Roki Sasaki keeps roller-coaster season on track despite shaky start

MILWAUKEE — Roller-coaster Roki was back on Saturday.

Only this time, the Dodgers’ phenom pitcher ended things on a high.

Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki labored through a 35-pitch first inning, but he settled down afterward. AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps

After giving up three runs in a 35-pitch first inning to the Brewers, Roki Sasaki settled down and flashed his latest sign of development.

From the verge of an early disaster, he got through a five-inning start without allowing any further damage, earning the winning decision in the Dodgers’ eventual 11-3 victory.

“Even if you get hit in the mouth early, you gotta find a way to keep going,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s a sign of a young player starting to really grow up and understand his responsibility to the team.”

Indeed, it didn’t matter that it wasn’t pretty. Or that Sasaki still has a 4.93 ERA on the season.

Coming off a career-best outing a week ago against the Angels, it kept him moving in the right direction during an up-and-down second MLB season.

“There was nothing I could [do to] change the first inning,” Sasaki said through an interpreter. “So my focus was just to keep us in the [game] and stay focused.”

For as good as Sasaki looked in his seven-inning, one-run, eight-strikeout gem in Anaheim last weekend, there had been a lingering question about what it had meant.

Had he finally turned a corner in his growth as a big-league starter?

Or had he simply taken advantage of an outing against the majors’ worst team?

Early on Saturday, the answer did not look promising.

Just like Justin Wrobleski the night before, Sasaki found himself in survival mode quickly. He gave up a leadoff double to Jackson Chourio on a juicy 1-0 fastball he left right down the middle. He then watched Brice Turang get to a low two-strike splitter and poke an RBI double down the third-base line — the kind of swing that had generated a whiff against the Angels’ light-hitting offense.

From there, the snowball kept rolling down the hill.

Sasaki misfired on a throw to first after fielding a comebacker in front of the mound, looking frustrated as the ball sailed past Freddie Freeman and into right field to score another run. 

Sasaki has had a roller-coaster season, but his last two outings have shown continued growth. Getty Images

Next came a walk to Gary Sánchez and a two-out RBI single from Sal Frelick.

“I kind of struggled to get the guys out,” Sasaki said.

If not for Sánchez getting mowed down by center fielder Andy Pages while trying to go first to third at the end of that latter play — a gift of a final out on an overaggressive baserunning mistake — Sasaki might not have made it through the opening frame.

Once given renewed life, however, the 24-year-old right-hander made sure not to squander it.

He stranded a pair of two-out baserunners in the second. He retired the side in order in each of the three innings after that.

“Last year, it might have been tougher for him to get through that first inning,” Roberts said. “But he got through it and went four more scoreless. So 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.”

Indeed, Sasaki eventually settled into a groove with a fastball/slider/splitter mix, eschewing the traditional version of his forkball for the second time this year.

It also helped that he found better command of the strike zone. And, for a second straight start, matched his MLB career high by getting six whiffs with his heater; a pitch that has struggled to miss bats since his arrival from Japan last year.

“I look at the hitters’ reactions and then make the adjustment,” Sasaki said.

Now, he has gone at least five innings and given up no more than three runs in four consecutive starts — something he failed to do in each of his first five outings this year. 

He has a 3.91 ERA in that span, with 21 strikeouts (including four Saturday) and only five walks.

“I sense [his confidence] off the field in the way he’s carrying himself, the way he’s communicating more with coaches,” Roberts said pregame. “I sense it on the mound with his rhythm and pace. There’s not as much indecision.”

The other, and most important, change that Roberts pointed out: “I see better strike throwing now.”

On Saturday, even in spite of a shaky first inning, it helped him keep his roller-coaster season on the right track.