Add The California Post on Google The initial plan called for Roki Sasaki to pitch an inning or two as an opener.
“I said I wanted to pitch out of the bullpen,” Sasaki said in Japanese.
Because Sasaki will be deployed as a reliever in the playoffs, he figured he should spend the remainder of the regular season becoming reacquainted with the role.
So instead of throwing the first and second innings of the Dodgers’ 7-0 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night, Sasaki pitched the fourth.
Returning from a month-long stay on the injured list, Sasaki pitched in relief for the first time this season.
What was most memorable about his night wasn’t that he struck out two batters or threw six of his 20 pitches faster than 99 mph. Rather, what was most striking was his embrace of his move out of the Dodgers’ rotation.
Sasaki was reluctant to make the switch last year, doing so only as a last-ditch effort to salvage an otherwise disastrous rookie season. The decision made him an October hero, as the team’s lack of options made him the closer almost by default.
He returned to the rotation this year and was 5-5 with a 4.56 earned-run average through his first 23 games, all of them starts. His form improved over the course of the season, and he was 2-0 with a 3.05 ERA in seven starts after the All-Star break. But in the last of those starts, which was on Aug. 26 in Atlanta, he developed a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand.
Starting games was a source of pride for Sasaki. When he agreed to try pitching in relief last year, he made the Dodgers promise him they would use him as a starter this season.
Sasaki didn’t require as much convincing when team officials started talking to him about a role change on the Dodgers’ recent trip to Cincinnati.
The Dodgers will use a four-man rotation in the playoffs, and they have four Cy Young Award-caliber pitchers in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tarik Skubal and Tyler Glasnow. Sasaki could do the math. If he was going to pitch in the postseason, it would be as a reliever.
“I think it’s important to make the roster,” Sasaki said.
Something else: The Dodgers kept their word about him starting games, and Sasaki wanted to repay them.
“In the first half of the season, they used me as a starter even when I wasn’t pitching well,” he said.
Sasaki didn’t pitch more than five innings in any of his first five starts. His ERA at that point was 6.35. His fastball velocity was down and his command was non-existent.
The Dodgers would have been justified in removing him from the rotation.
“This time,” Sasaki said, “I want to be able to contribute to the team in whatever shape.”
The feelings point to a growing trust that has developed between Sasaki and the Dodgers.
At this stage of the season last year, they didn’t seem to be on the same page. As he shined as their closer last October, Dodgers officials and coaches told stories about how they helped Sasaki rediscover his 100-mph fastball. Sasaki downplayed the team’s role in his resurgence, saying he figured out what he was doing wrong by watching videos of himself pitching in high school.
Sasaki is said to have become more open to instruction this season, which contributed to an improved fastball as well as the incorporation of a different variation of his signature forkball.
He is also physically stronger than he did last year. Fatigue was a factor for him in the postseason, and by the World Series, he looked like a spent cartridge. To close out Game 7 of the World Series, manager Dave Roberts went to Yamamoto, who was pitching his third inning in relief a day after making a six-inning start.
Sasaki looks more capable of shouldering a reliever’s schedule and workload.
Sasaki closing games in the upcoming postseason is “certainly an option,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Edwin Diaz has worked his way back into ninth-inning consideration by posting three consecutive scoreless appearances since his return from his latest IL stint. Tanner Scott has been the Dodgers’ primary closer this season, but Roberts said there could be instances in which the left-hander is used earlier in games in high-leverage situations.
That could be determined by how he looks over this final week of the regular season. Roberts said he will likely pitch next on Friday in San Francisco.
This time around, there isn’t any hesitation on the part of Sasaki. This time around, he really wants to do this.
