"Straight Talk" is a regular feature in which The Sporting Tribune's John E. Gibson offers a full translation of media availability with Dodgers Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. He will also help translate when Lakers star Rui Hachimura and L.A. Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida are asked questions in Japanese. AD The job of interpreters in the heat of the moment is difficult without the ability to write down questions and answers and re-hear responses for proper context. That's where John comes in to help. John currently works as a Japanese-English interpreter and covered pro baseball in Japan for about 20 years. His experience as a sports reporter includes stints at The Orange County Register, The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Redlands Daily Facts, The Yomiuri Shimbun’s English newspaper in Tokyo and The Epoch Times.
LOS ANGELES – Right-hander Roki Sasaki serves up a pair of home runs in the second inning and the tying run in the third, but tosses three shutout innings to complete Wednesday's outing with a quality start that allows the host Los Angeles Dodgers to pull ahead late for a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies. Sasaki surrenders four hits and a walk for three runs, while fanning five to keep the Dodgers even.
Q: Roki, first, going into this game, (manager) Dave Roberts shared you were working through a few things mechanically so that the hitters weren't able to read you as much. How did you find just bringing that into this start today?
Sasaki: Well, of course, I have certain habits. but even with the pitches I throw, there's the element of control, there are things that I've worked on in practice. Of course, not everything went well, but that's kind of the way I went out there and pitched.
Q: What was the difference in that fourth inning, with the two runners on? What adjustment did you make to be able to get out of that traffic?
Sasaki: Well, I just tried to pitch carefully, throw the forkball down, throw the fastball well in that situation. I just kept in mind not to pitch half-heartedly, and wanted to keep the ball up if we were going up and down when we were going low in the zone, not letting my pitches get up.
Q: How would you evaluate your performance so far this season, especially with your first half done?
Sasaki: Well, looking at the stats, there's not one category that I'm satisfied with, but my number of outings -- I have been able to make all my starts and not create a hole in the rotation because I continue to take my turn, and as far as the velocity on the fastball, all the things I've been doing up to now helped that become steady along the way. So those are some areas I think are good.
Q: What kind of difference do you want to make in the second half?
Sasaki: The control and quality of my offspeed pitches is something that if I don't improve on will make things tough out there for me. I want to correct that.
Q: Is that more the execution of that stuff or sort of how it's coming out of your hand, what are you looking for out of your offspeed pitches?
Sasaki: Well, as far as the forkball goes, if I can get it over the plate for the most part, that's good enough in terms of the control part of it. Within that would include how much I can make it look like a fastball, how much it drops. So over the latter portion of this first half, I would say neither one of those aspects were going well.
Q: Roki, with he ups and downs of the regular season, how much is that helping you to endure mentally on the back?
Sasaki: Well, what I have t do is perform to the of my best ability with my mechanics for where I am right now. And to get that all to come out, I have to religiously perform the routine things during my preparation and go into games and pitch with confidence. And I think that's where confidence comes from, and then I feel like it's it's important to make that consistent.