The Los Angeles recently suffered the worst home loss in franchise history as the Chicago Cubs destroyed the defending champion 16-0.
Before an offensive gush, Sasaki Roki scored the mound, earning a career-high five innings, allowing him to score one with four hits and one strikeout.
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Sasaki, a coveted young pitcher playing in his first MLB season, spoke about the meaning of hitting five innings in MLB play.
“I think it was really important to be able to reach that point this time, given the context of not reaching the five inning mark on the last three outings,” Sasaki said. “I hope that we can minimize that.”
It could be a lofty goal for some, so Sasaki believes he can achieve it for the rest of the season. Given his history in professional baseball in Japan, it seems to be only a matter of time before Phenom returns to his familiar form.
Sasaki had an ERA of 2.10 during four NPB seasons, pitched 394.2 innings, with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.74.
Manager Dave Roberts called Sasaki’s performance one of the few highlights that bloom on Saturday nights.
“Absolutely,” Roberts said. “Today, he continued to be built on his final start. For me, it was the silver lining of the night, and perhaps the most important part of the game was that he got better, deeper into the game, throwing strikes, getting strikeouts, making soft contacts.
“And then, like I told him, now we can keep pushing him and keep moving forward.”
It’s hard to find many positives from the worst home loss in history, but despite this, Sasaki hit a milestone. The name of the game for young pitchers is built on a solid outing, moving forward with consistency.
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Photo credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Image
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