LOS ANGELES -- Roki Sasaki has given the big league club an intriguing option for the final week of the regular season.
Sasaki made his first relief appearance with Triple-A Oklahoma City, retiring three of the four batters he faced and striking out a pair on one walk. He touched 100.1 mph and averaged 98.9 mph with his four-seamer, getting four whiffs on the offering.
That's the extent of Sasaki's body of work out of the 'pen, but his stuff looked promising, continuing a trend from his previous appearance with Oklahoma City. He's set for one more relief outing with the Comets on Sunday, the final day of the Triple-A regular season.
If Sasaki returns to the Dodgers and performs well in relief, he could potentially earn a spot on the postseason roster.
On a night when the Dodgers' pitching staff allowed 10 walks -- but only one hit -- in a 2-1 win over the Giants, manager Dave Roberts is trying to figure out which arms he can trust in big spots with nine games left in the regular season. But there are limited opportunities to test them, especially Sasaki, who is new to relief.
"The first part of it was him giving himself the opportunity to agree to go to the 'pen. And then the next part is, he's got to perform," manager Dave Roberts said. "Tonight, he performed. He was really good. And let's see it again on Sunday. And then it kind of puts the onus on the organization to make a decision."
Dating back to the Trade Deadline, the Dodgers have been looking for a lockdown right-hander to step up in their bullpen. They're hopeful that Blake Treinen is trending up, but Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates have not looked promising of late.
The way Roberts sees it, there are still bullpen spots up for grabs. And whoever earns them has to be ready for anything.
"In the postseason, there's no roles," Roberts said. "They're all leverage."