March 30th, 2025, 06:20 AM ET
Los Angeles – Saga’s career with the Dodgers has not started off a sensational start.
It’s a surprise and a challenge for a young pitcher who was the dominant force at every other step in his meteor baseball career.
Sasaki’s Dodger Stadium debut ended on the second Saturday night after the promoted right-hander struggled with his control over the Detroit Tigers again. He issued four walks and got five outs while throwing 61 pitches to 12 batters before manager Dave Roberts pulled him.
Sasaki made his major league debut with the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo last week. There, he only pitched 25 of his 56 pitches. Back in Los Angeles, he allowed two runs and three singles, threw 32 strikes, falling behind the Tigers early in the repetitive count.
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Sasaki did not condemn the tensions in his wild, but his manager and catcher said that must be a factor.
“I felt like I was able to get into the game pretty well without any nerves,” Sasaki said through interpreter Will Eileton. “I didn’t feel like I had anything today.”
It’s too early for the Dodgers to be seriously worried about Sasaki, but the 23-year-old prospect has been touted as Japan’s most impressive young pitcher in a few years.
Aside from the issue of control of pitchers who were hit consistently in the strike zone during their tenure with the Chiba Lotte Marines, Sasaki has gained inconsistent from his splitters.
“We are fully believer in him,” Catcher Will Smith said. “He’s a very talented pitcher. He knows what he’s doing. He’s thrown at such a great stage and stuff like that. So he has a good bullpen this week.
Sasaki Roki has not reached four innings in the Dodgers’ first two starts. Brian Ross Muller/Icon Sports Wire
A crowd of 51,788 roared for Sasaki before the first pitch in the Chavez Valley, but he struggled to settle from the start of the first inning of 41 pitches. Detroit had five base runners and scored twice. Manuel Margot earned the RBI singles credits on a 30-foot squib, while Trace Weeney drew a 10-pitch walk on a bass loaded base.
“Dodger Stadium is scary,” Smith said. “There are four decks here. It’s loud and fun. It takes a lot of time to perform here. Again, he calms down. He starts pitching better.
Sasaki issued two more walks for the second time, and Roberts decided to end this debut before becoming an ug.
“I think he’s certainly upset and disappointed because all he knows is that he knows is success,” Roberts said. “But you have to be a professional and get back to work. It’s not the first time a starting pitcher has two bad outings. This is all a learning curve.”
Not everything was poor against Sasaki’s Tigers. Sasaki blew a 97-mile fastball past Riley Green for one of his two strikeouts. Zach McKinstry’s leadoff single was the Tigers’ only hard hit ball.
However, when Sasaki decided to jump over the stateside with the defending World Series champion Dodgers, that was clearly not in mind.
“I don’t think we can fix everything in a short period of time,” Sasaki said. “But with that being said, I am planning on pitching every week, so I hope I can be a quality outing as a major league pitcher, but that’s something I can expect to work on as a whole.”
Jack Dreyer traded Sasaki, breaking out of two inning jams and hitting Kelly Carpenter on four pitches. Los Angeles’ horrifying lineup and bullpen are easily covered up due to Sasaki’s struggle, driving them into a 7-3 victory, perfect for starting the Dodgers (5-0) to the season.
Sasaki’s next start will be next weekend in Philadelphia. He has time to tackle his own issues in the coming weeks as the Dodgers will have enough days to rest in April to maintain a comfortable resting schedule.
The club doesn’t have a solid schedule for Shohei Ohtani to join the rotation, but the National League MVP may throw the bullpen on Saturday and return to the mound in May. When Otani returns, the Dodgers will probably go for a six-man rotation.
