by Cary Osborne
The third inning on Saturday was everything the stateside public had heard of Roki Sasaki prior to his arrival in the Major Leagues.
He got ahead of all three batters — five-year Major League veteran Brandon Marsh, former National League home run champion Kyle Schwarber and then former NL batting champion Trea Turner.
He was in the strike zone. He got swing and miss on his splitter. He worked quickly. And in 10 pitches, he retired all three batters — striking out Marsh and Schwarber.
Saturday was Sasaki’s longest and most efficient start in three tries in the Major Leagues. He left in the fifth inning after allowing the first two batters in the frame to reach, but reliever Anthony Banda and a clutch defensive play by Teoscar Hernández preserved the Dodgers’ lead.
They never relinquished it in a 3–1 win. The Dodgers are now 9–1.
Sasaki lasted 1 2/3 innings in his Dodger Stadium debut on March 29. He went four-plus on Saturday in his first road game in the United States.
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“He needed it,” said manager Dave Roberts of his start on Saturday. “He probably won’t let on how much he needed it. But to get a Major League start and given how the first couple went, to have some success and leave the game with the lead, I think that was certainly a big positive for him and also just a building block for him for his next outing.”
Here’s how Sasaki’s start compared to his first two in terms of efficiency:
· Saturday: 60.3% strike percentage, 76.6% first-strike percentage, 11.8% walk percentage
· First two starts: 48.7 strike percentage, 34.6% FS%, 34.6 BB%
“It was more mechanical based rather than mindset,” Sasaki said on the difference between Saturday and his previous two starts. “I felt like last time around, I felt like I did want to throw strikes but I couldn’t. And I really worked on the mechanical side of the game, and felt like I was able to do that today.”
Sasaki said he started to feel a turnaround in his last bullpen session after a fix in his lower half. It helped propel him to excel against the Phillies on Saturday.
Sasaki allowed the first two batters — Schwarber and Turner — to reach in the first inning. He then, with the runners on second and third, struck out Bryce Harper swinging on a splitter that rode in on the left-handed hitting two-time NL MVP.
Sasaki escaped the first inning with the one run allowed. After Turner’s first-inning single, Sasaki didn’t allow another hit until the fifth inning.
Banda entered in the fifth inning with J.T. Realmuto and Bryson Stott on base, clinging to a 2–1 lead.
After recording the first out, Banda induced a flyout by Schwarber to Hernández in right field. The flyout should have tied the score with Realmuto attempting to score from third base, but Hernández caught Stott off first base and threw to the bag to record the final out of the inning before Realmuto touched home plate.
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Dodger Bullpen Lines Up Zeroes
Four Dodger relief pitchers combined to shut out the Phillies over the final five innings with Tanner Scott ending things with a three-pitch, three-out save in the ninth inning.
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The Phillies were 1-for-14 against Dodger relievers.
Banda (one scoreless inning) and Ben Casparius (two scoreless innings) haven’t allowed an earned run this season.
Alex Vesia struck out the side in the eighth inning.
The Dodger bullpen has backed three Sasaki starts with 19 innings and three earned runs allowed.
Two Swings
Kiké Hernández hit a two-run home run in the second inning, and Michael Conforto hit a solo home run in the sixth inning — both off Phillies starter Aaron Nola.
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“I told Teo he fired me up right before that with that double play,” Conforto said.
The two swings accounted for all three Dodger runs.
Roki Sasaki shows efficiency and command in his best MLB start yet was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.