The Los Angeles Dodgers have chosen Roki Sasaki to start Thursday’s series opener against the San Diego Padres at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium, setting the pitching matchup for the first game of a four-game Fourth of July weekend set. Randy Vásquez will start for San Diego.
The decision matters now because the Dodgers and Padres are meeting while the gap in the National League West has stretched to 12 games, and the opening game will help frame the rest of the series. Los Angeles enters at 56-31 after a 7-2 road trip, while the Padres are 43-42 and coming off a sweep by the Chicago Cubs that left them outscored 35-12 over three games.
Sasaki is getting the ball despite a rough stretch that has pushed the questions around him to the surface. He allowed three runs across four-plus innings against the Padres this past weekend, walked five batters in that outing, and has given up 13 runs over his last three starts covering 14 innings. His ERA sits at 4.88 over 72 innings this year.
There is reason for both clubs to believe the matchup can still swing. Randy Vásquez has a 4.44 ERA across 81 innings, but he also allowed seven runs, four earned, over 3.1 innings against the Dodgers last weekend and seven runs, six earned, over 3.1 innings in the start before that. The teams have already played a close run of games: Los Angeles won two of three at Petco Park this past weekend, and it also took two of three when the clubs met there in May.
For the Dodgers, the choice of Sasaki says they are backing him to settle in at once rather than waiting for a softer spot in the schedule. For the Padres, the opener offers a direct chance to interrupt a series that already began badly in recent days. The first pitch on Thursday, July 2 will tell which rotation plan holds up first.
