The Los Angeles Dodgers snapped their three-game losing streak with an 8-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday, led in part by another serviceable outing from Roki Sasaki.
The right-hander allowed three runs and five hits and collected four strikeouts against two walks in 5.2 innings of work.
Sasaki’s night began on an ominous note when he allowed a leadoff home run to Oneil Cruz. He ran into more trouble in the second but escaped without giving up a run thanks in part to Teoscar Hernández throwing out a runner at home plate.
Sasaki went on to retire six of his next seven batters faced before yielding two more runs in the fifth. After hitting a batter with two outs in the top of the sixth, he was removed the game.
“My delivery feels pretty in sync, and even the pitches I don’t necessarily command, I feel pretty good about. So as long as I can get my velo up a little bit, I think I’ll be able to pitch the way I want to,” Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton after the game.
Despite some of the ups and downs, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was impressed with Sasaki’s ability to throw strikes. “I thought Roki was really good. It might have been his best one of the year, as far as the strike throwing, the efficiency,” Roberts said.
“I thought he did a really nice job of managing hitters, using his breaking ball, using his fastball the right way. And I was really impressed with the Oneil Cruz home run, that first hit, the first pitch, pretty impressive.
“But after that, I thought Roki settled in really nice and like I said, I thought this was the best one yet.”
Roberts also believes Sasaki is becoming more comfortable each time he takes the mound. “I think that he’s slowly starting to get some real confidence,” Roberts began.
“I think that he’s certainly throwing a lot more strikes. He’s being a lot more efficient, which is allowing us to let him go deeper into a game. And I think that he understands that his stuff plays here in the hitting zone, or in the big leagues.
“The stuff plays in the strike zone, and he’s just not pitching to the edges as much. I thought there were some good fastball throws tonight. And like I said, I just think he’s just gaining a lot more confidence, and it’s fun to see.”
After struggling in his MLB debut, Sasaki has allowed three or fewer runs in four consecutive starts, three of which were at least five innings pitched.
Roki Sasaki focused on improving fastball velocity
Sasaki’s fastball average was also up in his start against the Pirates, which he attributed to his overall health.
“Instead of mechanics, it was just really more about making sure that I feel good going into the game,” Sasaki said.
The 22-year-old’s four-seam fastball sat in the low 90s at the start of his previous outing against the Texas Rangers, but that wasn’t the case on Saturday as all but one one of his heaters were at least 95 mph.
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