PORT CHARLOTTE, FLORIDA – Minnesota pitcher Kenta Maeda silenced MLB rookie outfielder Yoshitomo Tsutsugo of Tampa Bay in a Sunday matchup of Japanese standouts but took the loss in their spring training game.
Tsutsugo, pleased to see a familiar face as he learns new pitchers in his transition season from Japan to North America, went 0-for-2 with two flyouts off right-hander Maeda in the Rays’ 8-2 victory over Minnesota at Port Charlotte, Florida.
“I was very happy,” Tsutsugo told MLB.com through a translator. “I enjoyed the moment.”
Maeda surrendered three runs, only one of them earned, on two hits — including a home run — with two walks and three strikeouts over 2⅔ innings to take the loss.
It was their first meeting in a game outside of NPB, where both had solid careers.
Tsutsugo, who was 0-for-3 overall with a strikeout on Sunday, played for the Yokohama BayStars from 2010-2019. Maeda was a star pitcher for the Hiroshima Carp from 2008-2015 before joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, who traded him to the Twins last month. Both spent their entire NPB careers in the Central League.
Tsutsugo, a left-handed hiter, had gone 9-for-48 (.188) off Maeda with two homers and two doubles before Sunday.
The two Japanese stars met before the game, with Maeda joking he would make his first pitch to him a changeup. But when Tsutsugo, hitting second in the Rays lineup, came to the plate, the first pitch he saw was a fastball for a called strike.
“I was waiting for the changeup,” Tsutsugo said with a smile. “So I didn’t swing at the fastball.”
Maeda said Tsutsugo’s biggest challenges in adjusting to North America will be cultural differences, the MLB schedule and the language barrier.
But Maeda said Tsutsugo can find success once he adjusts.
“We’re still early in spring, so he’s at the point of making adjustments,” Maeda said through a translator.
“But from what I can see, he’s certainly a power hitter and he has a lot of power in him.”
Elsewhere around spring training, Lance McCullers, who had been sidelined since having Tommy John surgery in November 2018, started in a spring training game against St. Louis and faced three batters. He retired leadoff man Kolten Wong on a soft comebacker, gave up a double to Paul DeJong and fanned Paul Goldschmidt with an 84 mph (135 kph) curve.
“Out of the 16 pitches I threw, really only maybe one or two that I didn’t execute the way I was hoping to pre-pitch,” McCullers said. “Really happy with just the way I felt overall and just being out there with the guys.”
McCullers’ fastball reached 94 mph (151 kph) on the scoreboard radar gun. His signature pitch is the curve.
Texas newcomer Corey Kluber, was also back on the mound, facing hitters for the first time since a line drive broke his pitching arm last season with Cleveland, working three innings. He allowed two runs on two hits and two walks and struck out four against the Dodgers.
Source : Baseball – The Japan Times
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