PHOENIX — Roki Sasaki gave the Dodgers one to dream on Wednesday night.
Facing major-league hitters for the first time since May 9 and pitching in relief for only the third time after two relief outings last week in Triple-A, Sasaki looked like the dominant reliever the Dodgers desperately need heading into the postseason during Wednesday’s 5-4 victory in 11 innings over Arizona.
He retired the Diamondbacks in order in the seventh inning, getting a groundout and two strikeouts while hitting 100 mph and averaging 99.2 mph with his fastball.
That might have been enough to convince the Dodgers that Sasaki can be a weapon out of the bullpen in the postseason.
“We’re going to see it again,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But I do think the arm talent, the pedigree of being one of the best pitchers in Japan, the big games that he’s pitched in, all that matters. And like I said last night, Roki is a different person than he was when he started the season. So that’s something for me that I feel confident in betting on.”
Sasaki certainly looked like a more confident pitcher Wednesday than he did while making eight starts in April and May. Sasaki attributed the difference to being certain that his shoulder was healthy and “moving the way I want it to be and also working on my lower-half mechanics.” Those changes seem to have taken root after some time working in Arizona with Rob Hill, the Dodgers’ director of pitching, before completing his rehab assignment with Oklahoma City.
“I think he’s healthy,” Roberts said of the main factor in Sasaki’s transformation Wednesday. “I think that he got to sit on the sidelines for a majority of the season. You see him at the end of the dugout at Dodger Stadium, taking in games. I think he’s observing, learning, watching how Shohei navigated, watching how Yoshinobu navigated.
“I think in the ‘pen, this role has simplified things for him. It’s not trying to go through a lineup three times or two times. I think all that stuff has kind of helped his growth in this moment in time.”
Sasaki simplified his arsenal in Wednesday’s outing, throwing only four-seam fastballs and splitters and ditching the slider he threw 17% of the time as a starter.
“Just looking back, I think the bad habits I got from throwing the slider really kind of affected my shoulder health as well as my velo,” said Sasaki, who averaged just 96 mph on his fastball during eight starts early in the season and didn’t show a significant jump in velocity until his last three outings with OKC.
EDMAN ANKLE
The chronic ankle injury that sent Tommy Edman to the injured list twice this season has not fully healed. Roberts replaced Edman with a pinch-runner after his RBI single in the 11th inning Wednesday and Edman was not in the starting lineup Thursday.
“It’s a little sore, I think from being on the turf, so we’re keeping an eye on him,” Roberts said.
“I saw him out there in center field on that diving play (in the ninth inning) and then once he got the base hit (in the 11th), just kind of wanted to see where he was at. It wasn’t too convincing, so that’s when I decided to make the decision to have Alex Call run for him. It obviously bled into giving him a day off today.”
Max Muncy was also out of the lineup Thursday, but Roberts said that was “just a day off” for him.
ALSO
Right-hander Brock Stewart still has not been activated from the injured list but will travel with the team to Seattle for the regular season-ending series this weekend. He’s “still day to day, still keeping it open,” Roberts said. …
Emmet Sheehan, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw will start the three games in Seattle. None of the three is expected to start during the wild-card series and only Sheehan seems assured of a spot on the WCS roster.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Emmet Sheehan, 6-3, 2.86 ERA) at Mariners (TBA), 6:40 p.m. Friday, SportsNet LA, 570 AM