Yoshinobu Yamamoto was this close to getting the first no-hitter of the 2025 MLB season. Instead, the Los Angeles Dodgers blew a three-run lead and allowed the Baltimore Orioles to get a gutting 4-3 walk-off win.
Yamamoto was one out from making history, going hitless through 8 2/3 innings. But Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday had other plans: The 21-year-old broke up the no-no at the last second, with a solo homer to deep right field in the bottom of the ninth.
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Yamamoto, who had racked up 112 pitches, was immediately taken out of the game and replaced by reliever Blake Treinen. The Dodgers starter received a standing ovation as he exited.
But Yamamoto couldn’t even record a win on the game. With Treinen on the mound, the Orioles filled the bases, giving Baltimore another run after a bases-loaded walk. Tanner Scott, who replaced Treinen, then blew the save, allowing Emmanuel Rivera to get a walk-off, two-run single that sent Jorge Mateo and Gunnar Henderson home.
Even with the homer, Yamamoto had a career night, throwing 10 strikeouts in the outing. He also passed seven innings for the first time in his MLB career, nearly getting his first complete game since joining the Dodgers in 2024.
Prior to allowing Holliday’s homer in the ninth, Los Angeles built up a 3-0 lead behind a Shohei Ohtani RBI single in the third and a pair of RBIs (a single and a triple) from Mookie Betts in the fifth and seventh innings.
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In the end, that wasn’t enough, as the Orioles took advantage in the ninth inning to get a dramatic walk-off win.
Though it would have been Yamamoto’s first MLB no-hitter, he’s accomplished the feat twice before in his professional career: The 27-year-old threw no-hitters in two consecutive seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, while playing for the Orix Buffaloes.
Instead, the Dodgers will have to contend with their fifth straight loss. After being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates last week, Los Angeles is in danger of the same thing happening in Baltimore.
Despite a number of close calls, MLB still hasn’t seen its first no-hitter of the year, even as the season reaches September. Texas Rangers ace Jacob DeGrom got close in June, but it was broken up in the eighth. That same month, Cincinnati Reds starter Nick Martinez had his bid dashed in the ninth. The New York Yankees spoiled a no-hit bid from the Seattle Mariners’ Bryan Woo in July, and the New York Mets’ Juan Soto’s ninth-inning homer broke up a near no-hitter from Cleveland Guardians righty Gavin Williams in August. A few weeks ago, the Orioles nearly got a perfect game from rookie Brandon Young that was spoiled in the eighth.
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Compare it to last year, where there were four no-hitters, including a combined no-no last September from the Chicago Cubs. For now, the league will just have to keep waiting.
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