Roki Sasaki receives praise from Dave Roberts for growth in important area

Roki Sasaki’s early career start against the Los Angeles Angels brought recognition but also lingering doubt. On Saturday, he struggled in the first inning, allowing back-to-back doubles and committing a run-scoring throwing error before recording an out, leaving the Dodgers down 3-0. Andy Pages prevented further damage by throwing out Gary Sanchez trying to advance from first to third. Sasaki then settled in, allowing no additional runs through five innings. He later retired the next 10 batters in a row after additional trouble in the second, and finished with four scoreless innings on 52 pitches. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts credited the performance to maturity and continued improvement.

"Criticism returned on Saturday as Sasaki struggled in the first inning, resulting in the Los Angeles Dodgers falling into a 3-0 deficit. He gave up back-to-back doubles and committed a run-scoring throwing error before recording an out. Matters could have been worse for the right-hander if not for Andy Pages throwing out Gary Sanchez on his attempt to go from first to third base on a two-out single."

"But rather than unravel, Sasaki responded to get through five innings without allowing another run. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described that as yet another example of continued improvements from the 24-year-old, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group. "It's a sign of a young player starting to really 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 gonna be easy. That's a learning moment that he could have folded. And I think that 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. So (it is) continued growth for Roki. And I'm really impressed, because it seems like every outing, he is learning and getting better as a major-league pitcher.""

"Sasaki's 35-pitch first inning was briefly followed by more trouble as Jackson Chourio doubled and Brice Turang walked with two outs in the second. Sasaki responded by retiring the next 10 batters in a row and finished his outing by getting through four scoreless innings on just 52 pitches."

Read at Dodger Blue