As LA's star-studded rotation nears full health, Sasaki shows why he belongs

DENVER -- Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki doesn’t draw a lot of fanfare, not with the likes of Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tarik Skubal in the starting rotation.

And with the return of Tyler Glasnow on the near horizon, and Shohei Ohtani taking steps toward pitching again, the Dodgers’ rotation is crowded with stars.

But Saski keeps producing quality innings.

To wit, his solid five-inning start in L.A.’s 6-4, 10-inning victory over the Rockies on Wednesday night at Coors Field that completed the Dodgers’ three-game sweep.

Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly to score Andy Pages, and Mookie Betts’ RBI single to score Teoscar Hernández lifted the Dodgers to victory.

Betts said that L.A.’s sweep, coming in the wake of a disappointing home series vs. Milwaukee, showcased the kind of baseball the team needs to play in the final five-plus weeks of the regular season.

“We need to continue to hit, play winning defense and get timely hitting,” said Betts, who went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs. “Winning those moments -- kind of like in the World Series last year -- is usually how you win games.”

L.A. improved to 4-0 in extra-innings games and remains the only team without an extra-inning loss. The Dodgers are tied with the Rangers for the fewest games to go to extras. The sweep was the Dodgers’ ninth of the season.

Lefty Tanner Scott, the new closer who drew praise from manager Dave Roberts earlier in the day, pitched a perfect 10th to notch his 18th save of the season. He needed only eight pitches (seven strikes) to shut the door on Colorado.

But it was Sasaki who set the table. He gave up two runs on seven hits, walked only one and struck out six. His line would have been much finer had Hernández not misplayed Adael Amador’s line drive to left field into a two-run double in the fourth.

Since the All-Star break, Sasaki has posted a 2.31 ERA over six starts, with 34 strikeouts and 13 walks. In his start against the Brewers last week, he walked a career-high-tying five batters, so his control was improved Wednesday night.

“I’ve been able to focus on the pitches they are calling for, so I’m not only focusing on mechanical things, I’m focusing on the game plan,” Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo.

Roberts is encouraged by Sasaki’s growth this season.

“He’s been great for us,” Roberts said. “Roki is not a finished product, but he’s gotten considerably better from last year. Since the break, you look at the numbers, he’s been outstanding.

“Tonight, I thought the fastball was good, the split was good and he didn’t run from altitude. It was a little bit of a grind – he got the pitch count up [99, 73 strikes]. But getting through that fifth inning kind of put us in a much better spot with the ‘pen.”

Thanks to fourth-inning home runs by Betts and Kiké Hernández, Los Angeles appeared to have the game well in hand. That is, until the seventh inning, when reliever Alex Vesia issued a two-out walk to Jake McCarthy, who trotted home on Mickey Moniak’s two-run homer to right that tied the game, 4-4.

Los Angeles concluded its season series with the Rockies with a 10-3 record, winning nine of the last 10 after losing two in a row at Coors April 18-19. The Dodgers are 41-11 against the Rockies since 2023.