the Rangers was not a leap forward for Yamamoto. He has been pitching at this level all season.

In 29 innings over his first five starts of the year, Yamamoto has allowed just three earned runs for a National League-best 0.93 ERA. Opposing hitters are batting .178 (18 for 101) with 38 strikeouts. He struck out a career-high 10 Friday for the second time this season.

“He’s pitching like it,” Roberts said when asked if Yamamoto had ascended to the ace level this season. “I feel we’ve got a lot of aces, and got a guy who’s gonna come off (the injured list) that won two Cy Youngs (Blake Snell).

“There’s a lot of time, but I do think that right now, he’s the best pitcher in the National League. Now, (Paul) Skenes is pretty good too, so no disrespect.”

DeGrom has also won two Cy Young awards. But his career has been sidetracked by injuries over the past three seasons. He has made just 13 starts since signing with the Rangers after the 2022 season. Friday was only the second time he pitched into a seventh inning for them, the first since April 2023.

Doing his best Shohei Ohtani impersonation, Tommy Edman provided the only run of the first eight innings when he hit deGrom’s second pitch of the game into the seats for a solo home run.

The home run was Edman’s seventh of the season in just 21 games. He has never hit more than 13 in a season but is tied with Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber for the National League lead at this point.

“That was the first time I faced him,” Edman said of deGrom. “He’s been one of the nastiest pitchers in the game for a while. I was excited for the challenge.”

That high fastball was deGrom’s only mistake in seven innings. He struck out seven and allowed just two other hits.

Yamamoto didn’t make any that came back to haunt him. He struck out five of the first seven Rangers batters and eight through the first five innings, allowing four hits along the way (only one with less than two outs in the inning) and five in seven innings.

He hasn’t allowed a run in his past 18 innings or an earned run in his past 21.

“Since last outing, I was able to maintain what I had feeling-wise,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter.

“I’m not sure that was the best one but I feel like my pitch mix is working better and better.”

Yamamoto baffled the Rangers with that full pitch mix. They swung and missed 10 times in his first 36 pitches and 20 times in his seven innings. The Rangers swung at 17 of his splitters and missed seven times, 14 of his curveballs and missed six. He threw eight sliders in the game. The Rangers swung at five, missed three times.

“He’s been a man on a mission. He’s been unstoppable,” Edman said.

“His execution has been unreal all year. He just has so many ways to get ahead of hitters. Two-O, he can dump in a curveball, he can dot a fastball away. He just has so many ways to get back into the count. Then once he’s up in the count, he’s got a lot of pitches to put them away. He has something for every situation and he’s been executing all of them.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in our game right now. I can’t really imagine anyone being any better than him right now.”

The Rangers stressed him just once. Marcus Semien singled with two outs in the third inning and went to third base on a double to left by Corey Seager. Yamamoto got Joc Pederson to bounce out harmlessly to first base.

DeGrom was even less challenged by the Dodgers after Edman’s home run. He retired 15 of the next 17 batters, pausing only to allow a two-out single to Max Muncy in the second inning and walk Mookie Betts with two outs in the third.

After walking the 1-0 tightrope all game, the Dodgers were finally able to break through for some insurance against the Rangers bullpen — sparked by Edman.

Edman chopped a ground ball toward the hole at shortstop. Seager played it on the run but his throw was late and got away from first baseman Jake Burger. Edman alertly hustled to second base while Burger retrieved the ball.

Betts moved Edman to third with a ground out to the right side. After the Rangers intentionally walked Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez lined a two-strike single to right to drive in Edman. Another walk loaded the bases for Will Smith. After fouling off four straight 0-and-2 pitches, Smith drove in another run with a sacrifice fly.

Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott closed out the shutout with a scoreless inning each.

“I think there’s no more unknown,” Roberts said of Yamamoto’s second season success. “Being here in the States, understanding how his stuff plays against major league hitters, the surroundings, his environment. And then with all that, the confidence — it’s real. I just think that he’s just got so much conviction with every pitch, every throw that he makes, and there’s just no more doubt.”