LOS ANGELES — As manager Dave Roberts has worked to establish his trust tree of arms this year, the Dodgers’ starting pitchers have climbed the highest. Chief among them is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who ascended to the role of staff ace in a dominant sophomore season.

With a chance to close out the NL Wild Card Series and send the Reds packing with a win on Wednesday night, Roberts could have chosen to manage his pitching staff aggressively. But he figured that the Dodgers’ chances of winning were as high as could be as long as Yamamoto was on the mound.

As he has all season long, Yamamoto delivered. He pulled off an impressive escape act in the sixth inning to get out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam, then got the first two outs of the seventh and departed to a roaring ovation after throwing an MLB career-high 113 pitches.

“As a starting pitcher, my job is getting as deep into the game as possible,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “And today I was just trying to bring my everything out there.”

After sweeping their first Wild Card Series since the best-of-three format was adopted in 2022, the reigning World Series champions will enter the next stage of their title defense: the NL Division Series against the Phillies, which begins on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park.

“I think we can win it all. I think we’re equipped to do that,” Roberts said. “We certainly have the pedigree. We certainly have the hunger. We’re playing great baseball. And in all honesty, I don’t care who we play. I just want to be the last team standing.”

Yamamoto brought the Dodger Stadium faithful to their feet multiple times across his 6 2/3 innings, allowing two unearned runs in the first as a result of a Teoscar Hernández fielding error in right field. After that, he went on to retire 13 batters in a row leading into the sixth inning, when he gave up three straight hits to load the bases with nobody out.

If Yamamoto was daunted, he didn’t show it. He got Austin Hays to ground a ball toward shortstop Mookie Betts, who got the forceout at home. Then he sent Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz down swinging to end the threat, letting out a roar as the crowd erupted in elation.

Last postseason, Yamamoto showed why the Dodgers gave him a 12-year, $325 million contract — the largest for a pitcher in Major League history — before he had thrown a pitch in the big leagues. He has now allowed no more than one earned run in consecutive playoff starts, the first Dodger to do so since Walker Buehler in 2020.

“Throwing 110 pitches, going seven innings right there, it talks a lot about a guy who is just not satisfied with what we did last year,” infielder Miguel Rojas said. “He wants another one. He’s a guy who shows that he can do this kind of stuff, and now in just his second year here he’s showing that he’s not satisfied with just one ring. He wants to win with this organization for a long time, and I’m happy to play behind him.”

By season’s end, the rotation had become the Dodgers’ biggest strength, but Yamamoto was the lone constant throughout the year. He was the only member of the six-man rotation who did not miss a start, leading the team with 173 2/3 innings and posting a 2.49 ERA across 30 starts.

Then again, does it count as a breakout season when he arrived in the Majors one year prior as one of the most accomplished active players in baseball?

Yamamoto has won the Japan Series, the World Baseball Classic and Olympic gold. He won the Eiji Sawamura Award — NPB’s equivalent of the Cy Young — and the Pacific League MVP Award three times three times apiece.

And if he continues to pitch the way he has this year, he could give the Dodgers their best chance of becoming the first team in a quarter century to win back-to-back championships.