Dodgers score 9 in first, then Yoshinobu Yamamoto

The Dodgers spent so long racking up an insurmountable lead in the first inning that beginning pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto resorted to throwing a ball against the back of the dugout to stave off rust.

He also went to the batting cages to keep his arm transferring, tossing weighted PlyoCare balls.

As he labored, the Dodgers scored all of the runs they might need and more to defeat the Angels 9-2 on Saturday at Dodger Stadium. The chasm between the Freeway Series rivals was on show.

“That’s a lot of fun,” Dodgers rookie Ryan Ward said of the first-inning onslaught. “You can feel them start to speed up a little bit, and we’re starting to calm down and enjoy it. And it’s easy to pass it along when you have a lot of runners on, and then just keep it going.”

The one-run lead the Angels (24-41) had jumped out to in the top of the inning — when a leaping heart fielder Andy Pages couldn’t fairly reel in Oswald Peraza‘s deep line drive for an RBI triple — was long forgotten after the Dodgers rallied for nine runs in the first.

It was the most runs the Dodgers scored in a single inning in nearly five years, matching their seventh-inning rally against the Nationals on July 2, 2021.

The Dodgers (42-23) helped themselves with a show of power. Pages drove in the first two runs by crushing a center-cut changeup from Angels starting pitcher Jack Kochanowicz over the left-field wall.

Judging by his stroll out of the batter’s box, Pages appeared to realize it was a homer on contact.

The ball had so a lot loft that reliever Blake Treinen parked under it in the bullpen and caught it with his hat. His fellow relievers mobbed him in an impromptu mosh pit.

“The homer by Andy to answer back was big, kind of put to bed any type of momentum they had at the top of the first,” supervisor Dave Roberts said. “And then after that, just the hits kept coming, just good at-bats.”

Later in the same inning, after the lineup turned over, Shohei Ohtani also notched a two-run homer, for his second hit. In between, rookie Ryan Ward hit a two-run double off the wall.

The Dodgers introduced 12 batters to the plate and recorded six hits in a row — seven whole.

The Angels’ shoddy protection exacerbated the scoring spree. They had a likelihood to get out of it just 4 runs into the rally.

Kochanowicz had confronted eight hitters and only recorded one out when Angels supervisor Kurt Suzuki turned to his bullpen.

Veteran left-hander Brent Suter jogged in with the bases loaded. Immediately, Suter acquired Alex Freeland to hit a ground ball to shortstop Zach Neto, for what ought to have been an inning-ending double play.

Instead, Neto’s throw across his physique sailed past second and into foul territory on the other aspect of the diamond. By the time Angels proper fielder Jo Adell collected the ball and threw to the cutoff man, three runs had scored.

“We always say, you can’t give good teams extra outs,” Roberts said. “And so, to give us extra outs just makes us really tough to beat.”

Ohtani was up next. And in a two-strike depend, he stayed inside a sinker to launch his two-run blast to left-center area.

The Angels’ protection didn’t fare a lot better in the second, although Suter navigated a pair of misplays — Neto muffed a one-hopper up the center, which was ruled a single, and third baseman Donovan Walton overthrew first on a chopper — to escape without the Dodgers extending their lead.

Yamamoto retired 22 straight en route to eight innings of two-hit ball.

“I was given a big lead,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “So what I was trying to do was focus on my execution and also be fine, precise with my location, the height and location of my pitches.”

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the Angels in the first inning Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

The lead also gave him a likelihood to experiment.

“You get up big like that, you don’t want to get too cute to an extent,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “But you also want to understand and see what he’s capable of. … For him, it’s so easy, because he has eight pitches that he can throw wherever he wants. Obviously it’s fun to work with him. We tried a few new tricks, and we’ll carry them over into his next one.”

While Yamamoto gave the Dodgers bullpen a relaxation, Roberts used the early blowout to give first baseman Freddie Freeman some relaxation.

Freeman, who has performed in 62 of the Dodgers’ 65 video games, left after the top of the fourth inning, changed by Miguel Rojas.

The Angels had time to chip away, but they didn’t score again until Neto’s solo homer off Dodgers reliever Jack Dreyer in the ninth inning.

The distinction was evident.

Rams defensive end Myles Garrett throws out the ceremonial first pitch Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

Smith scratched

Dodgers catcher Will Smith was scratched from the lineup because of a stiff neck, Roberts said. The issue “came out of nowhere,” Roberts said, pointing to a “bad night’s sleep or a bad pillow.”

“He was going to play two out of three [against the Angels] regardless,” Roberts said. “So it’s nice that we could kind of tap Dalton on the shoulder and get him in there.”

Roberts said he expects Smith will return to the lineup Sunday.

Injury update

Right-handed reliever Brock Stewart (left foot bone spur) is progressing after a setback a week and a half in the past stymied his throwing development.

The last time Stewart threw live batting apply, he aggravated the injury by operating afterward. But throwing to hitters Saturday went better. He’s scheduled to throw one more live BP session before going out on a minor-league rehab project, Roberts said.

Roster strikes

Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow smiles on the sphere before the Dodgers’ 9-2 win Saturday against the Angels at Dodger Stadium.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers added right-hander Nick Frasso to the 40-man roster and transferred right-hander Tyler Glasnow (back spasms) to the 60-day injured listing.

The workforce initially anticipated Glasnow to keep away from the IL altogether, but his back points have continued. He stays shut down from throwing after a flare-up.

“He wants to get cranking again,” Roberts said, “but the doctors just aren’t allowing it and the body is not allowing for it right now.”

The Dodgers also traded left-hander Antoine Kelly, whom they signed to a minor-league deal in November to the Cubs.