Edwin Díaz pitched a scoreless frame in his Dodgers debut on Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields, working around a single with a strikeout in the fourth inning.
The plan is for Díaz to pitch once more for the Dodgers this week before joining Puerto Rico for the World Baseball Classic.
“I had to ramp up a little more quickly than normal,” Díaz said Wednesday of his offseason, as shown on SportsNet LA. “I prepared myself in the offseason to be ready right now, and I’m feeling
really good and ready to go.”
Roki Sasaki threw a cutter 11 times in his 36 pitches on Wednesday against Arizona, a pitch per Baseball Savant he did not throw at all last regular season. That was among the things the second-year Dodger was working on in his first outing, but he showed similar results to his starts last season, with poor fastball command. In all, Sasaki allowed three runs on three hits, including a pair of doubles, and two walks. He struck out three but also threw more balls (19) than strikes (17).
From David Brandt at Associated Press:
“I thought he was overthrowing,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I haven’t seen that all spring. It’s probably just getting into live competition. I thought he was a little too bullish on the fastball, but he was getting behind in the first inning.”
River Ryan on Wednesday pitched in his first game since August 10, 2024, part of the long road back from Tommy John surgery. He pitched a scoreless inning with a strikeout, working around a walk, and threw more balls (11) than strikes (eight), but was an important milestone nonetheless.
“It was a big step just to get out there and compete against another team. I still think he’s a ways away as far as fine tuning, but just to get out there in compete mode and not rehab mode, that’s a good thing,” Roberts said, as shown on SportsNet LA. “He’s off to a good start, he feels good. Just kind of honing in those pitches and he’ll be just fine.”
He’s also in Dodgers camp with his brother Ryder, a non-roster invitee, who as Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register noted was the Ryan brothers’ first time as teammates since 2014, when the pair were in high school together. From Plunkett:
“Hopefully our schedules line up so we can throw in the same game,” River said. “That would be really cool.”
Dodgers announcers Stephen Nelson and José Mota will call Pool C in the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo, on the world feed.
