NAGOYA – Yudai Ono pitched the 92nd no-hitter in NPB history Saturday, striking out nine and walking one in the Chunichi Dragons’ 3-0 win over the Hanshin Tigers.
The 30-year-old lefty’s gem comes eight days after Kodai Senga threw his first career no-hitter for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Sept. 6. It was the Dragons’ first no-no since Daisuke Yamai no-hit the Yokohama BayStars on June 28, 2013.
With two outs in the ninth, it looked like rookie Koji Chikamoto would spoil Ono’s bid, when he hit a low liner toward left, but Chunichi third baseman Shuhei Takahashi speared it for the final out causing Ono (9-8) to leap in the air repeatedly on the mound and pump his fists wildly.
“It’s unbelievable,” Ono said. “Through five innings, I just pitched in the firm belief they would get a hit. Because the fans yelled my name as I took the mound in the ninth, I did my best to go for it.
“I thought that ball might go through, but, well, Shuhei was there and that was that. I might have overdone it on the mound I guess, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement, and I was expressing my happiness.”
The Tigers did not get a runner on base until Ryutaro Umeno reached after a wide throw from shortstop Yota Kyoda pulled first baseman Dayan Viciedo off the bag with one out in the sixth. Ono also walked a batter with one out in the seventh.
The Dragons opened the scoring against Atsushi Mochizuki (1-1) in the second, when Viciedo reached with a leadoff double off the wall and scored from third on a wild pitch.
Ono contributed to the second run, with a bunt single after catcher Takuma Kato reached on an error. A hit batsman loaded the bases, and Nobumasa Fukuda made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly.
Fukuda and Viciedo made it 3-0 in the fifth. Fukuda drew a two-out walk, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Viciedo’s second double.
The no-hitter comes two days shy of the 13th anniversary of the last time the Tigers were no-hit at Nagoya Dome by Masahiro Yamamoto on Sept. 16, 2006.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Lions 4, Marines 3 (10)
At Tokorozawa’s MetLife Dome, Ernesto Mejia’s one-out, 10th-inning RBI double lifted Seibu over Chiba Lotte.
The Marines tied it with two runs in the ninth off closer Tatsushi Masuda.
Source : Baseball – The Japan Times
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