Roki Sasaki pulled from Dodger Stadium debut in 2nd inning after control struggles

Roki Sasaki’s home debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers ended in the second inning Saturday night after the touted right-hander again struggled with his control.

Sasaki issued four walks while throwing 61 pitches to just 12 batters before manager Dave Roberts pulled him with two outs and two Detroit Tigers on base.

Sasaki allowed two runs and three singles while repeatedly falling behind his batters early. He threw just 32 strikes in his second major league start and his first at Dodger Stadium for the defending World Series champions.

Los Angeles overcame Sasaki’s second shaky start. Freddie Freeman had a homer and an RBI double, Teoscar Hernandez delivered a tiebreaking two-run double in the fifth inning, and the Dodgers extended their perfect start to the season with a 7-3 victory.

Will Smith and Tommy Edman also homered for the defending World Series champions, who are 5-0 after beating the Chicago Cubs twice in last week’s Tokyo Series before sweeping Detroit in Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers are off to their best start since 1981, when they opened 6-0 and eventually won the World Series.

Sasaki made his major league debut last week against the Cubs in Tokyo, where he walked five Cubs in three innings while allowing one hit and one run.

Before Saturday’s game, Roberts said he expected “a better performance than (Sasaki) had in Tokyo.”

“I think there’s going to be some nerves still,” Roberts added. “Understandably so. … But I just think he’s going to go out there and give us a chance to win.”

It’s far too early for the Dodgers to worry seriously about Sasaki, but the 23-year-old prospect touted as Japan’s most impressive young pitcher in several years has not yet found his groove with Los Angeles.

Sasaki threw 25 strikes among his 56 pitches in Tokyo. Those issues hadn’t been remedied in his second start for the Dodgers, who had been encouraged by Sasaki’s side work in the week since the club returned from Japan.

“I think it was a combo of nerves, a combo of he didn’t have a feel for his split that particular night,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if it was being in the Tokyo Dome with a new baseball. I’m just not sure.”

Not everything was poor against the Tigers for Sasaki, who blew a 97-mph fastball past Riley Greene for one of his two strikeouts.

Detroit scored two of its runs during Sasaki’s 41-pitch first inning, but Zach McKinstry’s leadoff single was the only hard-hit ball allowed by Sasaki. Manuel Margot got credit for an RBI single on a 30-foot squib before Trey Sweeney drew a 10-pitch walk with the bases loaded.

Jack Dreyer replaced Sasaki and got out of the second-inning jam, striking out Kerry Carpenter on four pitches. Los Angeles tied it up in the bottom half of the second on Michael Conforto’s RBI double, removing Sasaki from the decision.

Anthony Banda (1-0) pitched the fifth. Six Dodgers relievers combined for 7 1/3 innings of three-hit ball.

Jake Rogers scored Detroit’s only run against LA’s bullpen when Luis Garcia inexplicably didn’t cover first on McKinstry’s grounder in the seventh.

But Edman hit his third homer in four games on Kenta Maeda’s first pitch in the seventh before Shohei Ohtani walked, stole second and scored easily on Freeman’s double.

With Conforto on third and two outs, Reese Olson (0-1) intentionally walked Ohtani to get to Hernández, who ripped his double down the left-field line.

Sasaki will have time to work on his issues, because the Dodgers have enough days off in April to keep Sasaki on a generous rest schedule.

Although the club has no firm timetable for Ohtani to join their rotation, the NL MVP threw a bullpen session Saturday as he ramps up toward a possible return to the mound in May. When Ohtani returns, the Dodgers likely will go to a six-man rotation.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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