Yoshinobu Yamamoto has rude intro to Dodgers-Giants rivalry as key struggle persists

The Dodgers are hosting the Giants for the first time this season, and they put their best foot forward by entrusting the start to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Friday's opener. Yamamoto came into the game with a 2.20 ERA, fresh after a scoreless six-inning start against the Cardinals on June 7. He was set to duel with Logan Webb, who's been similarly excellent for San Francisco this year.

The series also followed a heated three-game set against the Padres and some viral back-and-forth about whether or not the Dodgers and Padres were actually rivals. Max Muncy insisted that, given the teams' histories, LA's only real rivalry was with San Francisco.

No matter where you land in that argument, the Dodgers-Giants rivalry is indisputably older and has lent far more defining moments to both franchises, despite the Dodgers-Padres rivalry becoming more prominent with San Diego's rise and San Francisco's decline in the last decade.

Yamamoto immediately got a taste of that over-a-century-old feud when he gave up a homer to Willy Adames — who had only seven homers and a .627 OPS going into the game — in the first. It only got worse for Yamamoto from there, and he only got through 4 2/3 innings, his second-shortest outing of the season, before being relieved. He surrendered five runs.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was treated to his worst start of the year in Dodgers-Giants opener

Aside from the solo homer, things were going okay for Yamamoto until the top of the third. Andy Pages had evened the score with a sac fly in the bottom of the second, but Yamamoto opened the third with a leadoff walk to Jung Hoo Lee. He ended up loading the bases on two more walks with two outs, and then Casey Schmitt hit just his second homer of the season for a grand slam. Yamamoto tore off his glove and almost spiked it into the mound as the ball left the yard.

He got out of the inning, but Dave Roberts pulled him in the top of the fifth after a single, a double, and another walk.

The Dodgers are still trying to conserve bullpen arms, so they sent out Justin Wrobleski to pitch the remaining 4 1/3 innings. He only gave up one run — a solo homer to Andrew Knizner — while the Dodgers couldn't make enough noise to put pressure on SF.

Yamamoto faced the Giants once last season in San Francisco and got pretty knocked around then too — four runs in 5 2/3 — but it had to have hurt even more doing it in front of the home crowd after the Dodgers talked such a big game about the rivalry.