ARLINGTON -- When Roki Sasaki maxed out at 94.1 mph on his four-seamer in the first inning of Saturday afternoon's contest against the Rangers, the metaphorical alarm bells were ringing.
But working without his best velocity forced Sasaki to adapt, and because of that, his fifth big league start was perhaps the most encouraging one yet.
Sasaki was in line to earn his first Major League win after tossing six innings of two-run ball, but Kirby Yates gave up a walk-off two-run blast to Adolis Garc¨ªa in Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Field. He settled instead for his first MLB quality start. It marked the first time Sasaki had pitched into the sixth, and he got through the outing on a mere 78 pitches.
The velocity improved some as Sasaki's outing went along, but it was still down across the board compared to his yearly averages: from 96.9 mph to 94.7 on his four-seamer (-2.2), 85.3 mph to 84.3 on his splitter (-1.0) and 83.1 mph to 81.1 on his slider (-2.0). Even so, the 23-year-old right-hander held the Rangers to two runs on two hits and three walks, striking out four.
"I was surprised with the fastball velo in the first inning myself," Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton, adding that he feels physically healthy. "But I was able to really kind of dig into what I needed to do and make some mechanical changes. I was able to increase the velo a little bit. So I was pretty pleased with that as well."
Sasaki retired each of his first six batters to open the game, although he received a huge assist from Andy Pages in center field for the second start in a row. Last week, Pages robbed a potential grand slam from the Cubs' Michael Busch; this time, he took a solo shot away from Corey Seager with one out in the first inning.
The streak came to an end when Sasaki issued a free pass to Dustin Harris to open the third, then served up a two-run shot to Kyle Higashioka that landed just out of reach of left fielder Michael Conforto. But after that frame, Sasaki retired eight of his final 10 batters, getting Garc¨ªa to ground into a double play for the final two outs of his sixth and final inning.
One side effect of Sasaki's fastball velocity taking a dip was that it forced him to throw his slider more. Sasaki threw his slider back in his NPB days, but it's still considered more of a developing pitch compared with his four-seamer/splitter combo.
"I think he's understanding really quickly that he can't just be a two-pitch pitcher to be a starter," manager Dave Roberts said. "I know he feels confident with the split and the fastball, but to incorporate other pitches to get 'em off the fastball certainly showed he kept the guys off-balance."
Before the game against the Rangers, Sasaki had thrown more than five sliders in only two of his four starts, topping out at 14 against the Tigers on March 29. On Saturday, he mixed in 23.
Early on, Sasaki felt that his fastball was getting hit hard, so he wound up throwing more sliders in order to give the Rangers a different look. His splitter (four) and slider (three) accounted for seven of the eight whiffs he generated from Texas hitters.
"In an ideal world, I want my fastball and split to be good," Sasaki said. "Being able to use the slider today as another weapon in my arsenal was something I was really pleased to be able to do."
Through five starts at the big league level, Sasaki has shown a combination of raw talent, high ceiling -- and unpredictability. He can look as nasty as anyone when he harnesses his electric stuff, but there has also been a fair amount of wildness. He has as many walks as strikeouts, 16 each, through 19 2/3 innings this year.
Sasaki has steadily improved in that regard, as he skewed those numbers by walking nine batters across his first two starts. There have still been growing pains in the interim, but the Dodgers have seen real progress from their young right-hander.
"I think that early on, it was tough for him. He just didn't feel comfortable," Roberts said. "But I just see the confidence continuing to grow each time he's out there.¡±