Dave Roberts thinks Yoshinobu Yamamoto was tipping pitches in NLDS Game 1

MLB pitchers are going to have bad games — even those as good as Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. But sometimes, pitchers look so off their games that viewers with a keen eye start to question whether batters were aware of exactly what pitch was coming next.

That's what happened with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who thinks Yamamoto may have been tipping his pitches to Padres batters in Game 1 of the NLDS. Yamamoto lasted just three innings, surrendering five hits, five runs (including a two-run home run to Manny Machado in the first inning) and two walks. Roberts thinks Yamamoto's glove placement may have been different depending on the pitch he was about to throw.

Dave Roberts believes Yoshinobu Yamamoto was tipping pitches in Game 1 vs. Padres

“There are some things that I think we’re going to dig into," Roberts said, according to MLB.com, "Because I think at second base they had some things with his glove [that were] giving away some pitches,” Roberts said. “We’re going to clean that up. That’s part of baseball. So it’s on us to kind of clean that up and not give away what pitch he’s going to throw.”

Numerous actions can tip batters to the pitches that are coming next, and glove position before or during a pitcher's windup is one the main culprits. It's never a huge difference, but even a matter of inches can inform batters whether a fastball, changeup, or some other pitch is on the way. Sometines batters are just locked in; sometimes they know exactly what's coming, making it much easier to lay off pitches outside of the zone. In this case, Yamamoto thinks it was the former.

“I’m going to review what went wrong and what was good, and then I’m going to make it workable into the next outing,” he said after Game 1, not showing any signs of panic about potentially tipping his pitches.

Yamamoto missed a large chunk of his first MLB season with a triceps injury, and returned to the Dodgers rotation last month. For the season, he posted a 7-2 record with a 3.00 ERA and a WHIP of 1.111.

Having Shohei Ohtani on your team can cover up a lot of mistakes. The Dodgers superstar tied up Game 1 at three apiece in the bottom of the first inning on a massive three-run blast to right field, and the Dodgers tacked on four more runs throughout the night to secure a 7-5 victory in Game 1. Los Angeles will have Jack Flaherty on the bump for Game 2 against San Diego on Sunday night.