Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Every Roki Sasaki start seems to be an event in terms of scrutiny and today will be no different as the results were good but the process to getting there was shaky. But don’t let that distract from the main problem of the Dodgers offense not getting going yet again, and then Ben Casparius melted down and was left out there to die in a 16-0 loss to the Cubs.
16-0 is #Dodgers worst home shutout loss in franchise history
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) April 13, 2025
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Things didn’t necessarily start well for Roki in the 1st, as the umpire was showing a tight zone and he got behind every batter he faced. However, he did manage to limit the damage on just 10 pitches with a pair of groundouts and a lineout thanks to a nice play from Andy Pages in center.
He got through the 2nd in just 15 pitches with a couple more groundouts and a strikeout, but also Michael Busch led the inning off with a solo homer to make it 1-0 Cubs. Roki’s fastball had basically been missing up and away to lefties all game, so he was looking there and didn’t miss.
Busch says bye-bye baseball! pic.twitter.com/MagUKZo3OW
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 13, 2025
The 3rd is where potential disaster lurked, as after the first out, he issued a walk, single, and another walk to load the bases. The Cubs were zeroing in on his fastball and ignoring off-speed.
Similar issues as Miller last year, IMO. They've basically eliminated off-speed cause Roki can't land it. It's just not as bad cause he also has one pitch that's basically unhittable when it's competitive.
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 13, 2025
Busch in particular seemed to be hunting on location, and he hit one to deep center, where Pages was thankfully (!!!) patrolling and saved at least three runs.
ANDY. PAGES. WOW. pic.twitter.com/uvg45A004u
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 13, 2025
Yeesh.
https://t.co/XD2sWhvePP pic.twitter.com/UHACJxEeSw
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 13, 2025
Weirdly enough, after that Roki settled in. He threw 23 of 30 pitches for strikes, getting a clean 4th and giving up a pair of two-strike singles in the 5th but working out of it.
A start that looks a lot better on paper than it actually was, but hey, take what you can get: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 81 Pitches.
Roki lands an off-speed pitch for a strike(-ish) and takes three pitches to get a K, lol. https://t.co/J5iv3DgTFs pic.twitter.com/1p0aAuyJgN
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 13, 2025
As mentioned, the bigger issue is the offense continuing to start slow, especially against a pitcher like Ben Brown, who has struggled this year. They mounted a threat in the 1st after a single, steal, and an infield single, but couldn’t push anything across. Brown followed that with clean frames in the 2nd and 3rd, then gave up just a single in the 4th, saw a single in the 5th erased by a double play, and surrendered just another single in the 6th.
The Dodgers didn’t have a RISP against Brown since the 1st. Yikes.
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With Roki done after five, it was Casparius out of the pen in the 6th. He immediately surrendered a double to old friend Busch, who was driven in by old friend Justin Turner to put the Cubs up 2-0.
.@redturn2 with a clutch knock ? pic.twitter.com/EeBAO44NFI
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 13, 2025
Looking to save some arms, Casparius also came up for the 7th and promptly gave up a homer to Carson Kelly to extend the lead to 3-0. He then went walk, single, single for a run, single for a run, and single for a run to make it a 6-0 blowout. Casparius then got the first out of the inning and allowed a sac fly for the second out that made it 7-0. He came into today with a 0.00 ERA and left with a 5.06 … such is the life of a reliever.
Mercifully, Luis Garcia entered and got the final out of the 7th. He also came out for the 8th, but gave up a walk, double, single for two runs, and a two-run homer to make it 11-0.
The only upside is that made it a position player eligible performance, which meant Miguel Rojas entered and gave us his best impression of Landon Knack, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw, and Roki.
Miguel Rojas imitates Landon Knack on the mound. pic.twitter.com/NsI427oDO1
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 13, 2025
Miguel Rojas imitates Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound. pic.twitter.com/VpbU7Wa4fu
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 13, 2025
Miguel Rojas imitates Clayton Kershaw on the mound. pic.twitter.com/H4cngTlTRX
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 13, 2025
Miguel Rojas imitates Roki Sasaki on the mound. pic.twitter.com/xB3BDDViVa
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 13, 2025
While he only gave up a single in the 8th, he did give up a double, homer, single, hit a batter, double, double, and single in the 9th that made it 16-0.
Miguel Rojas definitely practiced for this moment
— MLB (@MLB) April 13, 2025pic.twitter.com/HL8sZ8MKmH
To close the game, the Cubs pen got a clean 7th, 8th, and gave up just a bloop single in the 9th.
Ugly.
The Dodgers just had six singles in the game, brutal showing for the bats.
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11-5 on the year and still third in the NL West.
The series concludes with a start time a couple hours earlier tomorrow for the game on ESPN at 1:00 PM HT/4:00 PM PT/7:00 PM ET. It’ll be Tyler Glasnow looking to rebound from his rainy mess of a last start against … somebody for the Cubs.
