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Perfect match, triple crown, double-digit victory & double-digit home run … 2022 full of achievements “10 major news in the baseball world” | Professional baseball | Shueisha’s general sports magazine Sportiva official website web Sportiva

In the world of soccer, the Japanese national team defeated the powerhouses of Germany and Spain in the World Cup to make it through the group stage, and the whole of Japan went wild. Therefore, I would like to look back on the events that happened in the baseball world in 2022 as the “10 major news” selected by Sportiva with dogmatic and prejudice.

Lotte’s Aki Sasaki achieved the 16th perfect match in history against Orix on April 10
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[Roki Sasaki achieved a perfect match]

The biggest shock to the professional baseball world this year was Roki Sasaki (Lotte)’s achievement of a perfect game. Starting in the match against Orix on April 10, he set a record with 19 strikeouts, which is tied for the most strikeouts in a single game in Japanese professional baseball, including 105 pitches and 13 consecutive strikeouts, which broke the Japanese record for consecutive strikeouts. Achieved.

Hiromi Makihara (Giant), also known as “Mr. Perfect”, recorded a perfect game in Nippon Professional Baseball in 1994, making it the 16th player in history. As a team, it was the second achievement in 49 years since Soroku Yagisawa (Lotte etc.). It was the first perfect match in the 21st century, not to mention the first in Reiwa.

But the legend didn’t stop there.Even in the next game against Nippon-Ham on April 17, which started in 6 days, Sasaki
showed perfect pitching until the 8th inning. Despite the fact that the first two consecutive perfect games in history are becoming a reality, the Lotte leaders withdrew at the end of the 8th inning due to the fact that fatigue was strong and the opponent’s starting pitcher Naoyuki Uesawa continued to pitch clean sheets. decided.

Although the unprecedented record was a phantom, he set two new professional baseball records: 17 consecutive innings with no hits and 25 consecutive innings with strikeouts from the first pitching of the season.

Ultimately, Sasaki started 20 games, finished his third professional season with a record of 9 wins, 4 losses, and an ERA of 2.02. Expectations are high for success at the WBC (World Baseball Classic) to be held in March next year.

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