Roki Sasaki’s Cactus League debut against the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night at Camelback Ranch met any expectations the Los Angeles Dodgers should have had for him.
In three scoreless innings, the rookie right-hander allowed two hits, walked one, hit a batter and struck out five.
Sasaki came out throwing 99 mph and kept hitters off-balance when he broke out his signature splitter and slider. He managed to get eight whiffs with seven coming against the splitter.
Sasaki entered the contest in the fifth inning and faced trouble early. Blame it on first game jitters because he settled in nicely after allowing a single to Austin Wynns and then hitting Stuart Fairchild on the very next pitch.
The 23-year-old escaped the jam getting TJ Friedl and Matt McLain to strike out looking.
The Dodgers plan to only throw Sasaki once a week, keeping him on a once-a-week schedule similar to that of what he had in Japan.
During his previous outing, a “hybrid B-game” on Tuesday, Sasaki faced Chicago White Sox hitters giving up a monster home run to Kyle Teel before inducing several groundouts had there been fielders behind him.
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That was just his second time facing live hitters this spring but after introducing himself to the Cactus League, there will be a bigger buzz surrounding his talent and potential.
Sasaki averaged 98 mph on his fastball which puts him among Major League Baseball’s best. Two batters were able to get around on a couple of inside pitches and had they not pulled it too much they would have been home runs.
Luckily, they were just foul balls that will go down as strikes.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto got the start for the Dodgers and gave up two runs in the first inning. Once he found his groove, he stranded a runner on second in the second and retired his final eight batters faced.
The right-hander only needed 47 pitches to make it through four innings and recorded three strikeouts.
Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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