Dodgers 3, Phillies 1: Roki Sasaki bounces back by staying in control, bats back him with a pair of homers

Chad Moriyama 04/05/2025 Game Recaps 9 Comments

After the first loss of the season, the Dodgers looked to rebound in the next with a pitcher who himself was looking to rebound from a much-scrutinized mess of a start. Roki Sasaki‘s day started about as rough as possible, and yet he remained calm and in control, which helped him minimize the damage. The defense and bullpen took the reins from there, as a pair of homers did just enough to secure a 3-1 win over the Phillies.

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After his last start, what Roki needed was a nice 1-2-3 inning in the 1st. Well … he didn’t get that, as he was greeted with a pair of singles and a stolen base to put two in scoring position with nobody out. Considering that situation, he did well to rebound this time, notching a strikeout before Alec Bohm grounded out to plate one run, and then getting out of the inning with another grounder. 1-0 Phillies but a sigh of relief, really.

Opposing him was Aaron Nola, and the Dodgers helped Roki out immediately after he put them behind. After just a single in the 1st, Max Muncy doubled in the 2nd and Enrique Hernandez bombed his third homer of the year to left for a 2-1 Dodgers lead in a flash.

Sasaki then rebounded extremely well, posting clean frames in the 2nd and 3rd.

While he issued a lead-off walk in the 4th, he locked in with a pair of flyouts and a nasty strikeout.

He was immediately greeted with traffic in the 5th, as he got squeezed on a pitch that could’ve been a strikeout and ended up issuing a walk, then a flare off the end of the bat fooled Teoscar Hernandez in right to drop in for a single.

Dave Roberts decided to take him out at that point for matchup and confidence reasons, but he looked solid after a rocky start that could’ve snowballed: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 68 Pitches.

Roki’s day was made better when Anthony Banda came out of the pen and helped him avoid damage. He got a flyout to start, which left the runners cornered, and then induced a wild double play after Kyle Schwarber lined out to Teoscar in right, who had the awareness and accuracy to gun down a running Bryson Stott at first before J.T. Realmuto could cross the plate. Still 2-1.

As for the Dodgers offense, they wasted a golden chance in the 3rd after a walk and single to start saw the rally killed with a double play. After just a single in the 4th, a clean 5th followed, and after the aforementioned great defensive play ended the previous inning for the Dodgers, Michael Conforto skied a towering homer for his second of the year and a 3-1 lead in the 6th.

Nola was done after 6th, but the Dodgers managed just a walk over the final three innings against the Phillies pen.

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Speaking of pens, trying to help usher the game towards the end out of the pen was Ben Casparius in the 6th, and all he did was get a nine-pitch inning then followed that up with a 14-pitch inning in the 7th, not even allowing a baserunner. He’s been a dominant revelation for this pen.

Next up was Alex Vesia in the 8th, who started with back-to-back strikeouts. He got ahead on the next batter 1-2 but hit him before rebounding to strikeout the next.

To close things out was Tanner Scott in the 9th, and he was greeted by an “infield single” that Muncy basically booted. However, the next pitch resulted in a 6-4-3 double play, and he was done after three pitches when he got a save on a flyout.

Well … there it is.

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The team is confirmed to be doing a celebration that mimics Shohei Ohtani‘s Decorte ad.

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That’ll improve the Dodgers to 9-1 on the year, who are now 1.5 games up in the NL West on … the Giants (?), who play later today.

The rubber match between the two teams will be played tomorrow at the unholy hour of 7:35 AM HT/10:35 AM PT/1:35 PM ET. It’ll be Tyler Glasnow looking to continue his dominance against Cristopher Sanchez.

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