After four underwhelming to downright worrisome rehab starts, Roki Sasaki finally pitched one worth getting excited about on Tuesday. He struck out eight batters in 4 2/3 innings and he threw six fastballs over 100 MPH. The fastball sat at 98.6 MPH, up 4 MPH from his Sept. 2 appearance. His first four innings were easily the most dominant of his rehab assignment so far, if not the most dominant since he came over from NPB.
But there are caveats. In the top of the fifth, Sasaki gave up a leadoff walk, and then a single, and then another walk to load the bases.