With five scoreless innings at the beginning of his start Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, Roki Sasaki took another promising step forward.
As he flirted with near-disaster while facing the Seattle Mariners order for the third time in the top of the sixth, he nearly took another step back.
In his third outing since a sudden midseason resurgence following the All-Star break, Sasaki showed the best and worst parts of himself in the Dodgers’ 6-2 win.
At first, he was flawless, dominating the Mariners lineup with 100 mph fastballs and swing-and-miss splitters.
Then, in the sixth, he faltered, giving up two runs before Jack Dreyer came on and saved his final line by escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam.
So it goes in Sasaki’s continued development as a major-league starter. Headed in the right direction. But still with a ways to go.
“This start, for five innings, was even better [than his previous ones],” manager Dave Roberts said afterward.
As for the sixth?
“There was some cramping,” Roberts revealed, saying the issue was in his legs and calf. “I didn’t realize until later. I think that’s part of what led to that sixth inning.”
Given the disastrous way Sasaki’s second MLB season started, his first five innings are what will matter more to the Dodgers –– serving as another sign of tangible progress in what has been recently rapid improvement.
During that stretch Thursday, he struck out seven batters while allowing only two singles and a walk. He commanded his fastball and used it as an occasional putaway weapon. He looked even more lethal with his splitter, which generated nine whiffs out of 20 swings while accounting for four of his punchouts.
“I think it all goes back to throwing strike one,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “If you get strike one, I think everyone knows how good his splitter is.”
But then came the sixth, when the top of the Seattle order was due up for the third time Thursday night.
Cole Young started the inning with a triple, which was aided by a slip from center fielder Andy Pages on a line drive in the gap. Randy Arozarena followed with an RBI double, putting the Mariners on the board after the Dodgers had jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
Sasaki didn’t completely implode from there, but certainly didn’t clean up the mess either.
Dominic Canzone walked on four pitches. Julio Rodriguez skulled a line drive that Max Muncy had to leap to snag. Josh Naylor roped a single that loaded the bases with one out. Then, Cal Raleigh chased Sasaki from the game by drawing a run-scoring free pass.
“Of course there were parts that weren’t good, and that I have to reflect upon,” Sasaki said in Japanese. “But I was good through the fifth. And I want to keep that image in my head.”
That will be easier to do thanks to Dreyer, who made sure none of runners he inherited from Sasaki came across the plate.
With that, the Japanese phenom lowered his ERA to 4.64 on the season. He has been charged with just three earned runs in 18 innings in three starts to begin the season’s second half.
Those are marked strides compared to where he was before the All-Star break, which he stumbled into with 22 runs allowed in a 23-inning span.
“I think he just kind of decided that it’s time to go and finish strong,” Roberts said. “It’s a new half and it’s a new beginning. You’ve seen a different player, to be quite honest. There’s a lot more confidence. Not just kind of the in-between and uncertain.”
That doesn’t mean there isn’t more the Dodgers will need to see from the 24-year-old, especially if he is to serve any important role on the team’s postseason pitching staff.
But on Thursday, he offered more signs about why such a role could be warranted, continuing his second-half surge by escaping disaster at the end.
