Yokohama – Tokyo Yakult Swallows right-hander Yasuhiro Ogawa threw the first no-hitter of the season on Saturday and the first of his career in a 9-0 Central League win over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
Ogawa’s gem was the 93rd no-hitter in the history of Japanese pro baseball, and the 30-year-old became the 82nd player to accomplish the feat. Unlike in the major leagues, a no-hitter is not awarded by NPB unless the pitcher also throws a shutout.
« Last time I had a very frustrating outing, so I was keen to make up for that, » said Ogawa (5-2) who surrendered four runs in five innings in a loss to the BayStars one week earlier. « My catcher (Akihisa) Nishida called a confident game. My fastball was strong and the fielders caught the balls behind me, so I was able to make a go of it. »
« I first thought about it around the fifth inning. I know it’s not an easy feat, so I just focused on each hitter and on maintaining my rhythm. »
Ogawa struck out 10, notching the final one with his 129th pitch to end the game. He walked three batters. One reached on an error, when a line drive spilled out of right fielder Taiki Hamada’s glove in the second inning, while a second got on base when second baseman Taishi Hirooka dropped a throw in the eighth inning.
That error ruined a potential double play after Ogawa had walked the leadoff hitter, and with his pitch count climbing put his no-hit bid in jeopardy. But he retired the final six batters with relative ease.
The Swallows opened the scoring in the third against BayStars ace Shota Imanaga (5-3) on back-to-back one-out RBI doubles by Tetsuto Yamada and Norichika Aoki.
Imanaga allowed six runs, three earned, over 3⅓ innings on six hits and three walks while striking out three.
BayStars manager Alex Ramirez, who began his career in Japan with the Swallows, tipped his cap to Ogawa afterward.
« He was on the whole night, from the first inning right until the end, » Ramirez said. « They scored six runs by the fourth inning. He got better after that. »
Source : Baseball – The Japan Times