The Dodgers’ starting rotation is close to firing on all cylinders.
Just so long as Roki Sasaki doesn’t blow a tire again.
On Saturday at Dodger Stadium, the team saw positive signs from two of its other big rotation question marks.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki will try to keep the rotation’s momentum going Sunday against the Rangers. AP Blake Snell took the mound in the afternoon to face hitters for the first time this year, throwing a simulated inning in his continued recovery from left shoulder fatigue.
Then, in a 6-3 win over the Rangers, Emmet Sheehan rediscovered the form he had been missing in his first two outings, producing a quality six-inning, three-run start after entering the night with an 8.00 ERA.
Now, entering Sunday’s series finale, it’s up to Sasaki to keep the rotation’s momentum going.
Since March 31, Dodgers starters have gone at least five innings in 10 straight games and pitched into the sixth inning in eight of them.
“It’s been great, and I think that it speaks to those guys being efficient,” said manager Dave Roberts, who was especially pleased with the way it has allowed him to manage his bullpen, which has the majors’ third-lightest workload so far with just 48 innings.
“We’re going to have to lean on [the bullpen] at some point,” Roberts added. “But it’s nice to get our feet underneath us with the starting pitching as the season starts.”
Sheehan’s resurgence Saturday was just the latest encouraging development.
In his opening pair of starts, the right-hander was grinding through flaws in his mechanics, which were causing his fastball velocity to tick down and his breaking stuff to lack its typically deceptive late movement.
Dodgers starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan regained his form Saturday against the Rangers. AP The problem, Dodgers coaches identified, was that his delivery had gotten “a little bit too east-west,” as Roberts described it.
Instead of driving toward the plate as he came down the mound, he was “falling off a little bit too much, too soon,” Roberts said.
So, this week, the team shuffled its rotation, flipping Sheehan and Tyler Glasnow for Friday’s and Saturday’s games.
The move gave Sheehan extra time to find a fix with pitching coaches Mark Prior and Connor McGuiness. He not only threw an extra bullpen session during his seven-day layoff but was able to work on his throw at higher intensity.
From that process, Sheehan found a helpful new cue, using the “glove tap” at the start of his windup as a way to better sync up the timing of each pitch.
As a result, his fastball was back to its normal 95-96 mph range. His slider looked sharper while inducing 11 whiffs on 17 swings.
Two home runs by Brandon Nimmo –– one to lead off the game, then a second in the sixth on a slider that was off the plate –– still put a dent in Sheehan’s final stat line. However, Roberts called the six-strikeout, four-hit, one-walk performance something for the 26-year-old to build on as the season progresses.
“I think it’s just a couple simple things in the delivery that were different [tonight],” Sheehan said. “I think it just took a couple outings for it all to click.”
Now, the question is whether Sasaki can make similar strides when he takes the mound Sunday afternoon.
Though the second-year right-hander completed five innings in his most recent appearance, he also allowed six runs and walked three batters against the lowly Nationals.
The clock is starting to tick for Sasaki. With Snell now facing hitters, he is on track to rejoin the rotation at some point next month. Barring an injury, there will eventually be an odd man out.
Roberts reiterated this week that, when Snell returns, Sasaki won’t be reassigned to the bullpen like he was last year.
Instead, the question is whether, between now and then, he can look like a more dependable big-league starter.
The way the rest of the rotation has pitched so far, he remains the one weak link.
