Dodgers Interview: Roki Sasaki flips the switch: one electric inning, and a new lane for October
PHOENIX — The seventh inning needed a jolt. Roki Sasaki delivered it—thirteen pitches, eight strikes, a groundout sandwiched between two strikeouts—and the whole ballpark felt the voltage. In a game the Dodgers eventually won 5–4 in 11, Sasaki’s first major-league relief cameo was more than clean; it was convincing. Afterward, the 23-year-old explained how he made a starter’s routine work in a reliever’s world—and why this version of him might be tailor-made for high-leverage pockets.
Sasaki didn’t pretend the switch is simple. “Before a relief appearance the preparation time is short, so you have to be creative,” he said in Japanese. “That’s the biggest difference from starting.” What made Wednesday click, he said, was feel and foundation. “My velocity was there and the control was good. Getting to that point took staying healthy through the rehab and really committing to the fixes in my delivery. I’m grateful to all the coaches and staff who helped me get back.”
If the inning looked freer, it’s because the body did, too. Sasaki’s return wasn’t just rest—it was re-engineering. “Once my shoulder was fully healthy, my shoulder movement improved, and then we focused on the lower half,” he said. He also called out a specific pitch that had been betraying him earlier in the year: “I wasn’t using my slider well before—how I threw it and how I used it. That affected my health and it affected my velocity. Fixing that was important.”
That context makes the box score pop. He attacked the zone, finished hitters with the split, and never let the moment swell on him. None of that surprised him. “I wasn’t worried about the stage,” he said. “I’ve thrown two times in relief in the minors and now once here, and the results have been good. I feel positive about it. I just want to keep preparing well for the rest of the games.”
The “why now” matters. This wasn’t a novelty inning rolled out for the storyline. It was the practical solution for a pitcher who hadn’t worked in a while and needed a real rep more than a side session. “My shoulder was in a great place,” he said. “We cleaned up the mechanics and found a delivery that lets me use my body the right way now. That’s the key to why I’m back.”
From center field, Tommy Edman called Sasaki “pretty electric.” From the dugout, Blake Snell put it even plainer: “He came in at 100 with a nasty split… if he can do that, that’s a big help for us.” The eye test matched the quotes: tempo, conviction, late action. If you were writing a checklist for a one-inning October weapon, Sasaki ticked every box.
The Dodgers also asked a bigger question on Wednesday: could a reconfigured staff lean on elite talent in unfamiliar roles and win? Sasaki’s inning and Clayton Kershaw’s 1-2-3 ninth both answered yes—and gave Dave Roberts new levers to pull when the calendar flips. For Sasaki specifically, the role clarity seems to help. An inning or two, full throttle, with a simplified plan: fastball to establish, split to end, slider when the read calls for it.
Sasaki’s own compass points the same direction. “The results tonight were good, and that makes me positive,” he said. “I want to be ready to pitch again when called.” Asked what’s next mechanically, he kept it grounded: keep the shoulder moving well, keep the lower-half sequencing tight, keep the slider in its lane so the split can be the star. It sounds like a curriculum built for short, sharp assignments.
The Dodgers don’t need him to be everything. They need him to be this—attacking, repeatable, ruthless in the zone—for three, six, maybe nine batters when the game tilts. On Wednesday, in the span of thirteen pitches, Sasaki showed exactly how that could look. And if this is the new lane, it’s a fast one.
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