Diamondbacks Get First Look at Roki Sasaki vs Dodgers

The Arizona Diamondbacks took a well-rounded 5-3 victory over the NL West juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday. On Friday, they'll have a chance at a guaranteed series split.

The game will be available as standard on Dbacks.TV, but will also be broadcast for free on 12News for the second of 10 such broadcasts. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m.

The club will debut its brand-new Serpientes City Connect uniforms, wearing them for the first time in-game. They'll also wear them Saturday, and every Friday home game going forward.

The D-backs are 20-18 after taking the first of four games with the Dodgers, and lit up right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto for more earned runs (5) than he'd allowed all season to that point (4).

But on Friday, Arizona will get a look at another highly-touted Japanese pitcher.

Pitching Matchup

RHP Roki Sasaki (3.86 ERA) vs LHP Eduardo Rodríguez (5.92 ERA)

The start to 23-year-old Roki Sasaki's career hasn't been disastrous, but he's had his fair share of struggles. While he's been very adept at preventing runs, he's struggled to go deep into games, and has been the opposite of efficient.

After posting impressive strikeout numbers in his NPB career in Japan, Sasaki has only punched out 24 batters in 30.1 innings, while walking 20. That's a 5.93 BB/9, and a number that will eventually come back to bite him in the earned run department if he doesn't begin to limit the free passes.

Sasaki's stuff plays quite well. He only throws three pitches — a 96 MPH fastball, a traditional split-finger and a slider. Opponents are hitting just .156 against the splitter, but it's still been a negative Run Value pitch at -2.

The D-backs will need to work counts. Sasaki has struggled with throwing strikes, especially deeper in games, as he's only completed the sixth inning once, and has walked at least two batters in every start.

Meanwhile, Eduardo Rodríguez is hoping for his results to finally align with how well he's pitched of late. The big lefty has attacked hitters all season long, punching out an impressive 10.66 batters per nine — a career high in a limited sample size.

Despite an ugly 5.92 ERA, Rodríguez has been the victim of poor defense, batted ball luck, and bequeathed runners scoring against the relievers who have spelled him.

For this reason, Rodríguez's FIP is 4.08, his xERA is 3.43, and his xFIP is 3.39. In nearly every sense, he's been a significantly better pitcher than the ERA shows, and he's struck out 45 against 12 walks.

The Dodgers will offer a tough matchup, though Rodríguez will have the platoon advantage over some of LA's best hitters. Still, fireworks can come at any moment from this potent lineup, especially if Rodríguez's pinpoint location suffers in any way.

Lineup