Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Dodgers

If Roki Sasaki’s splitter is working, then opposing batters beware. It was certainly working through the first five innings of Thursday’s 6-2 win over the Mariners at Dodger Stadium. The sixth inning was a different story -- though a complete breakdown was averted, thanks to a little help from the bullpen and Freddie Freeman’s glove. As he has in a couple of recent starts, Sasaki turned to his splitter more than any of his other pitches and, once again, saw an uptick in velocity. He clearly had a feel for the pitch … at least, for most of the night. Nine of his 18 swings and misses came on the splitter, which he regularly turned to as his putaway pitch, getting four of his seven strikeouts with it. In those first five frames, he allowed just three baserunners, on two singles and a walk, and gave up just one hard-hit ball (95 mph exit velocity or higher).