The Milwaukee Brewers have another young pitcher from the Los Angeles Dodgers to worry about.
Not that they didn’t take Roki Sasaki very seriously before, but the 24-year-old withstood Milwaukee’s three-run first inning on Saturday, May 23, only to come back and pitch well in his next four innings, which then set up the Dodgers bullpen to hold off the Brewers for the rest of the game.
The Dodgers thoroughly dominated in the 11-3 holiday weekend win, where American Family Field seemed half-filled with Dodgers fans remaining in the eighth inning.
It showed a lot of growth from Sasaki because he was roughed up in the first inning by Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang, who opened the game with consecutive doubles. Sasaki also had an error.
But he bounced back immediately, playing near perfect for the next four innings after that.
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“It was good,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “It seemed a little like Groundhog Day – that first inning, how it started. But for Roki to find a way to get out of it with three runs and then settle in, and settle down… His stuff got better in the third, fourth and fifth inning.”
Chourio hit the second pitch of the game 112-mph to the warning track in center, then scored when Turang flicked a two-bagger of his own just inside the line to left.
Next, Sasaki was charged an error on an errant throw to first on an Andrew Vaughn swinging bunt, allowing Turang to motor home with the second run.“Young pitchers – to understand that even if you get hit in the mouth early, you’ve got to find a way to keep going,” said Roberts. “So you don’t blow up your bullpen.
“For us to get five innings and get himself a win, I give him a lot of credit.”
Sasaki said after the game that it was important to him to be able to rebound.
“Giving up the couple runs in the first inning is not great,” said Sasaki through interpreter Kensuke Okubo. “But I was able to get through five innings which I think is really important.
“There was nothing I could change in the first inning. So my goal was to stay focused, and I was glad I was able to do that.”
Sasaki finished five innings of work with four hits, three runs, two walks and four strikeouts. He threw 87 pitches, 56 of them for strikes.
“It’s a sign of a really young player starting to really grow up and understand his responsibility to the team,” said Roberts. “You need to take down innings and outs as a starting pitcher. And it’s not always going to be easy. That’s a learning moment that he could have folded and I think last year, it might have been tougher for him to get through that first inning.
“But he got through that first inning, and four more scoreless. Continued growth for Roki and I’m really impressed because it seemed like every outing, he’s learning and getting better as a major-league pitcher.”
Not necessarily going for strikeouts
Sasaki said he wasn’t trying to force pitches either, but rather focusing on outs.
“It’s growth, its maturity,” said Roberts. “As you start to slow the game down, you start to understand a little bit what’s going around you. Sometimes you can’t try to do stuff that’s not going to be there. You know, ‘A lot of strikeouts against this team.’ If you chase that, you’re not going to be around for long.
“Roki is starting to understand how to attack hitters, when to go for the strikeout, when to get ahead, when to take the ground ball early out. That’s how you survive in the big leagues.”
36 consecutive scoreless innings by Dodgers bullpen
With Sasaki holding up his end of the bargain, the Dodgers got four scoreless frames from their relievers and were able to extend an incredible feat: 36 consecutive scoreless innings overall by the bullpen, a franchise modern era (1901-) record.
Roberts credited the crew of relievers and the catchers as well.
“They’re on a heater,” said Roberts. “We spread those innings pretty well, with a lot of different arms.”
“They are attacking the hitters, they are pounding the strike zones,” said Teoscar Hernández, who launched a go-ahead 3 run home run in the fourth inning to push the Dodgers ahead. “When they need a pitch for a double play, they execute it very well. In ’24 they helped us a lot. ’25, too. And this year is not going to be different. They’re built for this.” Roberts said with a red-hot bullpen and with star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamato on the mound to wrap up the series on Sunday, May 24, the Dodgers “have a good chance to win the series tomorrow with Yamamato going,” said Roberts.
As much as L.A. is rolling – 8-2 in its last 10 games – the Dodgers are also scouting Milwaukee. These two teams met in the playoffs last year, with the Dodgers ending Milwaukee’s season. With this win, the Dodgers also ended Milwaukee’s 9-0 regular-season winning streak against them, dating back to 2024. “This is three starters in this series that we have never faced before,” said Freddie Freeman. “Other than Gasser in the playoffs last year for one at-bat. It’s a challenge in itself.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers have another young talent to worry about in Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki | Lori Nickel
Reporting by Lori Nickel, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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