Roki Sasaki flawlessly closed the game with 13 pitches and celebrated by pounding his chest, confident from the very first pitch that "I can do this."

Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki of the Los Angeles Dodgers appeared in the third game of the National League Championship Series to close the game. He retired all three batters with just 13 pitches, striking out one, helping the Dodgers secure a 3-1 victory and take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. Sasaki said, "I aggressively attacked the strike zone, and my velocity has returned, so now I can pitch with more confidence."

Sasaki began preparing fully to pitch during the eighth inning, and when the Dodgers led 3-1 in the top of the ninth, he took the mound. Facing the first batter Andrew Vaughn, he threw a 96.8 mph (about 155.8 km/h) fastball that induced a ground ball to shortstop for an out, prompting spontaneous cheers of "Roki!" from the crowd.

Amid the enthusiastic support, he then struck out Sal Frelick with a 99.4 mph (about 159.9 km/h) fastball that resulted in a weak fly ball to shortstop, and finished the game by striking out Caleb Durbin with a splitter. Sasaki excitedly pounded his chest on the mound and exchanged high-fives with the catcher and teammates nearby.

This was Sasaki’s sixth postseason appearance this year. After two days of rest, he delivered a perfect inning with three up and three down, earning his third save in the playoffs. He threw a total of 13 pitches, two of which exceeded 159 km/h. This performance also served as redemption for a previous outing where he failed to secure a save opportunity.

After the game, in an interview with NHK, Sasaki said, "I didn’t perform as well last time, so this time I chose to aggressively attack the strike zone. My velocity has recovered, so I was able to pitch with confidence."

Sasaki admitted, "Of course, I still felt some nervousness, but I made adjustments during this period. When I threw the first pitch, I felt, 'I can do this.'" This clearly showed his strong confidence.

Speaking about his role as the team’s closer, he said, "Every starting pitcher has done an excellent job. My job is to prevent the game from being overturned and focus on getting the final out to help the team win."

Regarding the possibility of pitching on consecutive days in the future, he firmly stated, "No problem!"