He suffered a big blow to his reputation as he had friction with the Chiba Lotte Marines over whether to advance to the Major League or not, but he was a monster again. It is about Rocky Sasaki.
Sasaki started in the away match in Game 1 of the Pacific League Climax Series First Stage against the Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2024 at Econ Field in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, Japan, on the 12th (Korea time), and showed a commanding pitch of 112 pitches, five hits, two walks, and nine strikeouts in eight innings.
Although he had a hiatus of more than two months due to injuries this year, Sasaki won his first double-digit career victory based on his 10-5 record and 2.35 ERA in 18 regular-season appearances. Obviously, in terms of skills, Sasaki was excluded from the Samurai Japan list announced on the 9th, as it would not be strange even if he was selected for the Premier 12 national team in November.
Japanese national team coach Hirokazu Ibata said, “I know Sasaki’s performance. However, there were other pitchers who gave better performances besides Sasaki, and I decided to put it on hold because I was injured this year.” However, Sasaki’s pitch on Wednesday was truly a show of force. It was a pitch that showed how important his presence is in short-term games.
Early in the game was not in a good mood. Sasaki started the game by giving up a walk to leadoff hitter Daiki Asama at the beginning of the first inning. He erased the runner with the help of the catcher, but he also gave up a walk to follow-up hitter Kotaro Kiyomiya. However, this was not an obstacle for Sasaki. After striking out Franmil Reyes, Sasaki grounded out Gunji Yuya to third base to score no runs.
There was no significant crisis in the second inning as well. Sasaki allowed Manami Chusei to hit for the first time on the day, but he ended the inning without allowing a run with one strikeout and two grounders, and in the third inning, he allowed two strikeouts to mark his first three-out. He then allowed a hit to leadoff hitter Reyes in the fourth inning, but he cooked up Nippon Ham’s “clean-up trio” including a double play, and displayed a scoreless pitch in the fifth inning, holding the winning requirement.
Sasaki, who appeared on the mound in the sixth inning based on his ample pitching capacity, froze Tatsuki Mizuno and Asama with 156-158 kilometers of fastballs, respectively, and put the Nippon Ham batters to rest without any special crisis in the seventh inning. Sasaki, who also took the mound in the eighth inning of the 94th inning, completed a dominant start (one earned run or less in eight innings) and handed over the mound to the bullpen after pitching a scoreless pitch, including two strikeouts. 스포츠토토
After Sasaki went down, Chiba Lotte added “must-win” Shota Suzuki (⅓ innings) and “finish” Naoya Masuda (⅔ innings) in the bottom of the ninth inning to lock the back door and win the first game of the Climax Series First Stage, and Sasaki also showed off her talent in front of scouts from 10 major league teams once again.
In a “hero interview” held on the ground after the game, Sasaki said, “I threw to meet the expectations because I was in charge of the first game. I tried to keep the score until the end because I was supported by the first goal. And I think I was able to pitch well thanks to the catcher’s lead,” in expressing his feelings about winning the first postseason game.
Chiba Lotte was very weak against Nippon Ham this year, with 6 wins and 18 losses. Especially at Econ Field, it was the worst of them all. Sasaki was not aware of this, which is why he poured everything into it. “I don’t have good memories of Econ Field either for the team or for me, but it was nice to win today,” he said with a big smile.
Sasaki, who was on the postseason stage for the first time in 2021, has allowed one run (non-earned) in six innings against the Rakuten Golden Eagles, three scoreless innings against the Softbank Hawks last year, and eight scoreless innings this time, recording one run (non-earned) in 17 innings in three games. Sasaki replied, “I was lucky,” when the announcer in the room recited his postseason performance, but he proved himself as the strongest player in the short term. It was a part that showed that elimination from the Premier 12 national team was not a matter of skill.
