PHILADELPHIA -- Catcher Austin Barnes had an inkling that Roki Sasaki was in a better headspace heading into Saturday's start against the Phillies. Never mind that he was pitching in front of a hostile Major League crowd for the first time, or that his first two starts hadn't gone particularly well.
It was a small interaction, but one that stuck, that gave Barnes some insight into how Sasaki was feeling.
"Before we went out there, he told me, ¡®Let¡¯s go,¡¯" Barnes said. "I liked that. It was good to see, just going out there and competing."
Facing his toughest test yet, Sasaki looked sharp in the Dodgers' 3-1 win, holding the Phillies to one run on three hits and two walks across four-plus innings. He struck out four and exited in the fifth to a chorus of boos from the Citizens Bank Park faithful.
The casual confidence that Barnes described is quite the contrast from the enduring image of Sasaki's previous start, when he was shown looking visibly emotional on a Japanese broadcast of the game. After tossing a serviceable three innings of one-run ball in his big league debut in Tokyo, his growing pains were apparent when the 23-year-old allowed a pair of runs across an erratic 1 2/3 innings at Dodger Stadium.
"I did go through the week feeling a little anxious," Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton. "I was searching for something that I could feel confident about, whether that was skill-based. So what I learned this time is that it¡¯s really important to have confidence based on some adjustment, some skill."
Command was an underlying issue in his first two starts, as Sasaki combined to walk nine batters and had trouble enticing opposing hitters to swing at his nasty splitter. Only 49% of his pitches were strikes in his first two starts, whereas he landed 41 of his 68 pitches (60%) in the zone on Saturday.
"I think it¡¯s more mechanical-based rather than mindset," Sasaki said, adding that he made an adjustment with his lower body in his most recent bullpen session that he believed helped him stay in the zone. "Last time around, I felt like I wanted to throw strikes, but I couldn¡¯t."
After allowing back-to-back singles to open the bottom of the first -- one of whom came around to score on a groundout -- Sasaki retired 12 of his next 13 hitters, only permitting a leadoff walk to Bryce Harper in the fourth.
After that stretch, Sasaki allowed a leadoff walk and a single in the fifth. He was pulled in favor of left-hander Anthony Banda, who kept those inherited runners from scoring with the help of a strong throw from Teoscar Hern¨¢ndez to double off Bryson Stott at first base for the final out of the frame.
Kik¨¦ Hern¨¢ndez's two-run blast in the second and Michael Conforto's solo shot in the sixth backed Sasaki's effort, and Tanner Scott slammed the door with a rare three-pitch save to get the Dodgers back in the win column after their season-opening win streak ended Friday.
Because he was generally in the zone more with his four-seamer, Sasaki's splitter was significantly more effective as a putaway pitch. Phillies batters weren't swinging at the splitter as much early on, but once Sasaki established his fastball in the zone, both pitches worked in tandem. Sasaki got five whiffs on 10 swings at the splitter, compared with six swings on the offering in his first two starts.
"I think some of the hitters still were spitting on the splitter," Barnes said. "But he threw some good fastballs. He drilled some at the bottom of the zone, right through me. I think that's where he needs to be, just painting with the fastball, getting ahead, putting pressure on those hitters and making them respect that splitty."
Sasaki has said from the start that he sees himself as an unfinished product, with aspirations of one day ranking among the all-time greats. Every step he takes, the good and the bad, represents progress toward that end goal.
The Dodgers believe that the confidence he can take away from this latest outing will go a long way.
"He needed it," manager Dave Roberts said. "He probably won't let on how much he needed it, but ¡ given how the first couple went, to have some success and leave the game with a lead, I think that was certainly a big positive. Just a building block for him for his next outing."