Roki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte) pitched a perfect game until the fourth inning and then unleashed another 165-kilometer fastball in the fifth. She gave up a run but got the job done, pitching her first seven innings back from a blister injury. However, he was not feeling well.

On Nov. 11, Sasaki took the mound against the Hiroshima Toyokapp in a Nippon Professional Baseball exchange game at Jojo Marine Stadium in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and pitched seven innings of five-hit ball with one walk and 10 strikeouts in a Quality Start-plus performance. The team went on to win 6-5 behind Sashiki’s performance and a walk-off single by Koki Yamaguchi.스포츠토토

On the day, Sasaki threw a 165-kilometer fastball, the fastest in Nippon Professional Baseball. The record was previously held by Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels) during his time with Nippon Ham, and Sasaki threw 165 km four times on April 28 against the Orix Buffaloes.

On that day, Sasaki got off to a quick start, getting Ryoma Nishikawa to fly out to second base in the first inning before striking out Takayoshi Noma on three pitches and getting Shogo Akiyama to ground out to second base.

In the second, he struck out Ryuhei Matsuyama, got Shogo Sakakura to ground out to shortstop, and then threw a 163 mph fastball to Kosuke Tanaka for a two-pitch strikeout.

In the third, leadoff hitter Yuya Nirasawa flied out to center, Davidson grounded out to shortstop, and Ryutaro Hatsuki grounded out to second. Sasaki was perfect until the bases were loaded.

In the fourth inning, the top of the order returned. He got Nishikawa to ground out to third, Norma to fly out to shortstop, and then threw a 161 mph fastball to Akiyama for another strikeout.

Sasaki’s perfect streak came to an end in the fifth inning, and it was for another run. He gave up a leadoff infield single to Matsuyama. With Musa on first, Sakakura struck out the side with a 160-kilometer fastball, but gave up a walk to Tanaka to put runners on first and second. Nirasawa gave himself a breather by striking out the side with a 163km fastball and a 145km forkball. Runners on first and second.

But a single up the middle to Davidson loaded the bases, and he gave it his all against Hatsuki, throwing 165 mph, only to get hit by a two-run single to left after a nine-pitch at-bat. It was an unfortunate run for Sasaki. But with runners on first and second, he got Nishikawa to fly out to right field to end the inning without further damage.

Sasaki then reawakened. In the sixth, he struck out Noma. Akiyama followed with a strikeout, but a groundout allowed him to reach first base. He got Matsuyama to fly out to center, but Sakakura singled to right to put runners on second and third again, but he got out of the jam by throwing a 145-kilometer forkball to Tanaka for a groundout.

He had already reached 95 pitches. But in the seventh inning, Sasaki took the mound once again. Sasaki struck out Nirasawa to lead off the seventh. He gave up another single to Davidson, but induced Hatsuki to ground into a double play to end the inning and got Nishikawa to ground into a double play to complete the Quality Start Plus pitching.

The Sponichi Annex published Sasaki’s post-game Ground Hero interview. “I didn’t think the crowd would come out because of the rain forecast, but I’m glad it was a sellout,” Sasaki said, “Yamaguchi hit a grand slam, so I was able to throw boldly.”

Sasaki, who had already thrown 95 pitches by the sixth inning, explained his decision to pitch the seventh inning, saying, “I wanted to throw a long inning and take care of business because I had closed the gap.” He explained that he was pitching out of a sense of responsibility.

However, when asked about throwing a personal best of 165 km/h on the day, Sasaki laughed it off, saying, “I don’t know…I didn’t feel very good today.”