CHAVEZ RAVINE — Roki Sasaki’s first real test of the season was not perfect, but it was steady enough to leave Dodgers fans feeling a lot better than they did at the end of camp. However, after Sasaki left the game, the Dodgers were undone by a shaky seventh inning and ended up losing to the Cleveland Guardians by a count of 4-2.

Sasaki’s Step Forward

After a spring full of uneven outings, Sasaki gave the Dodgers four-plus innings of competitive baseball Monday night against Cleveland. He allowed four hits, one earned run, walked two, and struck out four before turning things over to the bullpen. That line will not blow anybody away, but it also showed a pitcher who kept himself in the fight and gave his club a chance.

The best part of Sasaki’s night may have been the way he opened. He worked a scoreless first inning, and even after falling behind Steven Kwan 3-1, he gathered himself and finished the at-bat with three straight quality pitches for a strikeout. That was a nice early sign, especially because the cutter played a real role in getting him through hitters.

His second inning was even cleaner. Cleveland never got the ball out of the infield, and Sasaki looked much more comfortable getting ahead in counts. The inning ended with another strikeout of Gabriel Arias, with Sasaki again showing trust in the cutter. For a pitcher still building rhythm, that was encouraging.

Cleveland Breaks Through In Third

The third brought some trouble. Austin Hedges doubled, moved to third on a bunt, and scored on Kwan’s double. A walk to Chase DeLauter put more pressure on the inning, and it had the feel of a moment that could get away from him. Instead, Sasaki answered with a three-pitch strikeout of José Ramírez and a lineout from Kyle Manzardo to limit the damage to one run.

He worked around another walk in the fourth and opened the fifth by allowing a single before his night ended. Tanner Scott came on, cleaned up the inning, and kept Sasaki’s final line intact.

All in all, this felt like progress. Sasaki was still a little scattered at times, and the command was not sharp from start to finish, but he competed, recovered from trouble, and showed enough stuff to keep Cleveland from turning the game into a long night. For where he was coming out of spring, that counts as a step forward.

Dodger Hitters Quiet, Can’t Solve Messick

If Sasaki had gotten some run support, this might have been a different article. However, the Dodger hitters still haven’t quite hit their stride, and lefthander Parker Messick had this lefty-heavy lineup in knocks through six scoreless innings.

Wrobo. Wro No!

After Tanner Scott got Sasaki out of the fifth, Justin Wrobleski took over and he was almost great. Almost. He pitched three 1-2-3 innings, but sandwiched in the middle was a three-run seventh in which Cleveland essentially put this game on ice. The inning started with a rally from the bottom of the lineup, singles from Austin Hedges and Angel Martinez put a couple aboard with nobody out. When Wrobleski failed to field a bunt cleanly, he found himself in a bases loaded, nobody out jam.

And he almost wriggled out of it. Almost. He got Chase DeLauter to line out to Mookie at short, and induced a shallow fly to right from Jose Ramirez. Suddenly, Wrobleski was on the cusp of escaping unscathed. When he got Rhys Hoskins into an 0-2, the Dodger Stadium crowd rose as one, urging Wrobo to put away Hoskins and perform the Houdini act.

Sadly, it was not to be. Wrobleski threw four straight balls and walked in a run. Ugh. After that, the two run double from Daniel Schneeman just added insult to injury.

Wrobleski pitched well again in the eighth and the ninth, but the damage was done. The hole was too deep. The Dodgers got a couple of late runs in the ninth on a Mookie Betts double and an RBI groundout, but it was a classic case of too little, too late. The Dodgers drop their first game of 2026. So no, this team will NOT go 162-0 this year. Sorry.

Next Up: Shohei!

Shohei Ohtani takes to the mound on Tuesday. It should be an amazing night. 7:10 start.

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