Chiba Lotte Marines’ Roki Sasaki pitches almost perfect

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:20 JST, April 17, 2022

Roki Sasaki of the Chiba Lotte Marines pitches against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at Zozo Marine Stadium in Chiba on Sunday, on his way to throwing eight perfect innings. Sasaki had a chance to become the first pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball history to pitch two perfect games in a row, but manager Tadahito Iguchi replaced him to start the ninth. He struck out 14 batters on 102 pitches, but the Marines lost 1-0 in 10 innings. Sasaki threw a perfect game against the Orix Buffaloes on April 10, striking out a record 13 consecutive batters.