Japanese baseball had its first Roki Sasaki Friday as the Marines wunderkind matched up against Hawks ace Kodai Senga, who was working on five days rest, and while that pitchers’ duel lived up to its billing, the real deal was in Nagoya, where Yudai Ono was denied a perfect game because the Chunichi Dragons couldn’t score until the 10th inning against Koyo Aoyagi.
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Continue reading NPB news: May 6, 2022Twenty-year-old perfect-game pitcher Roki Sasaki has been penciled in to start on Friday (May 6) against the SoftBank Hawks at Chiba Marine Stadium, the team revealed Monday, according to Sponicihi Annex.
The right-hander, who has dazzled pundits and players alike by averaging close to 100 mph with his fastball and demonstrating elite-level command of a very nasty splitter, leads both leagues with 60 strikeouts.
Sasaki’s streak of 17 perfect innings was snapped on the first pitch of his April 24 start, was deactivated due to fatigue on April 25, although Lotte manager Tadahito Iguchi indicated the team had already planned to give him a break from the rotation at some point.
Continue reading Sasaki to start Friday
