LOS ANGELES (AP) — A nervous Roki Sasaki took the mound in his season debut, knowing he needed to prove something to himself and the Los Angeles Dodgers after a shaky spring.
The right-hander allowed one run and four hits over four innings of a 4-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night. Sasaki struck out four and walked two in his first major league start since May 9.
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Los Angeles Dodgers Roki Sasaki receives his ring from Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter during a World Series Champion ring ceremony prior to a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) pitches during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) releases a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) releases a pitch during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
He walked 15 batters during spring training, raising concerns about his ability to perform as a starter.
"I actually didn’t have the confidence at all when this game started,” Sasaki said through a translator, “but I was just focusing on doing what I can control.”
José Ramírez, Cleveland's best hitter, singled in the first inning before Sasaki got him on a swinging strikeout in the third with runners on first and second and the Dodgers trailing 1-0.
“It should be a big boost to his confidence,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s a confident player, but when you don’t have success, it’s hard to have real confidence. But when you perform, you start to build true confidence, so hopefully he can build on this one.”
Roberts detected Sasaki's self-doubt in the first inning, when the 24-year-old pitcher got two quick outs before Ramírez singled and stole second.
“It was a wait-and-see kind of demeanor in the sense of you know what you’re supposed to do, know what you want to do, and until you actually do it, holding your breath a little bit,” the manager said. “Once he got out of that inning he was like, ‘OK, I can do this,’ and then wanted to go out there and keep doing it.”
Dalton Rushing, the 25-year-old backup to catcher Will Smith, called the game behind the plate while Smith got the night off.
Rushing used the time walking in from the bullpen with Sasaki to pump him up.
“I told him it was just me and him, just kind of tunnel vision to an extent and trust what you do,” Rushing said. “You were a really good pitcher for a long time in Japan for a reason. You’ve been a great pitcher for us last year down the stretch."
Sasaki was supposed to be the next big thing coming out of Nippon Professional Baseball. He signed with the Dodgers in January 2025, but by mid-May he was on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement.
After a long rehab assignment in the minors, he rejoined the Dodgers in late September as a reliever. He made eight starts and two relief appearances overall, going 1-1 with a 4.46 ERA, 28 strikeouts and 22 walks.
His best moments as a rookie came out of the bullpen. He earned his first professional save closing out the first game of the National League Division Series against Philadelphia. He pitched in three games in the series, earning two saves and then working three perfect innings in relief in the clinching fourth game.
In the World Series against Toronto, Sasaki pitched 2 2/3 innings over two games, and Los Angeles went on to win in seven games.
Sasaki remains intent on making it as a starter, and the Dodgers are giving him the chance to find himself again.
“The goal is to keep going deeper in games,” Roberts said. “I know he was a little bit nervous going into this start about what to expect. He responded well.”
Rushing called it “a very big step forward” for Sasaki.
“We’re going to build off this,” the catcher said. “We’re going to sit down and talk, see what we could have done better, refine some things and look forward to having him out there next time.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
Los Angeles Dodgers Roki Sasaki receives his ring from Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter during a World Series Champion ring ceremony prior to a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) pitches during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) releases a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) releases a pitch during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A likely strike by the United States hit the central Iranian city of Isfahan early Tuesday, sending a massive fireball into the sky, and Tehran struck a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.
The attacks were testament to the intensity of the monthlong war the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran, which has maintained its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, closing off the vital waterway for global energy shipments, sending oil prices skyrocketing and roiling world markets.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks toward a ceasefire, shared video of the attack on Isfahan, with fiery explosions lighting up the night sky. Isfahan is home to one of three sites earlier attacked by the U.S. military in June and some of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely stored or buried or there.
Meanwhile, Israel said another four soldiers had been killed in its invasion of Lebanon, as were two more United Nations peacekeepers, prompting the U.N. Security Council to schedule an emergency session for later Tuesday.
Spot prices of Brent crude, the international standard, hovered around $107 a barrel in early trading, up more than 45% since the war started Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway leading our of Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported during peacetime, has driven up global oil prices, as have its attacks on Gulf regional energy infrastructure.
In response to growing Gulf Arab anger, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted Tuesday that Tehran is only targeting U.S. forces. Several states have been encouraging Washington to continue the war until Iran's military capabilities are destroyed.
“Our operations are aimed at enemy aggressors who have no respect for Arabs or Iranians, nor can provide any security," Araghchi wrote on X. "High time to eject U.S. forces.”
Despite these words, attacks on civilian targets continued as an Iranian drone hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker in Dubai waters, sparking a blaze that was later put out, the Dubai Media Office said.
Four people in Dubai were also wounded when debris from an intercepted drone fell into a residential area.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, while Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said it had intercepted three ballistic missiles launched toward Riyadh, and falling debris from a drone intercepted southeast of the capital caused minor damage to six homes.
Sirens were also heard in Jerusalem and loud explosions were heard not long after Israel's military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran.
Israel and the U.S. launched a new wave of strikes on Iran, hitting Tehran in the early morning hours.
The video shared by Trump appeared to show a massive attack on Isfahan, where NASA fire-tracking satellites suggest the explosions happened near Mount Soffeh, an area believed to have military positions. Iran has not yet confirmed the attack.
A satellite image taken just before the 12-day war in June between Iran and Israel suggests Tehran transferred a truckload of highly enriched uranium to its nuclear facility at Isfahan.
The image from an Airbus Defense and Space Pléiades Neo satellite shows a truck loaded with 18 blue containers going into a tunnel at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center about two weeks before the U.S. bombed the site.
Analysts determined that the truck likely carried most or all of Iran's stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60% purity. That’s a short, technical step to weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Trump has said this week that “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran to end military operations. But he said if a deal is not reached “shortly,” and if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by “completely obliterating” power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly even desalination plants.
The U.S. has also sent a contingent of 2,500 Marines to the region, and another is on its way, while ordering 1,000 paratroopers to the theatre as well.
Trump has openly talked about the possibility of trying to seize Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export hub, and Iran has accused the U.S. of using diplomacy to stall until more troops can be brought in.
The U.S. already has targeted military positions on Kharg. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and to mine the Persian Gulf if U.S. troops set foot on its territory.
Twice during Trump’s second term, the U.S. has attacked Iran during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the Feb. 28 strikes that started the current war.
The U.N. Security Council planned to convene an emergency session Tuesday after officials said three peacekeepers in southern Lebanon had been killed in less than 24 hours.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the region where Israel is battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah did not say who was responsible for the deaths.
In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.
Two dozen people have been killed in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank. In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed, and more than 1 million have been displaced.
Ten Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, including the four announced Tuesday, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed in the war.
Rising reported from Bangkok. Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.
Members of the Basij paramilitary force stand at a checkpoint in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Monsignor Simon Khoury inspects a damaged house following an Iranian missile strike in Shefaram, Israel, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli authorities inspect a damaged house following an Iranian missile strike in Haifa, Israel, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A portrait of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, is seen, as smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Portraits of Hezbollah's late leaders Hassan Nasrallah, right, and his cousin, Hashem Safieddine, are seen, as smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
