Nick Martinez outduels old rival Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the Reds sweep the Dodgers

Three years ago, Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Nick Martinez paid close attention to every start from Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

At the time, they were the two best pitchers in the Japan Pacific League. Martinez was there as a former big leaguer who was looking to get his career back on track. Yamamoto was a young phenom.

Martinez and Yamamoto pitched in the same division, and they often matched up against each other as the No. 1 starters on their teams. Martinez tracked all of Yamamoto’s starts because they were competing for the Eiji Sawamura Award, which goes to the best pitcher in the league.

Yamamoto, who had a 1.39 ERA that year, edged out Martinez, who had a 1.62 ERA, as Yamamoto won his first of three consecutive Eiji Sawamura Awards.On Sunday, Martinez had another chance to beat him. He allowed just one hit in 4 ⅓ scoreless innings, out-pitching Yamamoto in a 4-1 win for the Reds over the Dodgers.

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“He has a bunch of wins against me in Japan,” Martinez said. “He’s a really good pitcher. He has some electric stuff. We were able to get to him early and get out to a lead.”

Does a big league win help make up for the award that Martinez lost in 2021?

“No,” Martinez said. “But it’s always fun competing against him. Early in my career (in MLB), I got matched up against Sonny Gray a lot early in my career. He always brought out the best in me. Yamamoto does the same thing. It’s fun competing against guys like that.”

The Reds used Brent Suter as an opener, and he filled his role by getting Dodgers stars Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman out in the first inning. After that, Martinez took over.

It’s been an up-and-down year for Martinez, and he pinpointed some solutions after he allowed five runs in his most recent appearance. Martinez recognized that he needed to command his pitches more consistently, execute his sliders down and away and lean more on his changeup, which is his best pitch.

On Sunday, Martinez attacked the strike zone as aggressively as any Reds pitcher has this season. He executed all of his pitches, forced weak contact and stayed efficient.

“In my last game, I didn’t execute very well,” Martinez said. “In between, in my routine, I got to work on executing sliders. My focus was way better today than it was in my last game. Those two things were what separated those two outings.”

On the other side, the Reds scored four runs off of Yamamoto in the third inning with a poised and patient approach. Outfielders Jacob Hurtubise and Jake Fraley both singled on the sixth pitch of their at-bat in that inning, and Elly De La Cruz walked as the Reds loaded the bases. Second baseman Jonathan India and designated hitter Nick Martini each provided two-run singles, with Martini’s hit coming on the seventh pitch of his at-bat.

The Reds' offense looks like it's on the other side of the terrible slump that troubled the team for most of the month of May.

"I know the narrative changes because you win against a really good team, but we're doing the same stuff," Maile said. "We didn't change anything aside from our home run celebration. Other than that, we're just playing baseball as hard as we can. We happened to catch some very timely hits."

Yamamoto, who received the largest guaranteed contract to a pitcher in MLB history, has a rare combination of pitches. He has a 97 mph fastball, an incredible curveball that really shows hitters down, a strong slider and a rare splitter that reaches 91 mph.

The Reds waited out his best pitches and capitalized on his mistakes, showing the type of improved offensive approach that could make a big difference in their season.

Before this weekend, the Reds hadn’t won a series since April 21. Then when the most talented team in baseball came to town, the Reds swept the Dodgers.

"It shows what we're capable of doing when we play well," Reds manager David Bell said. "We know that about ourselves. We believe that. But absolutely, you have to go out and show it. It's nice to see our team and our players fighting to shift the energy around. That's been going on for a long time. To get the ball moving in the right direction, you really have to dig deep. That's been happening. Hopefully, this is the shift we needed."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Nick Martinez outduels Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the Reds sweep the Dodgers