Straight Talk: Sasaki reflects on pitch selection after 2 HRs spoil outing
John E. Gibson
Host · Writer
"Straight Talk" is a regular feature in which The Sporting Tribune's John E. Gibson offers a full translation of media availability with Dodgers Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. He will also help translate when Lakers star Rui Hachimura and L.A. Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida are asked questions in Japanese.
The job of interpreters in the heat of the moment is difficult without the ability to write down questions and answers and re-hear responses for proper context. That's where John comes in to help. John currently works as a Japanese-English interpreter and covered pro baseball in Japan for about 20 years. His experience as a sports reporter includes stints at The Orange County Register, The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Redlands Daily Facts, The Yomiuri Shimbun’s English newspaper in Tokyo and The Epoch Times.
LOS ANGELES – Roki Sasaki is sharp over five innings, then serves up a pair of homers for three runs with two out in the sixth inning, but the host Los Angeles Dodgers rally with three in the ninth to edge the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 in interleague action on Friday night. Sasaki, who has a 3-0 lead through five innings, allows three runs on four hits and a walk with six whiffs, but has a possible win erased.
Q: Roki, you were excellent tonight. How would you just describe how you got going in this one, your efficiency in navigating their lineup early?
Sasaki: Well, overall, I did what I wanted to do. As far as my pitches, I had a lot of nice balls so, even though they came back to tie things up, I was mostly doing what I set out to do.
Q: The two back-to-back home runs, what did you find there? Was that just lack of location or did you feel like you missed the pitch there?
Sasaki: Well, on the first home run, that was a fork that cut – it wasn’t the movement it normally has. It wasn’t as much a mistake as it was a pitch that didn’t work the way it was supposed to.
Q: As you continue to get deep into starts, how important is it going to be to find success the third time through the order?
Sasaki: Well, as far as the first home run, like I just said, the pitch didn’t do what it was supposed to do. As far as the next batter, I was able to execute the pitch that was called and he just hit it. I think the pitch itself was good, but looking at the result, I think the pitch selection was what went wrong. So with that being the case, I want to go over things with the pitching coach to reflect on what we should have done in that instance.
Q: What were you able to pick up from that last start, or is that one that you really just kind washed away, didn’t really impact you going into this start?
Sasaki: Well, my offspeed pitches were all off last time and I would say they got hits off my fastball. So I worked a lot on my offspeed pitches and they were better in this game than last time across the board. I didn’t have the same game situations as before, but as far as the offspeed pitches, I think I was able to correct things.
Q: Why do you think your command of your offspeed pitches was better this start compared to last start?
Sasaki: So I worked hard in practice on getting the ball over the plate, and I also practiced on not wavering on the speed, not to have them be too slow, especially with the slider. That’s what I focused on during practice.
