For Dodgers Roki Sasaki, start against Orioles will be good test

He was down.Then up.Now, Roki Sasaki is down again.Seven days ago, the 24-year-old Sasaki had his worst start of a season that has included several stinkers.In the first 4 ⅓ innings of an 8-2 loss to the White Sox, Sasaki was charged with seven runs.Which is why manager Dave Roberts is curious to see how Sasaki will respond in his scheduled start Friday night against the Orioles.“It is a good test for a young player that after he has one like this, how he responds,” Roberts said.On the surface, it might seem as if Sasaki has relapsed into his early-season form that had me calling for him to be sent to the minor leagues to rebuild his delivery from scratch.But he hasn’t.He’s an entirely different pitcher now.Back then, he was searching — searching for his fastball, searching for his identity as a pitcher.He has since rediscovered what he was looking for.California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedInCalifornia Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, XCalifornia Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!California Post App: Download here!Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!“In that sense, to some degree, I fixed what I had to fix in the spring,” he said in Japanese.As Sasaki has evolved, so have the questions he has to answer.The question now isn’t whether he can still touch 100 mph with his heater or throw it for strikes.He’s proven he can.What he has to show now is that he can win a game in which his off-speed pitches aren’t working.Or that he can shut down a team that’s not the Angels.Or that he can mentally recover from the kind of beating to which he was subjected last week in Chicago.“What I have to fix,” Sasaki said, “has changed.”But as Sasaki reflected on his loss to the White Sox, he sounded considerably more upbeat than he was when he was getting knocked around early in the season.He was no longer a pitcher who was in the midst of an existenti...