Baseball

Roki Sasaki Struggles With Control but Finishes Strong as Dodgers Beat Cubs for Tokyo Series Sweep

In the fifth inning of the Tokyo Series finale, Shohei Ohtani hit his first homer of the season to add to the offensive outburst for the reigning MLB champs.

by
Jim Armstrong
March 20, 2025

Roki Sasaki madę his major league debut on Wednesday, March 19 and Shohei Ohtani gave the fans a thrill with his first home run of the season as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 6-3 to complete a two-game sweep of their MLB season-opening Tokyo Series.

With the defending World Series champions leading 5-2, Ohtani came up to bat in the top of the fifth before 42,367 at Tokyo Dome and crushed a solo homer off Chicago pitcher Nate Pearson.

The ball was hit to the deepest part of the ballpark in center field. Video replays showed that several fans reached out in an attempt to grab it and it may have hit one in the arm before going over the fence.

"Nothing Shohei does surprises me," Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. "Everyone here tonight came to watch Shohei perform and put on a show and like Shohei does, he always seems to deliver."

Added Roberts, "It was a great moment for everyone for him to hit a home run here at the Tokyo Dome."

Ohtani was 2-for-5 with two runs scored in the 4-1 win on the previous day. His two hits were a single and a double.

Those hits were great but the fans came to see the 2024 NL MVP hit a home run and he came through for them on Wednesday. Ohtani also homered in a preseason game against the Yomiuri Giants on Sunday, but to do it in an official regular-season game was special.

Chicago cut the lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth when Dansby Swanson doubled on a line drive to left to score Matt Shaw.

A Solid MLB Debut for Sasaki

In Wednesday's game, the other big storyline was the major league debut of former Chiba Lotte Marines standout Sasaki.

The 23-year-old Sasaki, who signed with the Dodgers in January on a minor league contract with a $6.5 million USD (nearly ¥975 million JPY) signing bonus, started the game and went three innings, giving up one run on one hit while striking out three and walking five batters.

It wasn't the greatest start for Sasaki but the Dodgers had no reason to push him beyond the 56 pitches that he threw, 25 for strikes. He left the game with a comfortable 3-1 lead.

"I think there were some nerves with Roki, understandably so," said Roberts. "The velocity was good, but I think with the emotions, the command, it was hard to rein it in."

Kike Hernandez, who had three RBIs, crushed an offering from Chicago starter Justin Steele into the left-field stands for a two-run homer to make it 5-1 for the Dodgers in the top of the fourth.

Tommy Edman hit a solo homer in the top of the third to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.

Sasaki Works Out of a Jam

The first hit off Sasaki was in the bottom of the third inning on a slow roller to third that Jon Berti beat out for a single.

Sasaki then walked Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki to load the bases. Struggling with his control and clearly frustrated, Sasaki then walked Kyle Tucker, forcing in a run.

He recovered to strike out Michael Busch and Matt Shaw to limit the damage to one run. Despite the walks, it was a confidence-boosting way for Sasaki to end his first MLB outing.

"The way he responded in that situation when he didn't have his best command tonight, I think it speaks to how competitive he is," Roberts said "That was a pivotal part of the game and he's just a great competitor. He can make pitches when he needs to make pitches."

Dodgers Give Sasaki Early Run Support

It didn't take the Dodgers long to score and give some run support to Sasaki.

Will Smith walked and Max Muncy ripped a double down the line in right, putting runners on second and third with no out.

A passed ball allowed Smith to score from third and Muncy scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Kike Hernandez to make it 2-0 in the top of the second.

Sasaki had a slight control blip in the bottom of the second when he walked Busch and Dansby Swanson. But he got Pete Crow-Armstrong to hit into an inning-ending double play to shortstop Miguel Rojas.

Ohtani hit the first pitch of the game to deep left field, getting a rise out of the Tokyo Dome crowd. But Chicago left fielder Happ pulled it down just in front of the warning track.

Sasaki struck out Suzuki in the first inning on a 99-mph (159.3 kph) fastball. Suzuki finished the night going 0-for-4 with one walk and three strikeouts.