On Saturday evening, the Los Angeles Dodgers improved to 9-1 on the 2025 MLB season with a 3-1 road win over the Philadelphia Phillies, avenging their loss from the previous night. The game marked the third career start for former international star Roki Sasaki, and he had by far the most impressive game of his career in response.

On the evening, Sosaki held the Phillies to just one run on three hits, striking out four batters before exiting in the fifth inning.

After the game, manager Dave Roberts said that Sosaki “settled in nicely,” per SportsNet LA on X, formerly Twitter.

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Meanwhile, catcher Austin Barnes got one hundred percent real on Sosaki's mentality heading into the game, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com.

“Before we went out there, he told me, ‘Let’s go,’” Barnes said. “I liked that. It was good to see, just going out there and competing.”

Sasaki also got candid about his confidence struggles following his first two subpar starts with the Dodgers.

“I did go through the week feeling a little anxious,” Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I was searching for something that I could feel confident about, whether that was skill-based. So what I learned this time is that it’s really important to have confidence based on some adjustment, some skill.”

Dodgers fans were certainly happy with what they saw from the young star on Saturday, who helped the team push their record to 9-1 coming off of their 2024 World Series championship victory.

The Dodgers are in the rare position of being a reigning World Series champion and having gotten undeniably better in the ensuing offseason, and the results have been self-evident so far in 2025.

After wrapping up their series vs the Phillies on Sunday, the Dodgers will next take the field against the Washington Nationals on Monday evening.