Roki Sasaki’s spectacular performance as a reliever during the 2025 postseason is not translating to success as a starter this season.

Sasaki (0-2, 6.23 ERA), in his second MLB season after much success in Japan, will start for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday afternoon against the Colorado Rockies in the third game of a four-game series in Denver. The teams have split the first two contests.

This will be the first time Sasaki has faced the Rockies.

After earning three saves with an 0.84 ERA in nine games during the Dodgers’ run to their second consecutive World Series championship last year, the right-hander has made it through five innings in only one of his three starts in 2026 and has struggled with his control (10 walks in 13 innings).

The 24-year-old took a 5-2 loss in his most recent start last Sunday against the Texas Rangers. He threw 94 pitches in only four innings and gave up two runs on five hits and five walks, adding six strikeouts.

“So that’s something that I talked to him about, and challenging him to, when you take the baseball, we’re trying to go five innings or more,” manager Dave Roberts said after that game. “So I think that’s kind of the next progression for him, to be consistently able to do that.

“But I do feel the growth part of it is to hang in there, make pitches when he needs. That’s important. He spread the walks out, I guess, as well as you could, to kind of limit damage. That was something I was proud of in that sense.”

And Roberts can continue to be proud of Shohei Ohtani, who extended his on-base streak to 50 games. That ties “Wee” Willie Keeler for the third-longest such streak in Dodgers’ history since 1900. Next on the list is Shawn Green, whose 53-game streak came in 2000.

Ohtani had a single in the ninth inning but had reached base on Colorado errors twice before that.

Right-hander Michael Lorenzen (1-2, 8.10 ERA) will be Colorado’s starter on Sunday.

He will look to continue the momentum the Rockies gained Saturday night with their 4-3, come-from-behind win. Troy Johnston’s two-run double in the sixth inning turned a 3-2 deficit into the winning margin. Relievers Brennan Bernardino (who got the win), Jaden Hill and Victor Vodnik protected the lead.

Vodnik earned his third save of the season.

“They have some of the best stuff in the league,” Saturday’s starter, Ryan Feltner, said about the team’s bullpen. “I think their biggest thing is coming out and attacking.”

Lorenzen will look to turn around his fortunes this season.

He has given up 32 hits, tied for the most in the National League, in 16 2/3 innings over five games, four of them starts. Lorenzen’s latest outing was Tuesday, in which he took the loss at Houston, 7-6, by giving up seven runs (two earned) and six hits in 2 2/3 innings.

In nine career games against the Dodgers, Lorenzen is 1-0 with a 4.08 ERA over 17 2/3 innings. His sole win came as a member of the Texas Rangers on July 13, 2024, allowed an earned run in seven innings in the 3-1 Rangers’ victory.

— Field Level Media

At some point this season, the Seattle Mariners will coast to a victory.

It appeared that might be the case on Saturday, when they carried a six-run lead into the ninth inning against the visiting Texas Rangers.

But nothing has been easy for these Mariners.

Closer Andres Munoz, who blew a four-run lead in a 7-6 loss Wednesday at San Diego, was forced to make an entrance in the ninth on Saturday with two outs and the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate.

Munoz struck out Brandon Nimmo for the final out in a 7-3 victory as the Mariners beat the American League West co-leaders for the first time in five meetings this season. The current three-game series will conclude Sunday afternoon in Seattle.

“It feels a lot better,” said Munoz, comparing Saturday to his previous outing. “We still have a lot of work to do. I’ve been working a lot these (last) couple days to get to this point. Obviously, we are not there yet, but it makes me feel a lot better that we are going in the right direction.”

Seattle’s George Kirby (3-2) allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings in improving to 9-1 in his career starts against Texas. Luke Raley homered as the Mariners snapped a four-game skid.

Josh Jung went deep for the Rangers, who had a two-game winning streak snapped.

Texas had its chances on Saturday, going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving 16 on base.

“We kept putting pressure on, had the right guys up, the hot hitters up and just couldn’t get that big hit,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “I loved the battle, loved the at-bats. We did not chase today, for the most part, against a really tough pitcher.”

The Mariners were without third baseman and leadoff hitter Brendan Donovan, who left after the third inning Friday with discomfort in his left hip.

Donovan, who had offseason surgery for a sports hernia, has missed time with hip and groin issues this season.

“It’s something that you have to closely monitor and keep watching,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “It’s a big surgery, and he did a great job of getting through it, getting through spring training, and the slow ramp-up in spring training. Now that we’re into the season, it’s just continued monitoring.”

Sunday’s series finale will feature Rangers left-hander MacKenzie Gore (2-1, 3.00 ERA) against Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo (0-2, 2.16).

The two squared off April 8 in Arlington, Texas, with Gore and the Rangers winning 3-0. Gore pitched five scoreless innings of one-hit ball with nine strikeouts while Woo gave up one earned run (three overall) on five hits over five frames.

Gore, who suffered a 2-1 loss to the host Athletics on Tuesday in West Sacramento, Calif., is 2-0 with an 0.50 ERA in three career starts against Seattle.

Woo, who lost 4-1 Tuesday at San Diego despite pitching seven solid innings, is 2-3 with a 4.12 ERA in eight previous starts vs. the Rangers.

–Field Level Media

Reigning American League Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz is looking to escape the sophomore slump.

The Athletics’ first baseman hit .290 last season with 64 extra-base hits — 36 of them home runs — to go with 86 RBIs. But on Saturday night against the Chicago White Sox, his two-run homer in the seventh inning tied the game at 6, and the A’s went on to win 7-6 in 11 innings on Max Muncy’s sacrifice fly.

The teams will finish their three-game series on Sunday afternoon in West Sacramento, Calif., after splitting the first two contests. The White Sox have homered four times in the first two games, the A’s twice.

One of those home runs was Kurtz’s second of the season, off reliever Jordan Leasure in the seventh to make the score 6-6 as the A’s erased an early 5-0 White Sox lead.

Kurtz said he knows his home-run pop can come and go.

“It’s baseball. It’s not always going to happen,” he said of balls going over the fence. “Especially for me. I feel like I’m a streaky power hitter, so when the times come where you put them all together, they’ll come together.”

Kurtz has kept a positive view throughout the first 21 games of the season, putting his focus on team success for the A’s.

“I wouldn’t really call it frustrating with the home runs, because we’re sitting here around .500. That’s all you can focus on, is winning games.”

Hitting only .235, Kurtz has had no trouble getting on base. His 23 walks lead the major leagues. He has 19 hits.

There could be a chance for both offenses to pile on the runs after the teams’ bullpens were stretched in the first two games.

On Friday, when Chicago won 9-2, the Athletics’ bullpen covered 4 1/3 innings, and the A’s used four relievers after starter Luis Severino exited in the sixth inning. On Saturday, the White Sox used six relievers following the departure of Erick Fedde in the fifth.

Munetaka Murakami broke open Friday’s game with a grand slam in the seventh for the White Sox.

On Sunday, the Athletics will turn to left-hander Jeffrey Springs (3-0, 1.46 ERA) as the starter. Springs, with his fourth team in nine seasons, is 1-1 with a 5.54 ERA in four career appearances (two starts) against the White Sox.

Rookie left-hander Noah Schultz (0-1, 6.23 ERA) will start for Chicago. A first-round selection for the White Sox in the 2022 MLB Draft, Schultz will make his second career start after debuting against Tampa Bay on Tuesday. He took the loss, giving up four runs (three earned) in 4 1/3 innings of the 8-5 game.

Schultz said he saw both the positive and negative in his performance.

“A lot of stuff to build off of,” he said. “A lot of things I was proud of, a lot of things I need to work on this week.”

Schultz acknowledged there were “definitely nerves in the first inning” when three runs scored, but he credited himself for the way he “bounced back” and “got ahead of hitters a little bit more” in the following innings.

The White Sox are looking to win their first series win since they swept the Toronto Blue Jays from April 3-5.

–Field Level Media