Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix Buffaloes) of Nippon Professional Baseball threw a complete-game shutout with 125 pitches.안전놀이터
Yamamoto started the game against the Seibu Lions on Aug. 8 at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, and allowed one run on five hits while striking out 13 over nine innings to earn the win. The Orix won 5-1.
Led the league with eight wins on the season and lowered his ERA from 1.89 to 1.79. His 94 strikeouts tied him for the league lead with Loki Sasaki (107). The Orix offense scored two runs in the second, two in the third and one in the fifth to help Yamamoto get the win.
In the first inning, he hit leadoff hitter Shuta Donosaki with a 150-kilometer fastball to left field. Sosuke Genda struck out swinging. Suzuki grounded out to first base on a forked ball.
In the second inning, Nakamura threw three forkballs and retired the side on a three-pitch walk. He walked McKinnon, but a grounder to shortstop put runners at second and third. Sato gave up a single to right, but the runner from first was tagged out at third to end the inning.
The third inning was a triple play with eight pitches. He got a fly ball to left field and a fly ball to second base to get the second out.
In the fourth, struck out Genda on nine pitches with a 150-mph fastball and gave up an infield single to Suzuki. He struck out Nakamura on a swinging strike on a 155 mph fastball and got McKinnon to fly out to second base.
In the fifth, he struck out again, but a grounder to second and a flyout to short ended the inning. In the sixth, he retired three straight batters, striking out pinch-hitter Kaneko and walking Donosaki.
But he gave up a 149-kilometer cut fastball to Genda for a double to left. His first pitch to Suzuki, a 145 mph forkball, sailed high and into center field for a single, giving up his first run. Ended the inning with a three-ball to four-ball (153 mph) fastball to Nakamura into the left-field seats.
Ended the seventh inning with a triple play on seven pitches. He retired the next three batters on a grounder to shortstop, a fly ball to shortstop and a line drive to shortstop. Through seven innings, he had thrown 90 pitches. In the eighth, Yamamoto retired the next three batters with a “KKK” pitch to end the inning.
After throwing 106 pitches in the eighth, Yamamoto went to work in the ninth. He got Genda to ground out to shortstop and Suzuki to fly out to third for the second out. He gave up a single to Nakamura to left. He struck out McKinnon on a 125-pitch forkball to end the game.