Roki Sasaki on Thu, Aug 27, 2026

Sasaki's control issues on his fastball led directly to today's runs

Sasaki's outing against Atlanta on August 27 was a rough one: 3.1 innings, 6 hits, 4 earned runs, 3 strikeouts, and 2 walks. Measured against his season ERA of 4.60 and WHIP of 1.33, this start clearly falls short of the baseline, and it stands in sharp contrast to his recent form. Over his prior four starts he had been trending upward, including a scoreless 5.2 innings against the Yankees on July 18 and a dominant 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 9 strikeouts effort against the Mets on July 25. Tonight ranks among his roughest outings of the season, on par with the 3.0 IP, 7H, 6ER meltdown against San Diego back on July 3, and it snaps what had otherwise looked like a stabilizing second half.

Looking at the pitch mix explains a lot of what went wrong. The four-seam fastball was his most-used offering at 42 percent (28 pitches, averaging 97.0 mph), but its strike rate sat at just 54 percent with only 2 whiffs generated all night. By contrast, the splitter (30 percent, 65 percent strike rate, 4 whiffs) and slider (18 percent, 92 percent strike rate, 4 whiffs) were both sharper in the zone and far more effective at drawing chases. That imbalance between his primary pitch and his putaway pitches lines up directly with the 2 walks issued in just 3.1 innings — when the fastball isn't finding the zone, the strikeout-to-walk ratio suffers, and tonight's 3-to-2 mark is well below his season pace. Factor in his platoon splits for the year — a .253 average and .848 OPS allowed to right-handed batters versus .238 and .746 against lefties — and it becomes clear that right-handed hitters have generally had more success against him this season, which makes tonight's fastball command trouble against a right-handed-heavy Atlanta lineup particularly costly.

Unico's take: restoring the four-seam's strike rate will be the key to getting his K/BB ratio back on track in his next start.