ever, you, (Shohei) Ohtani and Roki (Sasaki) pitched in back-to-back-to-back games. How special was that for you?
Yamamoto: It’s the first time in history, so I think it’s a great thing. And going forward, it’s probably going to happen again, so I want to do my best and hopefully the three of us can all pitch well.