Coming into this game, all the concern was over Roki Sasaki after his rough Spring Training, but it turns out people were worried about the wrong thing. The Dodgers offense not only didn’t put it together, they got dominated in a loss to the Guardians, 4-2.
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As mentioned, Roki Sasaki began the game, and his new wrinkle from the off-season starred, with him going to the cutter over and over again in key situations. He gave up a two-out single and stolen base in the 1st, but got a clean 2nd.
Roki starts his season with a scoreless inning, including a lead-off strikeout on a cutter. pic.twitter.com/F1mbEu19UM
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) March 31, 2026
Roki going to the cutter again in a full count for the K. pic.twitter.com/C7NvLDYrZH
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) March 31, 2026
The 3rd started with trouble as he got ahead of Austin Hedges 0-2 but eventually gave up a double to him, and after a sac bunt, a Steven Kwan double plated Hedges for a 1-0 Guardians lead.
After his first walk of the game it seemed like he might be in trouble, but he struck out Jose Ramirez on three pitches and got a lineout to end the threat.
Being ahead of Hedges 0-2 and giving up a double went about how you’d expect.
Then he struck out Ramirez on three pitches. The duality of man. pic.twitter.com/62WljJfZYU
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) March 31, 2026
He issued a second walk with one out in the 4th, but otherwise didn’t face trouble in the frame. He then started the 5th, giving up a single before being removed before facing the lineup a third time.
Sometimes when Roki does this, you really see it. pic.twitter.com/1ZhwK2xif7
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) March 31, 2026
Amusingly, he gave up the least runs by a Dodgers starter so far: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 78 Pitches.
Roki definitely got some help at times from the Guardians, but he looked a ton better than ST, and when he got into a jam it didn’t snowball.
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) March 31, 2026
Granted, that was because he got help from Tanner Scott, who relieved him in the 5th. After stolen base and a bloop single cornered the runners with nobody out, he got a strikeout, got a pop-out on a great play from Miguel Rojas, and notched another strikeout to escape the jam.
¡Miggy con cobertura extendida! pic.twitter.com/jjli5H9B2o
— Los Dodgers (@LosDodgers) March 31, 2026
Tanner Scott gives up a bloop single but strikes out two and gets an infield pop from the heart of the Guardians order. Uh oh. pic.twitter.com/eJ5sS3s2CT
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) March 31, 2026
Justin Wrobleski then took over in the 6th, cruising through a clean frame, but the 7th was anything but. He gave up a pair of singles to start the frame, then bobbled a bunt for a “single” to load the bases with nobody out. Wrobo then seemed to rebound with a soft liner for an out, then got a shallow flyout to right that put him on the verge.
But after he got ahead of Rhys Hoskins 0-2, he then threw four straight balls to walk in a run. It was made to hurt even more when he fell behind Daniel Schneemann 3-0 before grooving a 3-1 pitch for a double to plate two more runs and make it 4-0 before he was able to end the threat with a strikeout.
Schneeded it.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/wkIfoFco5m
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) March 31, 2026
Wrobo then finished the Guardians by retiring the final six batters he faced, arguing making things more frustrating.
Annoyed that Wrobo was probably one competitive pitch from three shutout.
— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) March 30, 2026 at 6:32 PM
——
Hey Chad, what about the offense? Why aren’t you posting about what they did.
Uhhh … about that.
Parker Messick was mostly dominant against this lineup, though he did get some fortunate luck. After pitching around a Shohei Ohtani bloop single to lead the game off thanks to a Kyle Tucker lineout (100 MPH, .620 xBA), he gave up a one-out single in the 2nd to Andy Pages but got a lineout from Max Muncy (.520 xBA) to end the inning on a double play.
The 3rd looked even more promising, as Rojas led things off with a double and Dalton Rushing then reached on a weird bunt single to put a pair on.
Will Smith, your days are numbered. pic.twitter.com/xt36C786x1
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) March 31, 2026
However, Miggy didn’t advance to third for some reason and then paid for it when he got picked off second. That seemed to kill off a potential scoring chance in the 3rd.
Messick then got a clean 4th (that saw another lineout) and faced the minimum in the 5th after a single was erased by another double play after Miggy hit a grounder at 108 MPH. He then finished with another 1-2-3 frame in the 6th to end his day.
Against the pen, the Dodgers got something going in the 7th with a one-out single and two-out single to corner things, but Muncy struck out to maintain their shutout. After nothing doing in the 8th, the Dodgers got life in the 9th.
Tucker started with an infield single, got to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Mookie Betts double to make it 4-1. After a groundout, Mookie got to third on another wild pitch, and scored on a Freddie Freeman groundout that made it 4-2.
The Guardians were happy to exchange the run for an out, as Pages then grounded out to end the game.
That’s all, folks.
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The first loss, season over. 3-1.
The two teams will do it again tomorrow at the same place and same time of 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET. It’ll be Shohei Ohtani making his season debut on the mound against Tanner Bibee.
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