Dodgers roll on: Sasaki’s velocity returns, Tucker battles

The Dodgers’ recent surge includes Ryan Ward’s first big-league home run in a 9-1 rout of the Phillies, Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 5 1/3 scoreless innings, and Roki Sasaki’s breakthrough start—marked by his first 100+ mph pitch of the season. Kyle Tucker, still work

LOS ANGELES — Ryan Ward didn’t have to wait through another long stretch to hear his own name echo in the kind of silence that follows a home run. He rounded the bases for his first big-league homer after 725 games in the minors, and the moment didn’t come with any subtlety.

Andy Pages met him with sunflower seeds when Ward returned to the dugout, after Ward took Andrew Painter deep to open up a three-run lead in a blowout win. The trip around the bases was a blur, and Ward didn’t try to dress it up afterward.

“Kind of a blackout, if I’m going to be honest with you,” Ward said. “Hit it, and I just went numb.”

The clubhouse welcome, in true Dodgers fashion, was a mess of alcohol, condiments, and whatever else it could find—after a 9-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

“I’m probably going to smell for a little bit,” Ward said. “It was all over the place.”

The Dodgers are feeling good even with injuries stirring up the roster. Ward is in the outfield after Teoscar Hernández strained his hamstring this week.

Sunday’s win was the Dodgers’ 14th in their last 17 games. It’s a stretch that includes five consecutive series victories, and it’s coming with contributions all over the lineup. In addition to Ward. Alex Freeland helped set the tone as one of the newest faces in the lineup—collecting a double and a home run in just his second game back up from Oklahoma City.

“Everybody in this locker room is a superstar,” Freeland said.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto also benefited from run support, carrying a six-run lead when he exited after 5 1/3 scoreless innings. He struck out 10, but he also looked frustrated with his command—still, the Dodgers were cruising.

“I think it just speaks to how we’re playing,” said manager Dave Roberts, who celebrated his 54th birthday with a victory.

In the middle of that roll, one night stood out for what it answered and what it changed. From the moment Roki Sasaki signed with the Dodgers, the organization treated velocity like the big puzzle—one that might not hold still long enough to solve.

For every tweak the Dodgers have made to Sasaki’s arsenal and delivery, the biggest unknown inside club personnel was whether he would rediscover the premium speed that made him one of the most famous pitchers on the planet.

Saturday’s performance went a long way toward moving that question.

“It feels like it’s all put together right now,” Sasaki said Saturday through interpreter Kensuke Okubo.

He started his night against the Phillies by firing a fastball to Kyle Schwarber that clocked at 100.1 mph—the first pitch Sasaki had thrown all season that hit triple digits. Schwarber fouled it off, and Sasaki followed with a splitter that Schwarber waved through.

He wasn’t done. Sasaki hit 100 mph again an inning later, a 100.4 mph heater to J.T. Realmuto that clipped the zone but was called a ball. Sasaki touched 99 mph or harder 14 times—more than he has in any game in the majors.

The 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball he threw against the Phillies didn’t come with perfect conditions, but it came with a clear shape to his effort. Alex Vesia worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and finished unscathed.

Sasaki’s night ended with something the staff had probably been hoping for all season: confidence that looked physical. Vesia couldn’t hide his glee for Sasaki, smacking him on the shoulders and even getting the reserved Sasaki to smile.

The version of Sasaki on that mound was the one he had been waiting to reach since he asked prospective big-league clubs to put together plans to help him get his velocity back.

How it happened, Sasaki said, was less about one magic step and more about stacking smaller ones.

“Basically, I have kept doing the same thing and then stacking small things,” Sasaki said.

It also comes with work alongside strength coach Travis Smith as Sasaki filled out his frame, his delivery described as being in a good place.

“I feel like I was able to pitch the way I wanted,” Sasaki said. “That’s my way.”

Sasaki admitted even he was surprised by how much his velocity increased.

He entered Saturday having eclipsed 100 mph as a starter just three times in the regular season over his two years in the majors. Two came in his major-league debut on March 19. 2025. at the Tokyo Dome. an erratic performance that would foreshadow the rollercoaster that followed. Another came in September. when Sasaki accepted his new role as a reliever and emerged as a surprise savior for the Dodgers’ bullpen.

He hasn’t looked like the Saturday-night pitcher in this role since he was with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan. His velocity was the best it’s been in this role for the Dodgers, and the next question became what it means going forward.

This season, Sasaki’s slider is described as a legitimate pitch, getting a swing-and-miss half the time Phillies hitters swung at it—seven out of 14. He’s also played both a splitter and a forkball off his fastball.

Even with those steps, he entered Saturday with a 4.93 ERA.

Roberts pointed to the mental shift as much as the physical one.

“I think early this season, after every throw, he was looking at the radar gun to see what the velocity was,” Roberts said. “Now, there’s just a confidence that the throw is good, the feel is good, and that’s his validation.”

The heater, at least on Saturday, looked like it once did.

That kind of change doesn’t just move the pitching staff. It changes everything around it—because when a pitcher is doing that, hitters have to adjust to a world that feels faster than yesterday.

Kyle Tucker met that world Saturday afternoon in a way that didn’t match his usual routine. The Dodgers leave an option open for hitters to hit off a high-velocity machine during early work. but Tucker hadn’t deviated from his typical routine until then in his first season with the Dodgers after signing a four-year. $240 million deal this winter.

“It’s very telling, where he’s at,” Roberts said.

Tucker explained that facing higher velocity is challenging as training gets.

He was trying to find something. Tucker said he then joined his teammates for a round of on-field batting practice a couple of hours later—his first time doing so this year. After that round. he worked on trying to “get it on the barrel. ” a phrase that has felt distant for him amid struggles to find his footing.

That night, Tucker returned to the cage.

Against the Phillies on Saturday, he went hitless in four at-bats. At least one ball had a chance to fall—he kept his swing back long enough to hook a two-strike Jesús Luzardo changeup into right field. only for Adolis García to make a running. diving catch. In his next at-bat, Tucker grounded out softly to first base and spiked his helmet when he reached the bag.

On Sunday, the response came in a cleaner form. Tucker went 2-for-4. His single in the third inning started from a grounder that kicked off the first-base bag and into the outfield to bring home a run—hardly the kind of contact he’d been trying to make, but useful all the same.

In his next at-bat, better results followed. Tucker stayed on a slider from Tanner Banks in the fifth inning and squared it up for a 105.9 mph blast off the right-field wall for a double.

“Today looked more like who he is,” Roberts said.

Still, the larger picture is rough. Tucker’s OPS is .729. and his status is impossible to ignore: he is baseball’s highest-paid player ever by average annual value. tied for 90th among qualified hitters. Statcast data entering Sunday showed he has barreled up just 5 percent of his batted balls this season—nearly half of his career mark.

Some of it is tied to his swing, and some to his swing decisions. Roberts described the chase and the urgency behind it.

Tucker entered Sunday swinging at 49.8 percent of pitches he’d seen—his highest rate since 2022. He was chasing more, as a result. Only one other hitter—Cincinnati’s TJ Friedl—has seen a higher year-over-year increase in frequency swinging at the first pitch, with 47.5 percent up from 36.3 percent.

“That’s kind of a red flag,” Roberts said, later adding that “it just seems like he’s much more hyperaggressive than I recall.”

The Sunday double off the wall could be a turn in a season that still reads like a work in progress—one where training changes, confidence changes, and the results follow when they can.

And in the same Dodgers organization, another kind of pitching story keeps developing, even as it’s carefully managed.

River Ryan remains on the radar even as the Dodgers continue to downplay his timeline to return to the majors. The club has stressed its desire to build him up slowly.

Ryan has barely pitched in the last two years due to Tommy John surgery. He hardly pitched at all after converting from the infield to the mound full-time once the Dodgers acquired him in 2022.

Since returning from his hamstring injury, Ryan has made three starts. In those outings, he’s thrown 15 innings and allowed just one run, striking out 19 with just one walk. His work in the minors has caught attention, moving him up to No. 19 on Keith Law’s latest prospect rankings this week.

He’s also 27 years old, turning 28 in August.

The question isn’t whether his stuff is good—it’s what it means for timing.

General manager Brandon Gomes framed it as building a foundation rather than rushing to prove something.

“The stuff coming out of hand is awesome,” Gomes said this week. “I think we’re gonna keep building him up and try to build a nice foundation before we look to do anything there.”

The Dodgers don’t have a pressing rotation need after acquiring Eric Lauer. Gomes also said there isn’t an obvious candidate to pull out in favor of Ryan. Ryan has never completed six innings in an outing until he did so on Thursday.

They also would rather have him peak in October than in May or June.

“We have to be mindful of his innings and workload, and not just be shortsighted, like, ‘Oh, well, he’s pitching great now,’” Gomes said. “We also would like him to build that foundation and be a potential option.”

On Sunday. the Dodgers offered a reminder that two things can be true at once: the club is playing its best baseball of the year with contributions rolling in. and there are still moving parts that need time—velocity that had to come back. a new star who’s still fighting to find his rhythm. and a prospect whose next step has to be earned without forcing the calendar.

Los Angeles Dodgers Roki Sasaki Kyle Tucker Ryan Ward Yoshinobu Yamamoto Teoscar Hernández Dave Roberts River Ryan Brandon Gomes