Roki Sasaki allows three over 5 2/3 vs. Orioles

This was a very encouraging start to the second half for Sasaki. First off, he was pumping gas. His fastball averaged a shade over 100 mph and in total, he threw 21 pitches in triple digits and topped out at 102 mph. In his career to date before this start, he’d never topped 101 mph and had only thrown 15 pitches at or above 100 mph. His command was also much better than usual. There were a few more fastballs that caught corners and his splitter was consistently diving low and below the plate. Similarly, his slider was abnormally lethal. When Sasaki has his whole repertoire working like he did here, he’s a scary pitcher. The problem is that when something goes wrong, he struggles to get over that hump. That’s how he’s wound up with a 4.98 ERA through 86 2/3 innings on the season with this kind of stuff. The roller coaster will continue next Friday against the Mets.

He’ll be followed by Emmet Sheehan on Saturday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Sunday. The Dodgers have not announced when Shohei Ohtani will return to the rotation. That makes it likely that it’ll be Justin Wrobleski and Eric Lauer in some order for the first two games against the Phillies in Philadelphia to open next week.

Sasaki surrendered solo homers to Kyle Karros and Edouard Julien in the second and then another run on a walk, a wild pitch, a groundout and a sac fly in the third. That turned out to be the only walk he issued, and he allowed only two hits besides the homers. He struck out five. Considering that he came in with a 10.06 ERA and a 15/11 K/BB in his previous four starts, this is a decent way to end the half. He might eventually get pushed out of the Dodgers rotation if everybody gets healthy at once, but that hardly ever seems to happen.

The Dodger offense let him off the hook, but Sasaki put the team in quite a hole tonight. He gave up homers to Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill and Jake Cronenworth and threw 88 pitches to get his nine outs. After a nice May, Sasaki has given up 19 runs over 17 innings in his last four starts, taking his ERA from 4.03 to 5.40. It’s probably lucky for him that River Ryan is back on the shelf in Triple-A with a hamstring issue. He’s due to make his final start before the break Wednesday at home against the Rockies.

Ohtani has been granted a reprieve from facing the Athletics in the certifiable hitter’s paradise that is Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento during Wednesday afternoon’s series finale. It’ll be a bullpen game for the Dodgers instead. The 31-year-old generational talent will take the ball instead on Friday against the division-rival Padres back in Los Angeles after Roki Sasaki works the series opener on Thursday evening.

Sasaki allowed just three hard-hit balls tonight, but he walked five, and one of the hard-hit balls was a three-run homer from Ty France in the second. It was the fourth homer Sasaki has allowed in three starts, so even though his K/BB is getting better, his ERA has jumped from 4.03 three weeks ago to 4.88 now. There’s still hope that things will eventually come together here, especially with Sasaki’s velocity creeping up, but there’s not much reason to use him in the short term. He’ll likely face the Padres again next weekend.

Sasaki retired the first two batters he faced in the game, but gave up a solo homer to Andrew Benintendi in the third at-bat of the game before retiring Colson Montgomery to end the inning. Sasaki briefly settled after allowing that first-inning homer, but the White Sox jumped all over him in the fifth inning. He faced only seven batters in the frame but allowed six of those hitters to reach base before being pulled for Blake Treinen, but Treinen would allow two inherited runners to score before eventually getting out of the inning. Sasaki entered the day allowing just four earned runs in his previous 19.1 innings pitched and hadn’t allowed more than four hits in any start over that span. He draws another tough start on Wednesday when the Dodgers play host to the Rays.

Sasaki finally had his best stuff on display on Friday, holding the Angels scoreless over seven innings. He allowed just two hits and two walks while generating an impressive 17 whiffs to collect 10 strikeouts. It was by far the best regular-season start of Sasaki’s career. The 24-year-old right-hander seems to be putting things together, rewarding the Dodgers’ faith in him with a 1.48 ERA over his last four starts. Sasaki will take a 4.03 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and a 60/21 K/BB ratio across 58 innings into a start against the White Sox in Chicago next Friday.

Sasaki averaged 98.5 mph with his fastball and topped out at 100.4 mph in perhaps his most impressive MLB start to date. He walked only one and gave up three hits, one of which was a solo homer from Alec Bohm. Sasaki ends May with a 3.18 ERA and a 28/6 K/BB in 28 1/3 innings over five starts. He wouldn’t be the worst option in mixed leagues with a start at home against the Angels next week.

All of the runs came in the first, which was prolonged by Sasaki’s own error. He threw 35 pitches in that inning, but no more than 14 in any of his subsequent four frames. It’s another little step forward for Sasaki, who moved to 3-3 with a 4.93 ERA. We still wouldn’t want him active in mixed leagues, but at least that seems like a realistic possibility now. He’ll get the Phillies next weekend.