"I don't think I pitched better than Sale"...Yamamoto 10 strikeouts, personal postseason record

Yamamoto led the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory in Game 3 of the NLDS with 7 innings, 10 strikeouts, and 1 run allowed. This is his personal postseason strikeout record. The Dodgers won Game 4 and advanced to the NLCS.

Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.

Summary in three lines

Yamamoto pitched 7 innings on 98 pitches, allowing 4 hits and 1 run while recording 10 strikeouts to lead the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory in Game 3 of the NLDS.
The 10 strikeouts are Yamamoto's MLB postseason single-game personal record, and the Dodgers won Game 4 to advance to the NLCS.
At the press conference, a female reporter greeted in Japanese first, and Yamamoto responded with a smile.

"My condition kept improving throughout the game." This is what Yoshinobu Yamamoto said after finishing Game 3 of the NLDS against Atlanta on October 6 local time in the United States. Japanese baseball media Full-Count reported this statement. At the press conference that same day, he was humble when asked a question comparing him to the opposing starter. However, the numbers on the mound were the complete opposite of his tone.

Game 3 ended with 7 innings, 10 strikeouts, 1 run allowed, in 98 pitches

Game 3 Yamamoto pitching record (U.S. local time 2026.10.06)

Category	Record
Innings pitched	7 innings
Pitches thrown	98
Hits allowed·Walks allowed	4·1
Strikeouts	10
Runs allowed	1
Team result	Dodgers 3-1 win

News1 According to reports, Yamamoto threw 98 pitches over 7 innings, allowing 4 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run. Strikeouts were 10. 7 innings is 21 outs. Of those, 10 were recorded as strikeouts. This calculation shows that strikeouts comprised approximately 48% (10÷21) of total outs.

Dividing 98 pitches by 7 innings comes to about 14 pitches per inning. With this victory, the Dodgers achieved a 2-1 series lead. The Dodgers then won Game 4 on October 7 local time by a score of 4-1. AS According to reports, the series 3-1, NLCS advancement was confirmed. At the press conference after Game 3, questions about control, pitch selection, and crisis management followed.

Yamamoto Japanese greeting anecdote: the reporter initiated the conversation

A scene outside of pitching talk was also reported at the press conference. When a female reporter greeted in Japanese, Yamamoto responded with a smile. Full-Count and THE ANSWER reported the same scene. This is not a story about Yamamoto using poor Japanese. The greeting came from the reporter, and he answered with a smile.

The reporter's name and affiliation were not confirmed.

Yamamoto's postseason-high 10 strikeouts and 'Sale' statement

10 strikeouts are Yamamoto's MLB postseason single-game personal record. MLB's official game footage also posted this strikeout as the record-breaking moment. His record in Japan is also notable. Over 7 NPB seasons, he recorded 922 strikeouts and a 1.82 ERA and won the Sawamura Award for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023.

Another remark from the press conference is recorded in the English interpretation record. ASAP Sports press conference recordBased on that, he said "I don't think I threw better than Chris Sale tonight." The intent was that winning once more as a team is more important than being praised for beating the opponent. This is not a direct translation of what he said in Japanese.

Yamamoto contract 325 million dollars, top pitcher excluding two-way players

Top 5 MLB pitcher single-contract total amounts (excluding two-way players, as of 2026.10.09)

Rank	Player	Total amount (dollars)	Team·Term
1	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	325 million	Dodgers, 2024-2035, 12 years
2	Gerrit Cole	324 million	Yankees, 2020-2028, 9 years
3	Stephen Strasburg	245 million	Nationals, 2020-2026, 7 years
4	Max Fried	218 million	Yankees, 2025-2032, 8 years
5	David Price	217 million	Red Sox, 2016-2022, 7 years

According to Baseball-Reference contract totals, Yamamoto's 12-year 325 million dollarsis the top pitcher single-contract total amount excluding two-way players. The difference with Gerrit Cole in second place is 1 million dollars. The order changes on an average annual basis. Dividing 325 million dollars by 12 years comes to approximately 27.08 million dollars. Cole's 324 million dollars divided by 9 years comes to 36 million dollars.

Total contract value and annual salary should be viewed separately. According to True Blue LA, citing AP contract details, the 2026 season base salary is 12 million dollars. The 50 million dollar signing bonus is already included in the total amount. Adding it separately would be double-counting. For Strasburg's contract term, CBS Sports lists 9 years and Baseball-Reference lists 7 years; the table uses 7 years.

News1 reported the two-run home run batter in Game 3 as Kike Hernández, and some domestic reports listed him as Teoska Hernández. The Dodgers won Game 3 3-1 and Game 4 4-1, ending the NLDS 3-1.

Related official websites

Los Angeles Dodgers official website — Check NLCS schedule and official team news
MLB Yamamoto official player record — Regular season and postseason game-by-game record
NPB Yamamoto official player record — Orix era season-by-season statistics

Featured image · Archive photo · Not an on-site photo of the current game in the article · Photo composition · Photo=Wikimedia Commons(Orixbaseballclub), CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo=Wikimedia Commons(Orixbaseballclub), CC BY-SA 4.0