Still, it was never enough for the Dodgers to place him on the injured list. D\u00edaz has insisted he wanted to pitch.<\/p>\n
Roberts had not checked in on D\u00edaz\u2019s health by the time he spoke to reporters postgame. But D\u00edaz hasn\u2019t reported anything else to the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, for us, it\u2019s just going on what the training staff and the player tells me,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cYou got to trust him and believe that they feel good. And a veteran player like him, no one should know his body better than he does. But obviously, today, it just didn\u2019t look sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz wasn\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n
Sunday turned into a Coors-esque shootout, and, for the second day in a row, a one-run lead in the sixth inning or later wasn\u2019t nearly enough. This time, it was Blake Treinen who surrendered a 4-3 advantage and also didn\u2019t record a single out \u2014 one day after he was struck in the head by a batted ball while standing along the bullpen wall during batting practice. It marked Treinen\u2019s first runs allowed all season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just didn\u2019t execute good enough,\u201d Treinen said. \u201cObviously, if you look at some of the swings.\u201d<\/p>\n
That made for an ugly day. Compared to what came before it, it marked the lowest point in the Dodgers\u2019 early season \u2014 their first consecutive losses of 2026 and first losses to a National League opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that they\u2019re a better ball club, and in this ballpark, a lot of things happen,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThis ballpark is certainly a neutralizer. The pitchers don\u2019t have the same feel. Ball plays different, and so it\u2019s still hard to still win a baseball game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts hardly inspired confidence in Roki Sasaki on Sunday morning. Not that it\u2019s been warranted. Sasaki\u2019s first three starts this season, and first 11 starts in the major leagues, could generously be described as uneven. So what was Roberts expecting the first time Sasaki ever took on Coors Field?<\/p>\n
\u201cUm \u2026 I don\u2019t (know),\u201d said Roberts, pausing for a beat. \u201cI don\u2019t. I hope he just goes out there and attacks his guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear if Sasaki\u2019s day on Sunday constituted progress. He did a better job of getting in the strike zone \u2014 half of his pitches were classified as being in the zone, an improvement after his effectively wild four innings last week against the Rangers. He kept his pitch count down, even if that largely came as a result of the Rockies attacking him early in counts.<\/p>\n
Sasaki\u2019s lower pitch count didn\u2019t help him get any deeper in the game, lasting just 4 2\/3 innings before Roberts pulled him to try to keep a 3-3 ballgame tied.<\/p>\n
The Japanese right-hander faced one batter above the minimum through three innings and then quickly loaded the bases in the fourth. When the Rockies saw him a second time through the order, they teed off. Kyle Karros walloped a fastball into the seats. Other Rockies were content to wait out his off-speed stuff, which wasn\u2019t sharp.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2271590477-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Roki Sasaki worked 4 2\/3 innings on Sunday, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks. (Justin Edmonds \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Sasaki only got eight swings and misses, including just one on his fastball.<\/p>\n
His last few outings have not felt like progress. They\u2019ve felt like stagnation. Sasaki\u2019s ERA sits at 6.11 through four starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to make adjustments all the time,\u201d Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okudo. \u201cIn the long run, I have to do the things I need to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dodgers are going to keep giving Sasaki chances to work on things at the big-league level for the same reasons they put him in the rotation to start with. They are banking on this making Sasaki better in 2027 and beyond as much as they are hoping he wins games in the present.<\/p>\n
There also aren\u2019t really alternatives at the moment. They are going with a six-man rotation. Blake Snell is at least a month away from returning. Gavin Stone and Landon Knack are still on the injured list. The next man up, River Ryan, went on the injured list with Triple-A Oklahoma City this week for what league sources said is a \u201cminor\u201d hamstring issue. The organization recently acquired Jake Eder, but have used him as more of a long man in the minors than as a starter \u2014 he\u2019s the only other starter on the 40-man roster.<\/p>\n
No team in baseball has used fewer ABS challenges for their hitters than the 10 the Dodgers have deployed entering Sunday\u2019s game. They\u2019ve clearly leaned on saving their two allotted challenges for catchers, and for good reason \u2014 catchers have a league-wide success rate of 59 percent on challenges, compared to 47 percent for hitters.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t useful opportunities to challenge late in the game. Two stood out in Sunday\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers trailed 6-4 with runners on second and third base with Alex Freeland at the plate and Shohei Ohtani on deck. Freeland worked a 3-1 count before Jimmy Herget flipped in a backdoor sweeper that home-plate umpire James Jean called a strike. It appeared to be out of the zone, at least close enough to try to draw a walk to load the bases for Ohtani.<\/p>\n
Freeland didn\u2019t challenge, and flew out on a fastball above the zone one pitch later.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-19-at-6.09.53\u202fPM.png\")
<\/p>\n
Ryan Ward found himself representing the tying run with two outs in the ninth inning of his major league debut when he had a chance to flip a count. An erratic Victor Vodnik fired a 1-0 sinker off the plate that, again, looked off the plate. The Dodgers still had two challenges in their back pocket. Ward worked a 3-1 count before lifting a fly ball to the outfield that Troy Johnston sprawled to get to end the game.<\/p>\n
Roberts said he didn\u2019t take another look at either at-bat. But these were the times to use an ABS challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially when you have two challenges left and the ninth inning and borderline pitches,\u201d Roberts said. \u201c(You should) certainly try to exhaust some on those borderline pitches.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-19-at-6.12.21\u202fPM.png\")
<\/p>\n
The Dodgers did not lose because they didn\u2019t challenge. But with the challenge system still in its first month, where and when they choose to deploy them will be interesting to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 Edwin D\u00edaz\u2019s first outing in nine days did little to assuage the mild panic that came…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-679699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116436603627024785","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679699","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=679699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}