Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki (24) took the mound on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium, making his seventh start of the season on eight days’ rest while seeking his second win. However, in the second inning, he allowed a leadoff solo home run to Matt Chapman over the right-field fence. After throwing five straight fastballs, Sasaki’s splitter was driven out for his sixth consecutive start yielding a homer, giving the Giants an early lead.
The third inning brought more trouble. Sasaki walked the leadoff batter, Victor Robles, on a close call. After a single and a hit-by-pitch with one out, the bases were loaded. Facing Chapman, who had homered earlier, Sasaki induced a shallow fly ball to right for the second out. He then got Heliot Ramos to ground out to third, escaping the jam without allowing a run.
In his previous outing on May 2 at St. Louis, Sasaki threw a career-high 104 pitches, allowing three runs on five hits over six innings with four strikeouts in a tough-luck loss. Despite a quality start, he fell to 1-3 due to lack of run support. After that game, he said, “The overall quality of my pitches wasn’t as good as the last time, so I want to make adjustments. I think I found the cause of the early struggles during the sixth inning, which should help me in my next start.”
Sasaki’s ability to battle through the bases-loaded threat in the third kept the game close, but the Dodgers’ offense will need to provide support for their talented young pitcher to secure his second win of the season.