In a series in which everything went right for the Dodgers, it ended with Roki Sasaki having the best start of his young career.
Sasaki pitched a career-high seven innings, allowed just one run on four hits with eight strikeouts in the Dodgers’ 10-1 win over the Angels Sunday at Angel Stadium.
He got his second win of the season and lowered his ERA from 5.88 to 5.09.
“I think he’s been trending (up),” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Dalton (Rushing) did a great job with him. They were in lockstep all game. It was great to see him be efficient and continue to do what he’s telling everyone that he needs to do better.”
Both of Sasaki’s wins this season have come with Rushing as his catcher. Rushing caught Sasaki in the Dodgers’ 12-4 win over the Cubs on April 25.
Sasaki’s numbers with Rushing as his catcher are only marginally better than when Will Smith is catching. Sasaki has a 5.04 ERA with Rushing behind the plate and a 5.17 ERA with Smith as his battery-mate.
“He looked really good today,” Rushing said of Sasaki. “We know that what he just did was obviously the best we’ve seen up to this point, but I trust that guy’s got a lot more in the tank. It was fun to work with him today.”
Sasaki had plenty of run support from the Dodgers’ (29-18) offense. The Dodgers had 11 hits, drew six walks and went 7 for 11 with runners in scoring position.
The Dodgers scored five runs in the fourth inning, which knocked Angels’ returning starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez out of the game. With two outs, Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages hit back-to-back 2-run singles to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 6-0. Kyle Tucker added a RBI single before the inning ended.
Tucker hit a two-run double in the ninth inning and Teoscar Hernandez drove in a run to extend the lead to 10-1.
Tucker went 3 for 5 with a double and three RBIs. Ohtani went 3 for 5 with two RBIs and had an excellent series, going 6 for 13 with seven RBIs.
“We played pretty much perfect games here in Anaheim. Both pitching and hitting did a good job,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “My strike zone awareness is a lot better. I feel like I’m seeing the ball better.”
The Dodgers outscored the Angels (16-31) 31-3 in the three-game sweep and have scored 40 runs during their five-game winning streak.
The Dodgers could have used a dominant series like this heading into a three-game series against their NL West rivals, the San Diego Padres.
“I think defensively, running the bases, we’ve been doing well and I think we’ve pitched really well,” Roberts said. “We just needed to get some success on the hitting and to break out like that was good for the confidence.”