Roki Sasaki spoke at a Los Angeles Dodgers team press conference on June 27, 2026, reflecting on a poor start and acknowledging that his own mistakes were the defining feature of the outing.
Sasaki said the quality of his pitches was low and identified that as the root cause of the performance. He noted that he has a sense of what he needs to do mechanically, but reproducing it consistently remains the ongoing challenge. Sasaki also reflected that if he had been able to execute his slider properly in a key at-bat, he could have recorded a strikeout.
Sasaki cited back-to-back walks as a contributing factor to his imprecise pitching, stating that after putting both runners on base via walks, he wanted to get ahead in the count quickly, which led to rushing. He described a psychological mirroring effect throughout the outing: when he sensed batters pulling back, he pulled back as well, and when he went after them aggressively they came at him in return. "There was a kind of discomfort I felt while pitching," he said, identifying that mental dynamic as emblematic of the day's struggles.
Sasaki added that in his previous starts—including a game in which he allowed runs—he felt he was pitching with good sensation, and that the mound on June 27, 2026 felt normal, ruling out the venue as a factor. He also mentioned that because he was the starting pitcher, he was not with his teammates at the ballpark before the game and was unaware of what had taken place in the clubhouse. He stated that with Venezuelan-born players on the team, it is important for all players to put forth their best performance.
When asked whether he had lost his feel for pitching, Sasaki indicated he does not believe that is the case and expects to work through the mechanical issues going forward.