Dalton Rushing said on July 30, 2026 that Roki Sasaki's improvement over his last three starts has come from consistently throwing strike one and trusting his splitter. "I think uh it all goes back to just throwing strike one," Rushing said during a press conference.
Rushing explained that getting ahead in the count makes Sasaki's splitter far more effective because hitters cannot sit on it. "You get strike one and obviously everybody kind of knows how good a splitter is," he noted. He added that the swing-and-miss rate on the splitter has been way up recently, and stated it is harder for hitters to lay off the pitch in pitcher-friendly counts than in hitter's counts, saying, "it's easier to check off a splitter when you're 10, 20 in a count as a hitter."
Rushing acknowledged that Sasaki's early struggles stemmed from a lack of confidence, and once given room to be himself, he improved. "He lacked a little bit of confidence early on and uh as soon as he had that runway to kind of allow himself to be himself," Rushing explained. He said the message to Sasaki going forward is to keep attacking with strike one and let hitters get themselves out. Rushing also mentioned that the opposing offense adjusted in the sixth inning by attacking first-pitch strikes rather than Sasaki changing anything, noting, "they picked up on the plan a little bit and they jumped on first pitch strikes."
Rushing described his own home run as coming off the same slider pitch that had struck him out in his first at-bat. "It was the same pitch you struck me out on the first bat," he said, adding that he had been sitting on that pitch throughout the at-bat: "I was kind of waiting on that one throughout the whole bat." He said any home run that changes the game state helps a pitcher settle down and execute better, explaining that it allows Sasaki to take a step back, breathe, and be himself.
Rushing also said the Dodgers pulled out a series win against a good team, referring to their opponent, the Seattle Mariners.