As the Los Angeles Dodgers continue to roll along in Cactus League play, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is keeping a watchful eye on his starting rotation.

This picked up a little more emphasis after seeing Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki have an up-and-down outing on Tuesday.

While Sasaki had a pretty solid second and third innings in his effort, some first-inning troubles were quite notable. He ended up giving up two walks and a hit before the Cleveland Guardians' Kyle Manzardo smoked a Sasaki pitch for a grand slam home run.

The Dodgers rallied after Sasaki's first-inning meltdown to beat the Guardians 5-4.

Still, seeing Sasaki struggle in the first inning, something he later said was due to some sort of back tightness, isn't a good look.

What does the Dodgers' rotation look like at this moment? MLB.com Dodgers beat reporter Sonja Chen indicated that just three pitchers -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani -- are penciled in by Roberts.

Chen also indicated that it appears that Blake Snell and Gavin Stone probably will not be ready to go when Opening Day rolls around in about three weeks.

Roberts made it clear that he wants to see a better, consistent effort out of Sasaki when asked about his pitcher's outing on Tuesday.

“I think it can change. But I don’t think it’s gonna change before we break," Roberts said. "Building him up, we see him as a starter, and giving him every opportunity for success. But again, we still gotta coach him up, and he’s still gotta continue to get outs and work ahead like Major League starters do.”

Sasaki's past two starts were not impressive. He'll need to pick up his game soon for the Dodgers to truly feel comfortable with him in the rotation.

It's not like Sasaki isn't working on himself, ranging from arm strength to mechanics around his mound work. He's proven that he is a dedicated player who wants to get better.

Dodgers fans saw Sasaki present some dogged determination in working out of the bullpen during last season's charge to a second straight World Series championship.

Not having Snell or Stone available is going to push Roberts to look at some alternatives when filling up those Nos. 4 and 5 spots in the rotation. Among the names being considered, according to Chen, include Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski, and River Ryan.

While the starting lineup might be etched in stone for Roberts and Co., that starting pitcher situation will be one worth monitoring.

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