LOS ANGELES -- Before Saturday¡¯s 16-0 loss to the Cubs at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts looked to Yoshinobu Yamamoto¡¯s start the previous night as a blueprint for Roki Sasaki.
¡°Get ahead. Mix in both of your breaking balls,¡± Roberts said. ¡°... Command the fastball and fill it up. I think that Yoshi had pretty good rhythm last night, and if Roki can simulate that, follow that, then we should be in good shape.¡±
And despite some trial and error that¡¯s to be expected with a rookie pitcher, Sasaki delivered, giving the Dodgers the longest outing of his young career. Sasaki pitched into the fifth inning of a Major League game for the first time and threw 50 strikes on 81 pitches, both career highs. He allowed one run on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts in five innings.
¡°For me, that was the silver lining of the night,¡± Roberts said about Sasaki¡¯s night after the Dodgers suffered their worst home shutout loss in franchise history. ¡°And probably the most important piece of the game was for him to get better, go deeper in the game, throw strikes, get strikeouts, soft contact.
¡°¡ He looked really sharp tonight.¡±
There were some hiccups, though, especially early on.
Despite a 1-2-3 first inning, Sasaki found himself behind in the count on all three at-bats. He was down 3-0 to Cubs leadoff hitter Ian Happ, 2-0 to Kyle Tucker, and 1-0 to Seiya Suzuki. Sasaki worked out of it by drawing two groundouts and a flyout, but it always seemed like he was pressing a bit in the first frame.
But after Sasaki gave up a leadoff home run to Michael Busch in the top of the second -- the first extra-base hit he¡¯s allowed this season -- Sasaki seemed to finally settle in a bit. He retired the rest of the side in order and worked himself out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third.
¡°Didn¡¯t quite feel comfortable in my first inning,¡± Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton. ¡°But I felt like I hit a stride after that first inning. Overall, a lot better command. That was something that I was able to continue from my last outing.¡±
Pregame, Roberts mentioned that he wanted to see Sasaki show better command of his offspeed pitches, but especially his splitter. They accounted for 25 percent of Sasaki¡¯s pitches on Saturday, and out of his seven swings and misses, four were on his split with a whiff rate of 50 percent.
So while he had his moments, it looks like his command of his splitter is heading in the right direction.
¡°I thought Roki was good. It¡¯s a tough lineup,¡± said Austin Barnes, who has caught Sasaki¡¯s last two starts. ¡°Those hitters in the middle, Busch is a tough at-bat. I thought he was good. He mixed his stuff. I thought it was a quality start. Kept us in the game.¡±
Mixing pitches, as Roberts and Sasaki have said, is crucial for his game.
¡°It does put me in a little tough spot when considering that I don't throw a variety of pitches,¡± Sasaki said. ¡°So today, I had to lean on the slider at the end of the game to get something over the plate aside from my fastball. But when my fastball command is good, I feel like guys will swing a little bit more on my split.¡±
This game simply completely got away from the Dodgers once Sasaki exited.
Ben Casparius, who entered the day with no earned runs and five hits in six innings this season, gave up six runs on seven hits over 1 2/3 innings. Luis Garc¨ªa allowed four runs on three hits in one-third of an inning.
It¡¯s one of those games that you throw away once you¡¯re out of it and turn the page. Sasaki looks ready to build off it for his next start.
¡°He¡¯s 23, in the big leagues, four starts,¡± Barnes said about Sasaki. ¡°Everybody knew he was going to get better and better. He¡¯s got a clear path to what he wants to do, and I think he¡¯ll be fine."