The Los Angeles Dodgers took home a 4-2 win against the New York Mets after an amazing showcase from Roki Sasaki.
Sasaki is continuing to build on his starts, and now, it is becoming quite regular for him to be dominant.
However, on Friday night in the Big Apple, he was on a different level in terms of his stuff.
He went seven full innings, notching nine strikeouts and allowing just three hits and two walks. Hitters could not touch his splitter, which had batters looking foolish in the box as they chased pitches that dropped out of the zone.
The Japanese righty needed just 94 pitches to complete all seven innings, and 63 of those pitches were in the strike zone.
Mets hitters tallied 21 whiffs out of 50 swings, along with 13 called strikes. Sasaki threw his splitter 47% of the time against the Mets, 21% more than his season average, while he threw his fastball 11% less.
It was a total gem from Sasaki and exactly what the Dodgers thought they were getting when they courted him from Japan.
He will make his next start at home against the Boston Red Sox, most likely.
Dodgers Offense Goes Old-School
Rather than go for a slug-heavy approach, the Dodgers got runs on the board in old-school fashion, with timely contact swings, good base-running, and even a bunt!
Kyle Tucker hit a two-run homer that proved to be the difference in the game in the top of the eighth inning. It was his first home run in July and the first one since June 27th.
The other two runs came on sacrifice fly-outs, one from Miguel Rojas and another from Shohei Ohtani.
Dalton Rushing had a bunt to move runs over to second and third, and the runner on third, Teoscar Hernandez, ended up scoring one of those two sacrifice runs.
Hernandez got on base with a soft contact single that fell in the perfect spot.
The Dodgers had 11 hits on the night, scored only four runs, but thanks to Sasaki, it was more than enough to get a victory.
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