The pitchers who won the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in Japan last month had a tight competition.
Chiba Lotte Marines won 2-0 in the first game of the season against Orix Buffaloes in the 2023 Japan Professional Baseball Pacific League held at ZOZO Marine Stadium on the 14th.
The match on this day attracted great attention as the starting match between two aces, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix) and Rocky Sasaki (Chiba Lotte), representing the current Japanese league, was fierce as expected.
While Sasaki won his second win of the season with 1 hit, 2 walks, 11 strikeouts and no runs in 7 innings, Yamamoto took his first loss of the season with his team’s loss despite fighting well, with 5 hits, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts and 1 run in 6 innings.
From the first inning, Sasaki took the lead by striking out all three batters with the power of a fastball that exceeded 160 km. Yamamoto suffered double hits in the first and second innings, but did not concede, and ended the third inning with a strikeout-strike-strikeout.
The score came in the bottom of the 4th inning. Chiba Lotte, who seized the chance with consecutive hits by Koki Yamaguchi and Hisanori Yasuda, took the lead 1-0 with a timely hit by Kenta Chatani in a situation with one company on first and third base. 스포츠토토
Sasaki, who continued his perfect streak until the 5th inning, faced his first crisis in the 6th with a walk to Masahiro Nishino and a hit to Genya Wakatsuki.
After Yamamoto pitched, Soichiro Yamazagi got on the mound for Orix in the 7th inning. Chiba Lotte created a chance for 2 out 1st and 2nd base against the changed pitcher, and Yudai Fujioka hit a RBI in a timely manner to widen the score to 2-0.
While Sasaki played 7 scoreless innings, Chiba Lotte, with Masuda Naoya and Sawamura Hirokazu blocking 1 inning each, finished the game as it was and won.