p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> <\/p>\n
PHOENIX \u2014 It hasn\u2019t been the smoothest spring training for right-hander Roki Sasaki<\/a> as he prepares for his second season with the Dodgers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sasaki\u2019s first two starts in Cactus League play featured some issues with command and plenty of hard contact. But with left-hander Blake Snell<\/a> and right-hander Gavin Stone<\/a> sidelined with shoulder issues, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts<\/a> left no doubt where Sasaki stood as he got ready to pitch in a B-game against White Sox minor leaguers on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving Blake [Snell] late to the season, which we know, [and] Gavin Stone, late to the season, as we know, we\u2019re going to need Roki,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWith the buildup, I just don\u2019t see a world in which he doesn\u2019t break with us as a starter, and so, we\u2019re going to need those innings.\u201d<\/p>\n Sasaki took a promising step forward on a minor-league field at Camelback Ranch.<\/p>\n The hard-throwing right-hander threw 59 pitches, 40 for strikes, across four innings while striking out nine of the 13 batters he faced and allowing two to reach base.<\/p>\n Although Roberts did not see Sasaki\u2019s outing, he heard rave reviews from members of the organization who attended.<\/p>\n \u201cThey said it was electric,\u201d Roberts said after the Dodgers\u2019 4-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Camelback Ranch. \u201cThey said [he was touching] 98 to 100 [mph]. The fastball was spraying a little early, but then he locked it in. And then the split was on-play, short, lot of swing-and-miss. Couldn\u2019t have asked for a better day.\u201d<\/p>\n Sasaki surrendered a single through the right side of the infield to the first batter he faced, then proceeded to strike out the next seven batters. His only other hiccup came in the third inning, when he hit Jason Matthews with a stray breaking ball on a full count.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually felt pretty bad the last couple days, but today I was able to make an adjustment, so that\u2019s what I really need for right now,\u201d Sasaki said via an interpreter after his outing. \u201cI think I can keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Sasaki was shelled in his second Cactus League start last week, allowing four runs, three walks, a single and a grand slam to the Cleveland Guardians at Goodyear Ballpark. He was lifted from the game without recording an out, only to get re-inserted in the second inning to complete two scoreless innings.<\/p>\n Sasaki noted mechanical issues as the reason for his struggles after the game. Tuesday, he said he felt much better, focusing on his core and obliques.<\/p>\n \u201cI was actually focusing on core, oblique stuff,\u201d Sasaki said. \u201cI think it\u2019s all about mechanics. If my mechanics are really good, my command is good, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Roberts took away plenty of value from the outing, even one against a lineup of minor leaguers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s still value in getting hitters out and seeing guys swing and miss,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI think we accomplished what we wanted to today, we built him up. Obviously, built up some confidence. So, just go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> PHOENIX \u2014 It hasn\u2019t been the smoothest spring training for right-hander Roki Sasaki as he prepares…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[22,5,4267,63968,39,14,3654,10833,37413,4,7404,2210,1602,110,8842,35739,3998],"class_list":["post-617670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-baseball","tag-batter","tag-cactus-league-play","tag-dodgers","tag-game","tag-innings","tag-issue","tag-minor-leaguer","tag-mlb","tag-outing","tag-plenty","tag-roberts","tag-roki-sasaki","tag-sasaki","tag-second-season","tag-tuesday"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116207770056566598","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}