Roki Sasaki turned in an excellent start in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ first game after the All-Star break, but the way in which he did it was both historic and the most encouraging part.
Over his 5.2 innings, Sasaki threw 21 pitches at 100 mph or more, which broke Bobby Miller’s record of 20 by a Dodgers pitcher in the Statcast era (since 2008), according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.
Sasaki said he made some adjustments to his delivery that helped him increase his velocity.
“It’s just one game, so it’s hard to tell what’s exactly going on,” Sasaki said through his interpreter. “I kind of changed the way I use my lower body, so I think it helped to get my velo up.”
Sasaki also threw eight pitches of 101+ mph. “It didn’t actually feel like I had great intensity, but the velo was there,” he said. “I think it was a good thing.”
Roki Sasaki threw 21 pitches at 100.0+ mph tonight, the most by a Dodgers pitcher in a game under tracking (2008)
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) July 18, 2026
In total, Sasaki allowed just one unearned run on five hits over his 5.2 innings. He also struck out five and walked just one batter.
“Very impressive,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Gosh, the velocity was up. He dialed it up and it sort of reminded me of when Yamamoto was here a couple years ago, and that performance he put out.
“The velocity and everything ticked up. You could see the focus. I think it was one of those things where he wanted to get off on the right foot in the second half.”
With the improved velocity, Sasaki recorded 16 swings and misses. His 35.6% swing and miss percentage was his second-highest in a start this season, trailing April 12 when he recorded a 37.5% swing and miss rate.
His average fastball velocity of 100.1 mph was also his best mark in a start this season, surpassing his 98.8 mph average on June 12. Last season, his highest average was 98 mph during his opening start in Japan.
“It’s a big difference,” Roberts said of the velocity. “You just don’t know if 101, 102 (mph) is going to be out there every start. It certainly gives you a lot more margin, but even with that, his split command was really good. He got a lot of swing and miss with it.”
Roki Sasaki had to clean up pitch tipping
The Dodgers were concerned Sasaki was tipping pitches during the July 2 start against the San Diego Padres, when he allowed three home runs through the first two innings and six earned runs total.
After that game, the Dodgers did a deep dive into Sasaki, and Roberts said the right-hander was signaling things to batters that they had to fix.
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