Freeman delivers another walk-off moment as Sasaki dominates in Dodgers win over Angels

LOS ANGELES — Another magical night at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium ended the same way so many Dodgers classics have over the years: with Freddie Freeman at the center of it all.

With the game scoreless in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night, Freeman launched a walk-off home run off former Dodgers reliever Kirby Yates, lifting the Dodgers to a dramatic 1-0 victory over the Angels and improving the Dodgers to 41-23 on the season.

For a lineup that struggled to generate offense all evening, Freeman's swing could not have come at a better time.

The Dodgers entered the ninth inning with just two hits, both coming against Angels starter Reid Detmers, who baffled one of baseball's most dangerous offenses despite entering the game with a 4.63 ERA. Detmers tossed six scoreless innings and allowed only two hits, keeping the Dodgers off balance throughout the night.

But when Yates took the mound in the ninth, Freeman was ready.

"It's always been pretty high," Freeman said of his confidence in big moments. "When you face Kirby, you gotta look up. Fastball, splitters. If you look down, you'll probably chase the splitter, so I had a nice game plan going into it looking up."

The result was Freeman's 10th home run of the season and the 20th walk-off hit of his remarkable career. It was also the Dodgers' third hit of the game and by far the most important.

As memorable as Freeman's heroics were, the story of the night began several innings earlier with the best start of Roki Sasaki's young major league career.

The right-hander looked every bit like the pitcher the Dodgers envisioned when they pursued him from Japan.

Sasaki carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Nick Madrigal lined a double off the wall in left-center field with one out in the frame. Unfazed, Sasaki regrouped and escaped the inning without allowing a run.

From there, he continued to dominate.

After surrendering a leadoff single to Zach Neto in the sixth, Sasaki recorded back-to-back strikeouts and induced a groundout from Jo Adell to end the threat. He finished his outing by striking out Donovan Walton and Madrigal during a scoreless seventh inning.

His final line was dazzling: seven shutout innings, two hits allowed, two walks, 10 strikeouts, and 98 pitches, including 72 strikes.

The 10 strikeouts established a new career high and represented another step forward in what has become a remarkable transformation over the past month.

"I'm just doing small things all the time, and I just keep building on it," Sasaki said.

The outing lowered Sasaki's ERA to 1.48 over his last four starts and further reinforced the growing belief inside the organization that the highly touted right-hander has found his footing.

"This is the guy that we saw on video in Japan," Dave Roberts said.

Roberts acknowledged that expectations for Sasaki may have been unfairly high from the moment he arrived.

"I think that we're all guilty of expecting it to be seamless and certainly unfair to Roki, and not appreciating that there has to be some transition period," Roberts said. "And he's gone through some tough times and some doubts, but he's gotten to the other side."

Will Smith has seen that growth firsthand.

"He's been pitching really well for us right now," Smith said. "That's just his hard work, his continued growth. You get a little more confidence."

Freeman echoed those sentiments after watching Sasaki continue his emergence.

"It's what we heard, and to see it coming to fruition here at the biggest of stages, I'm just happy for him," Freeman said. "It's a tough transition. I couldn't imagine myself going to another country and doing what these guys are doing, so I'm just happy for him."

The Dodgers' bullpen ensured Sasaki's masterpiece wouldn't go to waste. Edgardo Henriquez delivered an electric eighth inning, striking out Nick Madrigal, Logan O'Hoppe, and Mike Trout while working around a hit-by-pitch to Neto.

That set the stage for Freeman's latest signature moment.

On a night when runs were nearly impossible to find, one swing was enough.

Freeman sent Dodger Stadium into celebration, capped another memorable chapter in his growing collection of walk-off moments, and rewarded a dominant pitching performance that showcased exactly why the Dodgers remain one of baseball's most dangerous teams.

The Dodgers will look to secure the series Saturday night when Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound against Angels right-hander Jack Kochanowicz.