CHICAGO — For eight innings on Saturday afternoon at Rate Field, Yoshinobu Yamamoto stood on the edge of baseball immortality.
The Dodgers right-hander carried a perfect game into the eighth inning, a no-hitter into the ninth, and a streak of retired batters that nearly rewrote the Major League Baseball record book. History ultimately slipped away, first on a defensive miscue and then on a ninth-inning home run.
The masterpiece, however, remained.
Behind one of the finest starts of his major league career, Yamamoto dominated the White Sox as the Dodgers cruised to a 7-1 victory, improving to 45-26 on the season.
David Banks-Imagn Images
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) throws the ball against the Chicago White Sox during the fifth inning at Rate Field.
By the time his afternoon ended, Yamamoto had thrown 8 1/3 innings, allowing just one hit and one run while striking out seven on 109 pitches, 74 of them strikes. He retired the first 23 batters he faced and finished with a remarkable streak of 45 consecutive batters retired dating back to his previous start against the Angels.
That streak left him just one batter shy of the major league record of 46 consecutive hitters retired, set by Yusmeiro Petit in 2014.
The drama built inning by inning.
Yamamoto was perfect through six innings. Then seven. At the end of the seventh, he had retired 43 consecutive batters overall, putting both the perfect game and the MLB record squarely within reach.
With two outs in the eighth, however, the perfect game disappeared.
White Sox leadoff hitter Chase Meidroth hit a routine ground ball toward shortstop. Mookie Betts appeared ready to make the play before the ball took a tricky hop at the last moment, glancing off his glove. Official scorers ruled the play an error, preserving the no-hitter but ending the perfect-game bid.
Just like that, Yamamoto's pursuit of perfection was over.
The error also halted his consecutive-retired-batters streak at 45, establishing a new Dodgers franchise record but leaving him one out short of tying Petit.
Still, the no-hitter remained intact.
Yamamoto returned for the ninth needing three outs to complete what would have been the first no-hitter of his major league career. Instead, White Sox center fielder Tristan Peters greeted him with a solo home run to right field, ending the bid immediately.
Tristan Peters breaks up the no-hitter with a BLAST 💥 pic.twitter.com/05mfxum7aQ
— MLB (@MLB) June 13, 2026
For the second time in his MLB career, Yamamoto lost a no-hitter in the ninth inning.
Dave Roberts emerged from the dugout moments later, and Yamamoto departed to hugs from teammates and a standing ovation from a sold-out crowd that had spent most of the afternoon watching history unfold.
Sandy Koufax's perfect game on Sept. 9, 1965 remains the only perfect game in Dodgers history.
As captivating as Yamamoto's outing was, the Dodgers' offense made sure there would be no suspense on the scoreboard.
The scoring started before Yamamoto even took the mound.
After sitting out Friday's game, Shohei Ohtani returned to the lineup and immediately reminded everyone why he remains one of baseball's most dangerous hitters. Ohtani launched a leadoff home run in the first inning, his 14th homer of the season and the 23rd leadoff homer of his career.
Shohei Ohtani leads off with a HR in the 1st inning. @SportingTrib pic.twitter.com/nJfEpAuXpv
— Fredo Cervantes (@FredoCervantes) June 13, 2026
The Dodgers quickly added more.
Betts followed with an infield single, and Max Muncy crushed a two-run homer into right-center field to extend the lead to 3-0. Muncy's first blast moved him into sole possession of third place on the Dodgers' all-time home run list with 224, trailing only Eric Karros and Ron Cey.
The Dodgers kept applying pressure in the third inning when Kyle Tucker lined an RBI single to right field, scoring Betts for a 4-0 lead. Tucker contributed again in the sixth, drawing a bases-loaded walk to force home another run and make it 5-0. Then Muncy delivered the knockout punch in the eighth.
The veteran third baseman launched his second homer of the afternoon, a two-run shot to center field for his 16th home run of the season. It marked the 23rd multi-homer game of Muncy's career and pushed the Dodgers' lead to 7-0.
David Banks-Imagn Images
Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy (13) hits a two-run homer against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Rate Field.
The White Sox avoided the shutout on Peters' ninth-inning homer, but by then the outcome had long been decided.
Instead, the lasting memory of Saturday belonged to Yamamoto.
No perfect game. No no-hitter. No MLB record.
Just eight-plus innings of brilliance, a franchise record for consecutive batters retired, and another reminder that the Yamamoto experience continues to become more compelling every time he takes the mound.
The Dodgers will look to secure the series victory Sunday morning behind Emmet Sheehan before returning to Los Angeles to open a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.