Sasaki displays newfound confidence in Dodgers' rout of Brewers

MILWAUKEE -- Roki Sasaki’s stat line doesn’t accurately describe what the right-hander did to help the Dodgers run away with an 11-3 win against the Brewers on Saturday night at American Family Field.

Sasaki was getting hit around, falling behind batters, and even made a fielding error in Milwaukee’s three-run first inning. But then he proved on the field what manager Dave Roberts said about his 24-year-old starter before his start -- Sasaki’s confidence is at a new level.

A season ago, or even a month ago, this outing could have gone very differently. Sasaki’s growth as a starter since the start of last year has been inconsistent at best. But these past few starts -- as Sasaki has started to figure it out -- have proved why he was one of the most intriguing free agents in the game following the 2024 season.

Saturday’s first inning was a perfect example. The Brewers were all over him, taking advantage of both misses (Jackson Chourio’s leadoff double) and well-located pitches (Brice Turang’s double down and off the plate).

However, that didn’t stop Sasaki from trusting his stuff and finding his groove. He threw just one first-pitch strike to the first six batters he faced, and only four of his first 12, but he got ahead of seven of the next nine batters to give his offense a chance to get back in the game.

“For Roki to find a way to get out of it with three runs and then settle in … and his stuff got better in the third, fourth and fifth innings,” Roberts said. “And I told him that.”

Sasaki started using his slider more (21% first time through the lineup compared to 35% second time through), and his velocity even ticked up as he worked his way through the Brewers’ lineup. His four fastest pitches of the night all came during a 1-2-3 fifth inning -- and all resulted in strikes or outs.

“It’s a sign of a young player really starting to grow up and understand his responsibility to the team,” Roberts said. “You need to take down innings and outs as a starting pitcher, and it’s not always going to be easy. That’s a learning moment that he could have folded, and last year it might have been tougher for him to get through that first inning, but he got through [it] and went four more scoreless.

“I’m really impressed because it seems like every outing he’s learning and getting better as a Major League pitcher.”

Sasaki set down the final 10 batters he faced and allowed just one hit, a two-out double in the second, after his 35-pitch first inning threatened to cut his outing short.

“I just think that he’s gotten so much better, so much more confidence,” Roberts said of Sasaki, who threw a career-high seven innings in his previous start. “I sense it off the field, the way he’s carrying himself, the way he’s communicating more with coaches. I sense it on the mound with his rhythm and pace. … The most important is the strike throwing. I see better strike throwing now.”

That effort allowed the Dodgers to rally in the fourth, with Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages swapping places with a pair of doubles to get Los Angeles on the board before Teoscar Hernández swatted a three-run homer off the left-field foul pole. Hernández finished with six RBIs, tying a career high for the fourth time.

“It was big to take the lead. That was the best thing, it put less pressure on Sasaki so he could keep pitching the way he was pitching after the first inning,” Hernández said. “It was a great inning.”

That home run swing was enough even before the Dodgers added seven runs in the final two innings, thanks to the bullpen, which threw four scoreless frames behind Sasaki -- extending their scoreless streak to 36 innings. That mark is the longest in franchise history in at least the Expansion Era (1961), breaking the previous record of 33 innings from April 17-27, 1998.

And it was Sasaki’s outing that helped make that history.

“Young pitchers, to understand that even if you get hit in the mouth early, you've got to find a way to keep going so you don’t blow up your bullpen,” Roberts said. “[Justin Wrobleski] did that last night, Roki did it tonight. For us to get five innings, he earned himself a win, and we won a ballgame. So I give him a lot of credit.”