WASHINGTON — Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto was in trouble just once during his start Thursday.

That was in the fifth inning when he got his glove up just in time to grab the 104.8 mph line drive off of Eddie Rosario’s bat that was headed for his face.

Other than that, Yamamoto was unruffled, turning in six scoreless innings, besting lefty MacKenzie Gore in a pitchers’ duel and beating the Washington Nationals, 2-1, to complete a three-game sweep of the Nats.

“He said he almost died,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Yamamoto’s answer when he went out to check on the pitcher. “So that was pretty funny.”

The near-death experience was Yamamoto’s third scoreless start in his past five but the first of those three to go past five innings. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out seven.

“So far up to this point, yes, that was the best,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter when asked if Thursday was the peak of his MLB career — so far.

First impressions are lasting and Yamamoto’s disastrous one-inning debut in South Korea left a mark. In five starts since then, though, the rookie right-hander has a 2.00 ERA with 20 hits and 35 strikeouts over 27 innings.

I think this was probably the best I’ve seen him,” said Austin Barnes who has caught two of Yamamoto’s scoreless outings. “Just putting the fastball where he wants. I thought he was really good with the heater, both sides of the plate and just really drilling it. It didn’t have any leak over (off the plate) and then just mixing. I thought his splitty was really good today, too. I think the curveball has been the most steady pitch out of all of them and that’s a pitch we rely on pretty heavily. But he had a good mix today and I thought he just felt really good.”

Yamamoto got just two swings-and-misses with his fastball. But 15 more were called strikes.

“I was being careful with my command especially and also my off-speed pitches I was able to throw for strikes,” Yamamoto said. “So as a result my fastball was able to be used more effectively.”

Barnes said he knew very early that Yamamoto was “drilling” his fastball and not letting it drift off the plate.

“I saw his fastball in the bullpen today and I thought it was going to be a good day,” Barnes said. “He came out today and was a little bit more crispy. I thought he executed it pretty well throughout the game and it was a big pitch for us in big situations.

“He was just going through me today. I don’t know if he was behind it better or all that stuff, but I thought whatever it was, it was really good.”

Yamamoto didn’t give up a hit until the third inning Thursday then stranded Jacob Young after that one-out double. Joey Meneses led off the fourth with a double but went no farther either.

After Rosario tested Yamamoto’s reflexes, the right-hander could be seen smiling and laughing as a Dodgers trainer checked him out.

“I just reacted,” Yamamoto said. “In a moment the ball was here and I was just catching it.”

If he was flustered, it didn’t show. He struck out the next four batters. After a pair of two-out singles in the sixth, Yamamoto induced a ground out to end his day.

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Command has been an issue at times for Yamamoto. But 70 of his 97 pitches Thursday were strikes – aided occasionally by home-plate umpire Brian Walsh’s generous strike zone. Five of Yamamoto’s seven strikeouts ended with called third strikes.

“I thought he used his fastball effectively to both sides of the plate. It was commanded really well,” Roberts said. “He got ahead. He was getting ‘Strike one’ a lot today, mixed in a lot of strikeouts.

“His breaking ball, curveball, was good. The split was good. And so for me, across the board, it was probably his best start he has had with us.”

The Dodgers were more offensive, getting eight hits and two walks in the first seven innings. But the only payoff came on Teoscar Hernandez’s solo home run in the second inning. They went 0 for their first 7 with runners in scoring position – three of those at-bats by Shohei Ohtani, whose 22-game on-base streak ended – and hit into two double plays to tamp down the offense.

They finally added some much-needed cushion in the eighth inning when Mookie Betts walked, stole second and scored when Freddie Freeman dumped a 69.1 mph double down the left-field line.

The Nationals made it a one-run game again with Meneses’ RBI single off Daniel Hudson in the eighth. But Evan Phillips retired the side in the ninth to close it out.

How did Yoshinobu Yamamoto make this play?!? pic.twitter.com/hAYXw3pc83

— MLB (@MLB) April 25, 2024

Watch it fly, Teo. #LetsGoDodgers pic.twitter.com/Q4o5bJdGpn

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 25, 2024

Freddie Freeman with some insurance in the eighth. pic.twitter.com/RD6Bnoj51c

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 25, 2024