Over the last several weeks,Roki Sasakihas been making minor improvements.
On Sunday at Angel Stadium, it finally led to impressively tangible results.
In a 10-1 win over the Angels, Sasaki delivered a seven-inning, one-run gem that helped the Dodgers completea decisive weekend sweep in this three-game Freeway Series,easily turning in the best start of his young MLB career.
It was the first time as a big leaguer that the 24-year-old phenom pitched past the sixth inning. He not only set a personal high with eight strikeouts but also did so while walking zero batters, another career first as a starter in the majors.
Granted, dominating the lowly Angels these days is like beating your little brother in a driveway basketball game. Dunking on them — or shoving like Sasaki did Sunday — is no grand achievement against their slumping offense.
The way Sasaki did it, however, offered the most encouraging signs yet of the slow progress he has been making.
He got ahead in the count (69 of his 91 pitches were strikes). He limited hard contact (snapping a six-start streak of allowing a home run). And when he had the chance to put hitters away, his reworked pitch mix allowed him to do so with ease.
It helped that Sasaki spent most of the day nursing a big lead, after the Dodgers (29-18) scored two runs in the top of the second and exploded for a five-run rally two innings later.
But for a team battling a wave of pitching injuries and looking for length out of its starters to protect a bullpen that has taken on a bigger recent workload, Sasaki took the kind of strides that the Dodgers have long been waiting to see.
For perhaps the first time since he arrived from Japan last year, Sasaki looked exactly the way a reliable big-league starter should.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
