Roki Sasaki continues his spring struggles
· Yahoo Sports
The Roki Sasaki experiment continued on Tuesday night, with a loss of command coming to be expected from the Dodgers right-hander despite this game taking place in Surprise. Sasaki got through parts of five innings in a 10-4 Kansas City Royals.
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Sasaki’s first time through the Royals’ batting order was a pleasant stroll, with three strikeouts with only a double and walk allowed. But then he walked three straight batters in the third inning to load the bases with one out. Manager Dave Roberts removed him from the game to prevent a taxing inning, with the intent of bringing him back in to begin the next frame, which is allowed during spring.
Nick Robertson got the final two outs of the fourth inning, stranding all three of Sasaki’s runners.
In the fourth inning, Sasaki struck out a pair, but also allowed a single and a two-run home run. Then he ran a 3-0 count to Jonathan India, slipping on the delivery on one of the pitches, enough to warrant a mound visit from Roberts and a team trainer. Sasaki stayed in and induced an inning-ending groundout that he ran to first base himself, a rare 1u on the scorecard.
Roki Sasaki attributed his command issues in the third inning to his two-seamer, which he said threw him off mechanically. When asked about Dave Roberts’ mound visit in the fourth inning, he said his calves were about to cramp.
— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) March 18, 2026
Sasaki was also allowed to start the fifth inning, but was pulled when his 71st pitch of the game was smacked by Starling Marte for a leadoff double off the wall. Sasaki is officially credited with 3 1/3 innings though he pitched in parts of five innings, with three runs allowed. He struck out five but walked four, throwing nearly as many balls (33) as strikes (38).
In three Cactus League games this spring, Sasaki has thrown 76 balls and 76 strikes in his 6 2/3 innings, with nine walks and 10 strikeouts.
NotesRoki Sasaki blamed his third inning command issues on a sinker he was trying to work on
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) March 18, 2026
His answer (via interpreter) when asked if he's worried about lack of results overall this spring:
"There’s a lot of things I need to work on … But the result in ST doesn’t really matter." https://t.co/Kh54Zx3Azv
- Jack Suwinski has played in two games this spring for the Dodgers, all over the last three days, and he homered in each one. His ninth-inning shot on Tuesday cleared Surprise Stadium, and gave the Dodgers the lead for good in what became a six-run inning.
- Dalton Rushing had an impressive opposite-field home run down the left field line on Tuesday, and caught seven innings before departing.
- Hyeseong Kim played the entire game, playing eight innings at shortstop before finishing up in center field in the ninth. He singled, got hit by a pitch, stole a base, and scored two runs in his third game back from the World Baseball Classic.
For the first time in a game in 2026, we get to see Shohei Ohtani on the mound on Wednesday afternoon against the Giants (1:05 p.m.; SportsNet LA, MLB Network).