Any time a pitcher returns to the mound after a no-hitter or excellent sport, the identify Johnny Vander Meer is evoked. In 1938, Vander Meer adopted up one no-hitter with another in his subsequent begin for the Cincinnati Reds.
After all, regardless of the predictable anticipation, nobody has matched Vander Meer’s feat within the main leagues.
However Roki Sasaki very practically did it in Japan, following an ideal sport — the uncommon feat of retiring all 27 batters in a sport with out permitting a base runner — with eight extra excellent innings this week earlier than being pulled.
The close to file brought about a fuss each in Japan and america, and has many in baseball eagerly anticipating his subsequent begin, anticipated on Sunday, when his Chiba Lotte Marines tackle the Orix Buffaloes on the Kyocera Dome in Osaka.
At 20 years outdated and with a 100-mile-an-hour fastball, Sasaki was already on many main league scouts’ radar. However they may not have foreseen the dazzling performances of his final two begins.
His excellent sport on April 10 was the primary within the Japanese majors since 1994. Sasaki struck out 19 batters, finishing a sport for the ages.
The 6-0 victory for the Marines over Orix was the primary full sport of his profession.
On Sunday, Sasaki was, amazingly, unhittable once more. He threw eight excellent innings with 14 strikeouts towards the Nippon Ham Fighters. However he couldn’t get any run help, and with the rating 0-0 heading into the ninth, Supervisor Tadahito Iguchi of the Marines determined 102 pitches was sufficient.
“I feel I did my job,” Sasaki instructed Asahi Shimbun in an epic understatement. “I left the mound, and I used to be satisfied” by the choice to tug him. The Fighters received in 10 innings, 1-0.
“A file is a file, however you will need to get the win and for Roki to firmly keep within the staff’s pitching rotation for the yr,” Iguchi mentioned.
Counting an out he obtained on the finish of the beginning earlier than his perfecto, Sasaki has now retired 52 consecutive batters.
Sasaki grew up in Iwate Prefecture in Japan’s northeast. His father was killed within the 2011 tsunami, and his home was swept away. “It’s been 11 years however I can’t simply erase the agony and disappointment I felt on the time,” Sasaki told Kyodo News final month.
After success in highschool, he was handled carefully by the Marines, not pitching in any respect in 2020 whereas he did a energy coaching program. He appeared in simply 11 video games in 2021, with a 4-2 file and a 1.84 E.R.A., earlier than a deliberate full load this yr. Along with his 100 m.p.h. heater, Sasaki throws a extremely touted splitter.
Regardless of Sasaki’s heroics, the Marines, based mostly in Chiba Metropolis about 25 miles east of Tokyo, are off to a sluggish begin and are beneath .500. Assuming Sasaki begins Sunday, as anticipated (midnight Jap time, 9 p.m. Pacific on Saturday), he’ll face the Buffaloes, the staff that knocked the Marines out within the semifinals of final yr’s playoffs.
Can Sasaki spin one other masterpiece? It hardly appears inconceivable: He was already excellent towards the Buffaloes as soon as, and Orix is a sub-.500 staff that has scored the fewest runs in Japan up to now this season, a mean of simply 2.5 a sport.
