Sasaki reaches 100 mph for first time in '26 -- then does it again

LOS ANGELES -- The electric beat of "Bailalo Rocky" washed over Dodger Stadium, heralding Roki Sasaki's arrival on the mound. As he began to light up the radar gun in a way he never had as a Major League starter, it was reminiscent of the last time he toed the rubber against the Phillies: Game 4 of last year's NL Division Series.

While pitching in relief in the postseason, Sasaki saw his fastball velocity tick up to the triple digits. Upon his return to the rotation, his velocity was in a better spot than it had been when he was starting games last year, but he wasn't throwing quite as hard as he did during the early rounds of the postseason. Until Saturday night.

Sasaki exceeded 100 mph twice and saw an uptick in velocity across the board, but the Dodgers' season-high six-game winning streak came to an end when the Phillies came back in the eighth inning to hand them a 4-3 loss. Sasaki struck out seven, walked one and allowed one run on three hits across 5 1/3 strong innings.

Each of the four pitches in Sasaki's bag registered at least 1 mph faster than his season average, but his 1.5 mph gain on his four-seamer was especially notable. Sasaki's 98.5 mph average fastball velocity was his highest in a Major League start. He's made seven appearances where he's thrown the fastball harder, all in relief.

Sasaki threw 14 fastballs at 99 mph or harder on Saturday, his most in a single Major League game. His previous high was 12 such pitches, in none other than NLDS Game 4 against the Phillies last October. Sasaki twirled three perfect innings in that outing, the pinnacle of his stint in relief.

With his revived velocity, Sasaki carved through the Phillies' lineup twice. The lone run he allowed came on an Alec Bohm solo shot in the second inning. He retired 13 straight batters after the long ball, culminating with a strikeout of nine-hole hitter Justin Crawford for the first out of the sixth inning.

When the top of the Phillies' order came up for the third time, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner greeted Sasaki with back-to-back singles. That was enough for manager Dave Roberts to lift Sasaki, who received an ovation as he walked back to the home dugout. Left-hander Alex Vesia stranded both runners that Sasaki left on.