One game blip? Or has Dodger’ Roki Sasaki lost his magic?

SAN DIEGO – The Dodgers can’t be out of the Tarik Skubal sweepstakes just yet.

Just as Dave Roberts tried to make the offense that Friday night an aberration, the Dodgers can’t know what they have in Roki Sasaki.

Not after Bad Roki’s comeback in a 7-1 loss to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Sasaki hit like he did earlier in the season.

His pace was slow.

He didn’t know where the ball was going.

He gave up three runs over four innings, walking five batters in the process.

The question now is whether Sasaki has really heard his introduction as he said. Because if he doesn’t, and if he’s been overly reliant on consistency over the last month, there’s a real risk he could return to his early season form.

“I don’t think that will happen,” Sasaki said in Japanese.

Sasaki will have to identify and fix everything that went wrong between now and Thursday, when he is expected to face the Padres again, this time at Dodger Stadium.

“In my mind, to some extent, I have an idea of ​​what I should do in my delivery,” he said. “It’s a matter of whether I can repeat that. That’s what everyone struggles with all the time. The level of that was low today and I think that’s the reason (I didn’t play well).”

Sasaki had a promising start in mid-May, but his season really took a turn for the worse in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies later that month.

That was the night Sasaki rediscovered his fastball, touching 100 mph for the first time this season.

“This was the game I was able to play as much as I did,” said Sasaki that night.

Sasaki averaged 98.5 mph with his fastball against the Phillies, 1.5 mph faster than his season average to that point.

He said he was surprised by how fast he jumped, which, looking back, raises questions about how conscientious he was in what he was doing.

Sasaki’s strikeout rate remained consistent over the next three starts, including a June 12 game in which he gave up a season-worst seven hits. But Sasaki still had his moments when he started against the Chicago White Sox. He allowed one run in the first four innings, and his problem wasn’t with his fastball. His problem was the command of his second games. He was still the same as himself.

That’s why his performance on Friday night was so shocking.

Sasaki never looked like an outstanding powerhouse.

In one of his previous two starts, he threw 17 pitches that clocked in at 99 mph or faster. Against the Padres, he reached that milestone just five times.

His average fastball velocity was 97.7 mph. In his last four starts, that number went from 98.3 to 98.8 mph.

“There weren’t many times I was able to throw freely,” said Sasaki.

In addition to not being able to throw hard, Sasaki was all over the place with his fastball.

His delivery is complex, with many body parts moving in many directions at once. He said that his ability to make his delivery has a lot to do with his speed and command. When his delivery is right, two aspects develop simultaneously. On nights like Friday, when his delivery is poor, it gets worse at the same time.

Sasaki’s loss of form was evident from the start. The first inning included 10 walks by Samad Taylor.

Sasaki started the second inning by walking Manny Machado in another 10-pitch at-bat. Gavin Sheets followed with a walk.

With one out, Sasaki threw two quick strikes to Ty France, only to pull a slider up the middle of the plate that was launched over the left field wall for a three-run home run.

Sasaki’s post-match self-assessment was inconclusive, with the right-hander blaming his struggles on indirect issues with his lower body.

Did he really know what was wrong?

For his part, Roberts said that he did not think that Sasaki would not return to looking lost as he started the season.

“I think we opened something up,” said Roberts.

Or did Sasaki just catch lightning in a bottle? If that happens, and lightning in a bottle has escaped, Sasaki’s road to stardom is about to take an extended path.

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