Baseball: Sasaki takes loss in 1st start as Guardians beat Dodgers 4-2

LOS ANGELES, Mar 31 (Kyodo/APP): Roki Sasaki gave up one run over four-plus innings and was charged with the loss as the Los Angeles Dodgers fell 4-2 to the Cleveland Guardians , snapping the two-time defending World Series champion’s unbeaten start to the season at 3-1.

The 24-year-old right-hander showed improvement from a shaky run of spring training results as he struck out four and allowed four hits and a pair of walks in his first regular season start since being sidelined with right shoulder trouble last May.

He left the game with Los Angeles trailing 1-0 with none out in the fifth after getting no run support from a Dodger lineup that was shut out until the bottom of the ninth by Cleveland starter Parker Messick (1-0) and three relievers.

Sasaki (0-1) allowed just one base runner over the first two frames before surrendering his only run on Steven Kwan’s double with one out and one on in the bottom of the third at Dodger Stadium.

Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts pulled the starting pitcher after he allowed a single to lead off the fifth, having thrown a total of 78 pitches, 45 of them for strikes.

Shohei Ohtani led off the game with a shallow fly single to left field but did not reach base again in a 1-for-4 outing. The two-way superstar is scheduled to make his first pitching start of the season in the second game of the series on Tuesday.

Nicknamed “The Monster of Reiwa,” Sasaki made his highly anticipated Major League Baseball debut last year before having his rookie season cut short by the shoulder issue.

After returning from the injury in September, he stood in as the Dodgers’ closer in the postseason and played a big part in the club winning its second consecutive World Series championship.

At loanDepot Park, Chicago White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami fell short in his bid to extend his home run streak to a record-tying fourth game from his MLB debut, going 1-for-5 with a single in a 9-4 win over the Miami Marlins.

Fellow Samurai Japan slugger and MLB rookie Kazuma Okamoto homered in back-to-back games for the Toronto Blue Jays, going long for the second time this season with a solo bomb to center field in the ninth inning of a 14-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Okamoto’s former Yomiuri Giants teammate Tomoyuki Sugano started on the mound for the Rockies at Rogers Centre, fanning four over 4-2/3 innings of one-run ball with two hits and two walks.