ATLANTA — The gathering on the Truist Park mound kept growing. At first, Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki was visited by pitching coach Mark Prior and catcher Hunter Feduccia, with the help of interpreter Will Ireton. Then Prior summoned head athletic trainer Thomas Alberts. Then they called out manager Dave Roberts, who eventually made the pitching change.
The group had been examining the middle finger on Sasaki’s right hand. And the team later announced Sasaki had exited with a blister on that finger.
That might explain why Sasaki, who was charged with four runs and six hits in 3 ⅓ innings, didn’t look as sharp Wednesday against the Braves as he had been in the rest of his impressive second-half stretch. Sasaki entered the day with a 2.19 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break.
His efficiency Wednesday wavered, his pitch rising to 66 pitches by the time he exited. After Sasaki gave up a solo home run to Matt Olson in the first inning, the outing began to devolve in the fourth.
Sasaki walked Ozzie Albies to open the inning. Then he surrendered a single to Mike Yastrzemski, a sacrifice fly to Austin Riley and a double to Sean Murphy. Then Prior came out to check on him.
Right-handed reliever Edgardo Henriquez replaced Sasaki, inheriting two baserunners. Both scored when Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez over-ran Drake Baldwin’s deep fly ball down the line, for a double.
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