Dodgers beat Mets behind Roki Sasaki gem, Kyle Tucker home run

NEW YORK –– Carson Benge fanned helplessly on a first-pitch splitter that darted out of the strike zone. He whiffed so badly on another one that the bat went flying out of his hands. By the third one he saw, the Mets rookie was completely befuddled, taking a big swing and an even bigger miss.

Good morning, good afternoon, good night.

Hello to vintage Roki Sasaki.

At his best, this is what Sasaki can do to opponents.

When he arrived from Japan as a highly-touted phenom, this is what the Dodgers had expected to see.

For much of his first couple seasons, of course, such moments were frustratingly infrequent.

But in the Dodgers’ 4-2 defeat of the Mets on Friday night, Sasaki scarily produced them again and again and again.

“Tonight,” manager Dave Roberts said, “was just a good exhibition of pitching.”

Indeed, in a seven-inning, one-run gem that continued the momentum he built last week with another sterling performance at Yankee Stadium, Sasaki delivered more promising signs about the state of his development by striking out nine batters and generating a career-best 21 whiffs.

He didn’t have the same triple-digit fastball velocities as a week ago, eclipsing the 100 mph threshold only once in his 94-pitch start.

However, in an outing that included only three hits and two walks, he found other ways to look dominant again.

“He was efficient, wasn’t stressed, and it was good to see him get through that seventh inning,” Roberts said.

Sasaki’s night started modestly, with the 24-year-old right-hander giving up a home run to Luis Roberts Jr. in the second inning and striking out only two batters in his first three innings.

But then, he kicked things into gear, with his three-pitch humiliation of Benge in the fourth inning highlighting a stretch of seven strikeouts in an 11-batter sequence.

During that time, Roberts described his stuff as “unhittable.”

“I have stacked things up and gained confidence in those things,” Sasaki said, “so I have less to think about.”

The Dodgers’ offense turned around their early deficit, meanwhile, getting sacrifice flies from Miguel Rojas in the fourth and Shohei Ohtani in the seventh, before Kyle Tucker drilled a two-run homer in the eighth (his first since June 27, and one of the three times he reached base Friday).

From there, Sasaki and the Dodgers’ bullpen (including a ninth-inning save from Tanner Scott) wouldn’t relinquish the lead again, rolling to a third-straight win on a night their talented but previously inconsistent starter took another tantalizing step.

“It just doesn’t seem like he’s searching anymore,” Roberts said. “He’s just trying to execute a game plan.”

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What it means

Friday could’ve been an easy mail-in game for the Dodgers (66-38), who are on the tail end of a nine-game road trip and were in their third different city in the last three days, after concluding a series in Philadelphia on Wednesday and visiting the White House in Washington on Thursday.

“It has been a long trip,” Roberts said pregame.

Yet, it continues to be a successful post-All-Star-break trek, as well, with the Dodgers having now won five of seven games. With one more victory this weekend, they’ll have taken all three series on their travels too.

Who’s hot

One important caveat to Sasaki’s start on Friday: The Mets are among the biggest disappointments in baseball this year, thanks largely to an impotent offense that began the night ranked bottom-five in runs and OPS.

Still, for a Dodgers team currently evaluating its potential postseason pitching options –– especially ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline –– Sasaki’s outing was hugely encouraging, showing that 100 mph heaters aren’t the only way for him to have success.

“Obviously, a lot of the talk was about the velocity his last start,” Roberts said pregame, after Sasaki averaged more than 100 mph with his fastball last week. “But the execution, changing eye level, all that stuff, that was pitching. So [hopefully we] see him do that again.”

Sasaki did, with his reworked splitter emerging as his most dangerous weapon Friday.

He threw the pitch more than 40% of the time. He got whiffs on 15 of the 24 swings the Mets took against it. And he effectively located it both in and out of the strike zone, mixing locations and looks to keep New York hitters on their heels.

“If he can get that split starting in the same window [as his fastball],” Roberts said, “it’s hard to lay off.”

Who’s not

For the last couple weeks, this designation had belonged to Tucker –– who was hitting just .207 over his last 17 games.

But as the Dodgers continued their latest hot streak, even he snapped his ice-cold stretch.

The $240 million legged out an infield single in the seventh, after drawing his first walk in 20 days in the fourth inning (with the help of home plate umpire Mike Estabrook, who refused to grant an ABS challenge to the Mets on a pitch that would have been a strike).

“I hadn’t walked in a while,” he quipped. “So I honestly didn’t know what to do for a sec.”

Then, he took his best swing in weeks on his home run in the eighth, hammering a center-cut fastball for his crucial late-game insurance.

“It’s coming,” Roberts said of Tucker, who is still just hitting .240 this season with a .704 OPS. “It hasn’t been as consistent or as fast as we’d like, but he’s still going through it. He’s still working hard, and to see some success tonight was a good thing for him.”

Up next

The Dodgers will look to clinch another series win on Saturday, when Yoshinobu Yamamoto (10-6, 2.78 ERA) faces Mets rookie right-hander Nolan McLean (7-6, 3.34 ERA) in a rematch of their pitchers’ duel from earlier this season.