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April 11, 2022

Japanese Pitcher Rōki Sasaki, 20, Throws Perfect Game, Striking Out 19 (Including 13 In A Row)

The Red Sox are in Detroit for three games against the Tigers before an off-day on Thursday. Then it's the first homestand of the season, against the Twins and Blue Jays, beginning Friday afternoon at 2 PM.

The Red Sox (1-2) blew early leads in all three games against the Yankees. The two teams do not play each other again until July 7. At that point, they will play each other seven times in 11 days before the All-Star break.


Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher Rōki Sasaki, a 20-year-old right-hander, threw a perfect game yesterday for the Chiba Lotte Marines, consistently topping 100 mph and striking out 19 Orix Buffaloes (including a record-setting 13 in a row at one point!!). The previous NPB record for consecutive strikeouts was nine, set in 1957 and tied in 1958.

Sasaki struck out the final batter in the first inning, then struck out the side in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. (The MLB record for consecutive strikeouts is 10.) He ended every inning with a strikeout. Even with all the Ks, Sasaki needed only 105 pitches. Orix hit only seven fair balls in the game and only two balls out of the infield.

1st inning:  43  3U   K
2nd inning:   K   K   K
3rd inning:   K   K   K
4th inning:   K   K   K
5th inning:   K   K   K
6th inning:  F8  2F   K
7th inning:  F9  43   K
8th inning:   K   K   K
9th inning:  53  63   K

It was the first complete game of Sasaki's career. He became the youngest pitcher in NPB history to pitch a perfect game and it was the league's first perfect-o in 28 years. Last season, at age 19, Sasaki had a 1.84 ERA, with 87 strikeouts in 83.1 innings.

From Daniel Brim's tweets:

Sasaki still throwing 100 in the 7th

85 pitches, by the way. Given NPB’s attitude towards pitch counts he’s finishing this one way or another.

Sasaki strikes out Masataka Yoshida looking with 101mph paint and is perfect through 7 with 15 strikeouts

Roki Sasaki is through eight perfect innings with 18 strikeouts. Still touching 100. 98 pitches, he’s definitely going out for the 9th.

OK, here we go. Sasaki going for perfection.

One down on an 0-2 groundout.

Two down on another grounder. One away from perfection.

Sasaki strikes out Sho Gibo on his 105th pitch. A perfect game with 19 strikeouts, one of the best games ever pitched. He is 20 years old.

19K perfecto in a high-contact league is absolutely ridiculous.

A lot of ways to describe that game but “no balls were put in play between the first inning and the sixth” really puts it in perspective
All 105 pitches:

 

All 27 outs:

 

13 consecutive strikeouts: 

I'm wondering how Aaron Judge truly feels about MFY GM Brian Cashman leaking to the media that he turned down a seven-year extension worth $30.5 million per season. I mean, the only reason for Cashman to do that is a strong desire to paint Judge as a greedy bastard and turn the fans against him. That's maybe not the smartest way to show the guy how much you want him to stay.

Manfred Being Manfred.

This is like your boss treating everyone in the office like shit all week and then ordering a few pizzas for lunch on Friday.

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2 comments:

  1. FenFanApril 12, 2022 at 8:50 AM

    This is like your boss treating everyone in the office like shit all week and then ordering a few pizzas for lunch on Friday.

    It's almost more insulting than doing nothing.

    Manfred continues to make Selig look competent by comparison, which I never thought I would say after watching the later take the game down several rat holes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. allanApril 12, 2022 at 10:43 AM

    Like leaving a 5-cent tip.

    At least with Selig, it was clear he *liked* baseball.

    ReplyDelete