It finally reached 165 km/h.
Loki Sasaki (22), the “monster pitcher” of the Chiba Lotte Marines, threw 165 km per hour. In the bottom of the 5th inning against the Orix Buffaloes held at Kyocera Dome in Osaka on the 28th, he recorded the highest speed tie in Japanese professional baseball.
The first pitch thrown at Orix 5 Yutaro Sugimoto hit 165 km/h. On the 72nd pitch, it was an outside course ball on the strike side. Sasaki struck out Sugimoto on a swing with one out and first base.
Then, at the end of the 6th inning, he shot another 165km against Chano Togumasa, and at the end of the 7th, he threw 165km against Keita Nakagawa and Tomoya Mori. It was the 85th, 97th, and 103rd, respectively. The ball thrown to Mori turned into a sand dune.
It is the same speed as the highest velocity recorded by Shohei Ohtani (29, Los Angeles Angels) in Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan.
In the previous three games, he had perfect pitches, but in today’s game, he struggled from the beginning. The speed of the fastball stayed in the mid-150km range. He gradually increased his speed.
Sasaki had won 3 of the previous 3 games and had 20 consecutive scoreless innings. It was three consecutive victories in away games at Kyocera Dome. Today’s match was a little different. The streak ended after 4 games and 21 innings.
After one death in the bottom of the first inning, Orix was hit by a double to the right field by Yuma Mune, number 2. A fast ball with a speed of 159 km/h, driven in the middle of the strike zone, led to the first hit. The third baseman handled Nakagawa as a ground ball and seemed to overcome the crisis of conceding. However, it was caught in the 4th Mori batting order. The first pitch forkball was driven into the middle of the strike zone. Mori did not miss this ball and made a double at the right time with an RBI. He then treated Sugimoto 5th with a ground ball to third base, ending the inning.
There was a run-in crisis in the bottom of the second inning.
Leading hitter Frank Schwindel at number 6 and Dongu Yuma at number 7 hit consecutive hits. He made a head-on breakthrough in 1st and 2nd base safely. He struck out No. 8 Gonzalez with an inside forkball, No. 9 Chano Togumasa with 안전놀이터a high fastball, and No. 9 Yutaro Kurebayashi with an outside forkball.
After stopping the third inning with a tripartite offense, he allowed an additional run at the end of the fourth. He gave up 3 hits and 1 walk and gave up 2 runs. In the bottom of the 5th inning, he gave up a walk, but it was passed without a run, and the bottom of the 6th ended with a three hitter. Sasaki, who finished the seventh inning scoreless, was replaced at the bottom of the eighth when the score was tied 3-3.
7 innings, 8 hits, 8 strikeouts, 3 runs, 106 pitches. The average ERA went up from ‘0’ to 1.00.
Chiba Lotte batting line helped Sasaki. He tied the game by scoring 3 runs with a concentrated hit in the top of the 5th inning after trailing 0-3. I lightened Sasaki’s shoulders.
A good start to the season.
He made his first start of the season before the Nippon Ham Fighters on the 6th. After participating in the WBC (World Baseball Classic) as a representative of Japan, he joined the team and went through rowing time. A week after the opening, he started against Nippon Ham and pitched 6 innings, 1 hit, 11 strikeouts, and no runs. Against Orix on the 14th, he gave 1 hit and 11 strikeouts in 7 innings and no runs, and on the 21st against the Softbank Hawks, he pitched 3 hits and 8 runs in 7 innings and no runs.
He raised his expectations by shooting 164 km/h in the game on the 21st.
Sasaki was good at the beginning of the season last year as well. He achieved a perfect game in 4 games in April last year, recorded 3 wins and losses, and an average ERA of 0.90. In 30 innings he pitched, he struck out 50.
It seems only a matter of time before Sasaki goes over 165km.