Hittless in Yokohama - June 28, 2013
Discussion in the Bayside West: Yokohama forum
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Chunichi's Daisuke Yamai, most famous for a combined perfect game in the 5th game of the 2007 Nippon Series, made it to the 9th inning with a no-hitter in tact on August 18, 2010 against the Giants at Nagoya Dome. In that game 3 years ago, Hayato Sakamoto led off the 9th inning with a solo home run to left field, breaking up the no-hitter and shutout all with one swing.
In this evening's game, despite Tony Blanco giving the ball a ride in the 7th inning, the ball taken in at the warning track in left field, Yamai successfully held the BayStars hitless through 9 innings to become the 77th person (88th time) to throw a no-hitter in NPB history.
And the whole game I thought the main story was Shoichi Inoh's slow start.
What's that about Inoh? Well, as you may know, the BayStars haven't had many starting pitchers go very deep lately. So Inoh was sent out to the mound to throw the first 6 innings regardless of how he did. And he actually pitched pretty well, the first inning aside.
But, oh, that first inning.
Inoh surrendered 4 singles, a walk, then a double, resulting in 4 runs with runners at second and third, before getting a single out. A pair of hits with a sacrifice bunt in between added another 3 runs, Chunichi scoring a total of 7 before Yokohama even stepped up to the plate.
Inoh gave up a pair of hits in the 2nd and 4th, the Dragons scoring 1 more in the 4th. The walk he allowed in the first inning was also the only base on balls he allowed.
A pair of walks by Tateki Abe in the 7th to load the bases for Chunichi came back to bite him as they resulted in a sacrifice fly that made the score 0-9. Of course, the air was already taken out of Yokohama's sails in the first, so I what's one more cut?
Former BayStar, Motonobu Tanishige, who usually hits Yokohama pitching exceptionally well, took until the 9th inning to get his first (and only) hit of the game. His hit marked the last of the starters (Yamai excluded) to get a hit, Chunichi rapping out 15 hits (no home runs) in total.