Los Angeles Dodgers rookie right-handed pitcher Roki Sasaki faced an opposing team for the first time in his Major League Baseball career Tuesday at Camelback Ranch.

Sasaki appeared in a simulated game against the Chicago White Sox.

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Sasaki gave up a home run on the second pitch he threw in what was essentially live batting practice against White Sox minor leaguers, with no fielders and no base running. He then settled in, retiring six in a row, including one swinging strikeout.

His last three batters went: Walk, double, walk.

All in all, Sasaki threw 38 pitches, generating four swings-and-misses. The home run was against catching prospect Kyle Teel, who is Chicago’s No. 2 overall prospect and the league’s No. 32-ranked prospect overall, per MLB Pipeline.

This was Sasaki’s second time facing live hitters, but his first time facing an opposing team. Last week, Sasaki faced live hitters at Dodgers camp with hundreds of people watching.

“I wasn’t nervous,” Sasaki said after his first live batting practice against his teammates through his interpreter. “But facing hitters for the first time using a Major League ball, and pitching in a game environment for the first time in a while, I was just sort of feeling out how it would go, getting used to being back in the flow of a game.”

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As for why Sasaki pitched in this “hybrid-B” game Tuesday instead of playing in the team’s Cactus League game vs. the Seattle Mariners?

“We have a lot of guys that we’re building up and given different rest intervals that these guys have, guys are gonna fall on top of each other on certain days. And so we have to figure out ways to get people innings,” pitching coach Mark Prior said this week. “So you’re going to see starters pitching behind starters that you don’t normally see, or we wouldn’t normally do if we weren’t leaving in a couple weeks, where we could space some guys out.”

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Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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