Hiromi Ito (26) of the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japanese professional baseball team showed off a powerful pitch that was not inferior to Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Olix Buffaloes), the best pitcher in the league.
Ito started the game against Orix held at Escon Field in Hokkaido, Japan on the 2nd, and pitched 116 pitches over 9 innings, striking out 11, allowing 2 hits, no walks, and 1 run.
However, he suffered a 0-1 complete loss due to the silence of the team’s batting lineup. In particular, he struck out 11 batters, the most in a single game, and became a losing pitcher despite setting a record of 26 batters in a row.
Ito has pitched complete games in three consecutive games. On August 19th, he lost against Orix in 8 innings (120 pitches), allowing 4 hits (2 home runs) and 2 runs. On August 26, he won against Seibu in 9 innings (107 pitches), allowing 6 hits and no runs. On this day, he lost by allowing 1 run in 9 innings.
It was unfortunate that Orix’s top hitter, Ryoma Ikeda, hit a double to left in the first inning. He struck out the follow-up batter and counted out, but with one out, he hit a left-field hit to Keita Nakagawa and allowed the first run. But I didn’t know that 1 point would be the only score of the game that day.
After allowing a run, Ito ended the inning by striking out an outfield fly ball and a missed swing. And he continued pitching perfectly, not allowing a single batter to get on base from the second to the ninth inning.안전놀이터
It was a streak of 26 batters, including 2 outs in the first inning. He overwhelmed Orix’s batting lineup with a fastball over 150 km and his main weapon, a slider, along with a curve and splitter.
A ground ball to the infield, a fly ball to the outfield, and a strikeout in the second inning resulted in a three-way strike. The third inning ended with an outfield fly ball, strikeout, and infield foul fly. In the 4th inning, Orix’s 3rd to 5th center batting lineup was dealt with consecutive strikeouts and outfield fly balls.
The 5th inning ended with 3 infield ground balls against the bottom of the batting order. After two outs in the sixth inning, the shortstop’s throwing error caused the batter’s runner to step on first base and try to run to second base, but was caught in the crossbar between first and second base and was out. In the 7th inning, he struck out center hitters Nakagawa and Tomoya Mori in succession.
Ito, who had thrown 101 pitches until the 8th inning, continued to throw 150km fastballs in the 9th inning, ending with a three-way throw.
While Ito gave up one run in the first inning and pitched a complete game without allowing a run on the mound, the Nippon Ham batting lineup missed numerous chances. Against Yamamoto, he had chances in the 2nd inning with 2nd and 3rd bases with 1 out, 1st and 2nd bases with 2 outs in the 3rd inning, 2nd and 3rd bases with 2 outs in the 4th inning, and 1st and 2nd bases with no outs in the 5th inning, but did not get a timely hit.
In the second chance, the pitcher’s ground ball put the runner on third base out at home, and the attack ended with a strikeout. Strikeout in the 4th inning. With 1st and 2nd bases out in the 5th inning, 3rd and 4th pitchers Kiyomiya and Manami struck out in succession.
In the bottom of the 9th inning, Nippon Ham had a chance to tie the game with one out, 1st and 2nd bases against Orix’s Yoshihisa Hirano with a leadoff hit, sacrifice bunt, and walk. However, pinch hitter Yudai Furukawa struck out, and first hitter Ko Matsumoto failed to score with a fly ball to right field.
Yamamoto recorded his 13th win of the season with 4 hits, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts, and no runs in 7 innings (108 pitches). It ranks first in the most wins in both major leagues.
Nippon Ham coach Tsuyoshi Shinzo said after the game, “It was a game with good pitching. There were many opportunities (to score), and (opponent) Yamamoto’s ability to kick up a gear each time was surprising. “I think Ito had the upper hand in terms of pitching,” he said.
Ito recorded 10 wins, 9 losses, and an ERA of 2.90 in 23 games in his first year of debut in 2021. In his second year last year, he ranked first in innings on the team (155.2 innings). He recorded 10 wins for the second consecutive year with 10 wins, 9 losses, 1 save, 1 hold, and an ERA of 2.95 in 26 games. In 21 games this season, he has 7 wins, 8 losses, and an average ERA of 3.18.