Dave Roberts Hints at Improvement Plan for Roki Sasaki

The Roki Sasaki rollercoaster continued Monday night as he labored through two-plus innings and was charged for five runs in an eventual tie between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels.

Sasaki began his start by hitting Zach Neto with a pitch on a 3-0 count. It was an ominous sign of what lied ahead for the right-hander as he lacked command and walked six batters on the night.

Sasaki nevertheless remains part of the Dodgers' Opening Day rotation and is scheduled to pitch in the series opener against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday.

Roki Sasaki needs to improve

Manager Dave Roberts said before Monday's game he wanted to see Sasaki in "compete mode." After the disastrous outing he outlined how the 24-year-old must improve and noted Dodgers pitching coaches identified areas to be corrected.

"I do think if we can get him back in the strike zone, attack hitters, work on a few things that the pitching guys sort of identified, and then we'll see where it takes us," Roberts said.

"I'm not concerned. I know it's in there. I've seen it in big spots, so just want to get the mechanics and confidence where it needs to be."

Roberts went on to reiterate the Dodgers' confidence in Sasaki but left the door open for change if results don't meet expectations.

"We're going to support him as much as we can, give him some runway, and then once the season starts it's about production," he said. "But I don't think you can completely just bank on or evaluate Spring Training or an exhibition game. But yeah, it hasn't been great. It really hasn't been. We know that.

"The standard has to be better. He knows that, we know that. Now it's go time and see how he can perform when the lights come on."

For his part, Sasaki previously downplayed results from Spring Training but after struggling against the Angels, allowed for the possibility of spending time in the Minors being a benefit.

In four Spring Training starts at the Major League level, Sasaki walked 13 batters over 7.1 innings pitched. He twice was removed from a start in the first inning before being re-inserted into the game, and that occurred three times overall.

The Dodgers don't figure to make any sort of decision on that front without first having Sasaki make multiple starts during the regular season. A potential change could come once Blake Snell is ready to be activated off the injured list, which currently projects to be around the end of May.