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.
Dating back to April 25 -- when he introduced a new splitter -- Sasaki has a 3.78 ERA in six starts. He's struck out 33 against seven walks in 33 1/3 innings. After a disjointed beginning of the season, Sasaki has steadily put the pieces together.
"It gets into a new category of a real Major League starter for a championship team," manager Dave Roberts said. "He still hasn't had a lot of professional innings, let alone Major League innings. But what he's doing right now, I think, is sustainable."
Each of the four pitches in Sasaki's bag registered at least 1 mph faster than his season average on Saturday, 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, 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.
In the past, Sasaki has frequently made mention of his mechanics when pointing to what's going on with his delivery. But when asked what led to the increase in velocity, Sasaki pointed more to his strength and conditioning work.
"It was more about my body's functionality and overall conditioning," Sasaki said in Japanese. "I think those adjustments ended up helping."
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 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.
"I thought he was still throwing the baseball well, but with two guys coming up, I thought Alex was a good matchup for those two guys," Roberts said. "There'll be an opportunity to push Roki later."
Sasaki came to the Major Leagues with a reputation that preceded him. The outward perception was that he was a young ace who could anchor a big league rotation, but he maintained that he was a work in progress. As Sasaki has weathered ups and downs in his first year and a half in L.A., that has certainly been accurate.
He's made strides by expanding his arsenal. Getting his velocity back is another big step forward. In the end, Sasaki hopes that the path he's taking leads to a future where he's a better pitcher for the troubles he's had early on.
"I think there will always be new challenges as I keep pitching," Sasaki said. "But I've learned a lot along the way, and those experiences become tools I can draw from when things aren't going well. I believe everything was a necessary part of the process. This isn't the finish line, so I just want to keep preparing and continue pitching well."