Dodgers lose a close one on an Adolis Garcia walk-off blast off Kirby Yates.
Nathan Eovaldi and Roki Sasaki went toe-to-toe in a pitchers’ duel and left the game after six innings with Los Angeles leading by one, but the Dodgers‘ bullpen couldn’t get the job done. None other than Kirby Yates on his first save opportunity as a Dodger saw Adolis Garcia take him deep for a two-run walk-off bomb, settling this one as a 4-3 win for the Rangers.
The loss stings a lot more given how it came to pass, but there is plenty of positive to take from Sasaki and his continued growth on the mound. The 23-year-old delivered his most successful outing of what’s still a rather limited experience in the big leagues.
For all of their recent struggles offensively, the Rangers still have quite an imposing offense with the likes of Corey Seager and Garcia, as we would see by the end of this one. Sasaki faced that challenge head-on with a new approach, and thrived, even if his final line is probably a little too flattening, given all the hard contact he gave up, pitching six innings of two-run ball with four strikeouts.
Two things stand out about Sasaki’s performance, and the first one has to do with his pitch arsenal. Sasaki came into this game with a slider usage under 13 percent, and he more than doubled that. Sasaki tossed 25 sliders against the Rangers for a 32-percent usage,
One of the big knocks on Sasaki has been that, as mainly a two-pitch guy, hitters can sit on the heater since he doesn’t throw the splitter for strikes. If he can use this slider more consistently, it’d give him a much different outlook.
The second change has to do with his velocity. Averaging at 96.9 mph on his heater coming into this outing, Sasaki averaged only 94.7 mph against the Rangers. Looking at the outing more closely, it appears like Sasaki deliberately started off slowly in order to ramp up as the game went on. For the first three innings, Sasaki was mostly 92, 93 on the heater, and in the final three, it went back up to 94, 95-plus.
This is far from the finished product. Four strikeouts and three walks are a bit disconcerting, and the same goes for two hits on nine hard-hit balls. Still, it doesn’t take away from the fact Sasaki is well ahead of where he was a few weeks ago.
In a matchup in which seven of the game’s eight runs came via the long ball, the Dodgers were out-slugged two to one on the home runs, all of them two-run shots. Kyle Higashioka and Garcia went deep for the home side, while Freddie Freeman was responsible for the Dodgers’ home run.
Saturday particulars
Home runs: Freddie Freeman (4); Kyle Higashioka (1), Adolis Garcia (4)
WP —Jacob Webb (2-0): 2 IP, 1 strikeout
LP — Kirby Yates (1-1): 2 batters faced, 2 hits, 2 runs
Up next
For the third week in a row, the Dodgers will have Tyler Glasnow starting for them on Sunday (11:35 a.m. PT, SportsNet LA). This time in a battle of Tylers, as the Rangers’ Tyler Mahle will be on the opposing side of this pitching matchup.