‘138-ball 14K complete game win’ Japan’s 4-time ace’s dominance culminates in JS’s first win + strikeout record…championship decided in Game 7

Orix Buffaloes Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 25, ended his time in Japan with a bang in the game that mattered most.

Yamamoto started Game 6 of the Japan Series against the Hanshin Tigers on April 4 at Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, and pitched nine innings of one-hit ball, striking out 14 and allowing one run.

After a clean start with a strikeout in the top of the first, Yamamoto gave up a solo home run to Sheldon Neuig in the top of the second. He then gave up a double to Teruaki Sato and a single to Kento Itohara to put runners on first and third. However, he got Seiya Kinami to ground out to get out of the jam, then gave up Seishiro Sakamoto on a pitch to the body, but struck out Koji Chikamoto to get out of the jam.

The Orix had runners on second and third in the bottom of the second when Marwin Gonzalez singled and Yutaro Sugimoto doubled. Leandro Cedeño struck out, but Kenya Wakatsuki followed with an RBI single and Keita Nakagawa followed with an RBI sacrifice fly.

Yamamoto gave up a leadoff single to Takumu Nakano in the top of the third, but got a Shota Morishita-Yusuke Oyama-Noiji line drive to center to end the inning without allowing a run. In the top of the fourth, Itohara and Kinami gave up back-to-back singles, but Sakamoto and Chikamoto struck out to end the inning. The fifth inning ended with a triple play.

The Oryx extended their lead to 4–1 in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Nakagawa and a two-run homer by Kotaro Kurebayashi.

Yamamoto retired the side in order in the bottom of the sixth. In the top of the seventh, he gave up back-to-back singles to Chikamoto and Nakano, but got Morishita to fly out to second base to end the inning.

After a triple play in the eighth, Yamamoto took the mound in the ninth with 126 pitches. After retiring the leadoff hitter, Itohara, Yamamoto gave up a single to Kinami, but struck out pinch-hitter Ryo Watanabe and induced a grounder to Chikamoto at second base to complete the 138-pitch shutout. The Orix won 4–1 and evened the series at three games apiece, sending the series to a seventh game.

It was Yamamoto’s final game in Japan before heading to the major leagues after this season. Yamamoto threw 138 pitches in a gutsy effort that saved the day as the Orix fell to 2–3 in the Japan Series and were in danger of losing the series. It was a fitting finale to his time in Japan. 토토사이트

Yamamoto, who was winless in his previous four Japan Series starts, earned his first career Japan Series victory. His 14 strikeouts set a new Japan Series record, surpassing the previous marks of 13 set by Kimiyasu Kudo (Dai-E) in 1999 and Darvish Yu (Nippon Ham) in 2007.