Q. What was your reaction last winter when you heard the team had signed Blake Snell? And what does he bring to the rotation?
YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO: Because having him, his presence in this clubhouse is obviously, like it's tremendous. He won the two Cy Young's. And at the personal level I get to learn a lot from him. So it's been great for me at the personal level.
Q. What does it say about the organization that you had all this starting pitching and you wanted even more?
YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO: He has become a big piece in this rotation and also for the team. And he's giving us more depth in the rotation.
Q. To follow up with the Blake Snell conversation, you've talked about -- and you said how valuable your relationship has been learning from him. Just what have you learned from Blake Snell?
YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO: After my outings, we kind of review together the game I pitched through. He tells me what he sees. And I think that's great for me.
Q. Obviously you faced Milwaukee earlier this season. It was not your best performance. I'm sure it was a forgettable outing for you. What adjustments or what did you learn from that outing that you hope to take into your start tomorrow?
YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO: Like you said, last time I was here, the outcome was not as expected. And obviously the lineup, it's a great lineup. They can hit home runs, string in hits. So I would like to get myself ready the best possible.
Q. Why did you change your hair?
YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO: Thank you for the question. It's not really a subject we talk about here, but thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about it because the last time my hair was a little bit bright. So I just went and died it a little darker.
Q. Was changing your hair part of the response to the last start, starting fresh after your last start?
YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO: It was not the reason, but I hope this helps to get things going in my direction.
Q. What were you able to sort of take from that start against the Phillies? And is there anything that, execution-wise, you could do better this time around?
YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO: Last outing my stuff was not initially that bad. Because I allowed recontact, breaking through the gap, because everything was not that bad because hitting, getting contact-wise, giving contact-wise.
So I think I'd like to focus on more like fundamental part of the pitching, such as, like, location and those things.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports