Roki Sasaki didn’t just adapt to the Dodgers’ latest pitching shuffle Tuesday night against the San Diego Padres. He pushed his way into it.
Los Angeles had been working through bullpen games in its last two matchups, including one against the San Francisco Giants, as the regular season winds down and the club maps out both the immediate schedule and its playoff rotation. Yoshinobu Yamamoto had originally been lined up to start Tuesday, but the Dodgers are also trying to manage Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell with October in mind.
The backup plan was to start Sasaki, who had missed almost a month because of a blister. Instead, he asked for something different.
“I said I wanted to pitch out of the bullpen,” Sasaki said per Dylan Hernandez of the New York Post.
That request changed the shape of the game. Brock Stewart opened with an inning, followed by Justin Wrobleski and Blake Treinen, before Sasaki entered in relief.
The 24-year-old right-hander worked a scoreless fourth inning, struck out two and allowed two hits in his first appearance since August 26th. It was also his first relief outing since Game 6 of the World Series last year.
That choice fits Sasaki’s makeup. He has made no secret of wanting to build his career as a starter, and he was not happy about moving to the bullpen last season.
Unlike a lot of his teammates, he isn’t locked into a huge contract, which makes every decision about his role carry even more weight for his future earnings. Even so, he showed up ready for the moment.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, may have been the ones adjusting on the fly. Sasaki had not pitched out of the bullpen at all this season, so the change came with some risk in a sport built on rhythm and routine. But the test run worked, and it worked cleanly.
Sasaki also has a track record in October. He appeared in nine postseason games last year, and the Dodgers are now 12-0 in his 12 career relief appearances across the regular season and postseason.
For a team looking for some stability before a possible three-peat, Sasaki gave them a useful answer.
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