Roki Sasaki turned in the best start of his Los Angeles Dodgers career and looked like a legit starting pitcher in his start on Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels.
Sasaki pitched seven innings of one-run ball while allowing just for hits and striking out eight. “I think Rushing did a great job calling the game,” Sasaki said through his interpreter. “The pitch selection, it was because of that.”
It was the first time in Sasaki’s MLB career that he has recorded an out in the seventh inning, and his eight strikeouts set a new career high. It’s also the first game Sasaki has started without walking a hitter.
“I actually felt better the last outing,” Sasaki said. “But today I was able to throw strikes a little bit more, and also defense did a great job, and offense did a great job scoring a lot of runs.”
Sasaki threw 91 pitches, 69 of which were in the strike zone. With just 22 balls and a 76% in-zone rate, the right-hander displayed a high-level of command that he hasn’t previously shown yet. With the improved command, his confidence is growing and he’s finding more success.
“I think one of the reasons is mechanical,” Sasaki said. “It started clicking, and I was able to execute really well throughout the game today.”
Sasaki has been taking significant steps forward ever since adopting a harder version of his splitter. He’s able to tunnel that with the fastball better, which in turn makes the fastball more effective.
Two starts ago, Sasaki also started mixing in his slower forkball with the hard splitter to make hitters deal with another pitch with similar movement but slower speed.
“I think he’s been trending,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought today he had command of the fastball, command of the split, forkball, and mixed in the slider when needed.
“Dalton did a great job with him. They were in lockstep all game, and it was great to see him be efficient and continue to do what he’s telling everyone he needs to do better. He executed that.”
Given the injuries to Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers are short on starting pitching and needed Sasaki to step up and be a more effective pitcher. So far, he’s answering the call and starting to show some of that potential the Dodgers are so high on.
Dave Roberts challenged Roki Sasaki
In the middle of April, Roberts challenged Sasaki to start pitching deeper into games and go at least five innings on a consistent basis. After that, Sasaki only got through 4.2 innings in his next start, but since then, he’s pitched four consecutive games of at least 5 innings.
Sasaki has also pitched into the sixth inning in three consecutive starts, but failed to record an out in the sixth on May 11.
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