The Chicago White Sox take advantage of Roki Sasaki's lack of command as the Los Angeles Dodgers drop series opener
For the first time in his past eight starts, Roki Sasaki did not finish off the fifth inning.
Through 4.1 innings against the Chicago White Sox, Sasaki did not look like the Sasaki of his past four starts. He gave up seven runs en route to the Los Angeles Dodgers dropping the series opener at Rate Field, 8-2.
In those past four starts, Sasaki posted an ERA below two.
He was also coming off the best MLB outing of his career, striking out 10 Los Angeles Angels through seven innings and giving up just two hits.
The main component of Sasaki's downward start on Friday evening was his lack of command throughout, especially on his secondary pitches. It all came to a head when he faced the White Sox order the third time around in the fifth.
“My offspeed pitch wasn’t really good today," Sasaki said on his fifth inning performance. "So, through the third time through the order, I was not able to get ahead in the count.”
Sasaki walked two batters in the fifth inning (three in total), which involved giving away a free pass to Braden Montgomery on four pitches with the bases loaded.
Jun 12, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) delivers a pitch during the first inning aganist the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field. -- © Matt Marton-Imagn ImagesBy the time he stepped off the mound — and what was once a 2-1 Dodgers lead — he had given up seven earned runs. That was the early nail in the coffin for the Dodgers' 26th loss of the season.
Despite the hiccup performance, Dave Roberts says that Sasaki is still on the right path.
"I think he's (Roki) in a good spot. Certainly not the outcome we wanted," Roberts said.
As far as the offense goes, they managed to come away with a two-spot in the second inning.
It was seven straight zeros after that.
Miguel Rojas had the most efficient day at the plate for the Dodgers as he went 2-for-4. His two hits made up half of all the hits they had all day.
Santiago Espinal, who was slotted in at the designated hitter spot in place of Shohei Ohtani, taking an off day due to left knee inflammation, drove in the two Dodgers runs in a 1-for-3 performance.
The Dodgers will look to even up the series on Saturday with Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the bump against right-hander Sean Burke.
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