"He did an amazing job” - Mookie Betts lauds Yoshinobu Yamamoto after stellar bounce back outing vs. Cardinals

Yoshinobu Yamamoto's MLB debut in South Korea couldn't have gone any worse. However, the Japanese ace showed tremendous character and command to bounce back in his second outing, in what was his Dodger Stadium debut.

Yamamoto, the most expensive pitcher in baseball history, showed exactly why the Dodgers paid $325 million for him. He struck out five and allowed only two hits over five scoreless innings against the Cardinals on Saturday.

His fine outing garnered some strong praise from teammate Mookie Betts, who added to his home run tally in the same game to maintain his excellent start to the season.

Betts has a homer in four consecutive games for the first time in his MLB career. After the game, he was asked about Yamamoto's performance by SportsNet LA, and he was all praise.

"He did an amazing job bouncing back, not letting the first one affect him. ... It's really neat to see someone with a lot of pressure and whatnot handle that so well."

The Dodgers selected Yamamoto as their Seoul Series Game 2 starter vs. the Padres. It was a night to forget for Yamamoto, who conceded five runs while recording only three outs in his first outing in Dodger blue.

His second start was an entirely different story, though. Yamamoto needs to put together a string of such performances to build on this excellent outing.

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto's brilliance wasn't enough for a Dodgers win vs. Cardinals

Despite Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s strong outing, the Dodgers still fell short. The Cardinals ran out 6-5 winners following a nail-biting climax.

A costly seventh inning by Joe Kelly helped the Padres race to a 5-2 lead. The Dodgers showed great character to rally from behind and level the scores in the ninth. Eventually, that proved futile, as the Cards went on to win in extra-innings.