Major Japanese media, including Sponichi Annex, "Daily Sports," and "Sankei Shimbun," reported in detail the exchange between Chiba Lotte and Lotte Giants at Nishijaki Stadium in Okinawa, Japan, on the 25th. 토토사이트먹튀
"I'm glad that I was able to throw one inning without any injury," Rocky Sasaki told Japanese media after the game. "The forkball went better than I thought. I will not be in a hurry and improve my condition in my own way."
Loki Sasaki started the game against the Lotte Giants on the day, allowing one hit, one strikeout and no run in the first inning. Considering that Loki Sasaki is taking the mound for the first time in a real game this season, the Chiba Lotte coaching staff replaced Loki Sasaki at the start of the second inning with the defense.
Loki Sasaki struck out Lotte's leadoff hitter Kim Min-seok with a swing and miss in the top of the first inning. In a two-ball-to-strike, he pulled out Kim's bat with a large fork ball that was dropped for the fifth time.
After one out in the top of the first inning, Loki Sasaki allowed a long hit to Lotte's second batter Yoon Dong-hee. Since the first and second pitches became balls, the third fastball he threw to catch a strike was reasonable.
Yoon Dong-hee hit a 151 km fastball from Rocky Sasaki when the ball count was in his favor. The ball touched the center of the bat accurately, and the ball went out to the outfield like a clothesline. As he connected with a double next to the left fielder, the scoring chance with one out and second base was linked to Lotte's central batting line.
However, Loki Sasaki was not embarrassed. He overcame the crisis by treating Lotte's third batter, Jose Reyes, with a foul fly to the third baseman. Reyes hit Loki's fastball on the fourth pitch with the ball count in favor of a two-ball one strike, but was forced to leave due to a foul due to delayed timing.
Lotte pinned its hope on the bat of the fourth batter, Jeon Joon-woo, when he had chances with two outs and a runner on the second base. Jeon hit a fastball to the first pitch by Sasaki Rocky, but was out due to a ground ball to shortstop. Lotte's offense ended without a run in the top of the first inning.
"After one out in the top of the first inning, Loki Sasaki got a double next to the left field by Yoon Dong-hee, the second batter, but he took the out count with a fastball that pushed him into the corner of his body against Reyes," "Daily Sports" said. "The fourth batter Jeon Joon-woo got out of the crisis by inducing an infield grounder with his fastball of 154km, the fastest official in the game."
Roki Sasaki then handed over the mound to Yuki Karakawa at the start of the second inning as soon as he started defense. From the second to the ninth inning, he watched the rest of the game with his teammates at the dugout.
Born in 2001, Roki Sasaki was drafted by Chiba Lotte in the first round of the Japanese professional baseball rookie draft when he was a student at Nato High School in the afternoon. In 2021, he smoothly entered the professional stage with three wins and two losses with an earned run average of 2.27, in 63 ⅓ innings in 11 games.
Rocky Sasaki has completely broken the reputation of promising players with nine wins, four losses and an earned run average of 2.02 in 129 ⅓ innings in 20 games in the 2022 season. Combination of fastball in the mid to late 150 kilometers and folk ball in the early 140 kilometers range, he has become a pitcher in the spotlight not only at Chiba Lotte but also in the entire Japanese professional baseball league.
Notably, on April 10, 2022, he became the youngest Japanese professional baseball player to play a perfect game at the age of 20 years and 157 days, drawing keen attention. The NPB Perfect Game was also a milestone that came out in 28 years.
Rocky Sasaki has also displayed outstanding performance in the 2023 season. He dominated the Japanese professional baseball league with seven wins, four losses and an earned run average of 1.78 in 91 innings in 15 games. However, playing only a few innings was an important factor. The team managed the number of pitches and innings to minimize side-effects from Rocky's participation in the World Baseball Classic in March last year, but failed to play full time due to blisters and radiant muscles injury.
Roki Sasaki is currently receiving the most attention in the Major League among Japanese pro baseball starters. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a three-year veteran, has moved to the Major League this season and is being treated as the No. 1 pitcher in Japan.
In fact, Japanese baseball fans flocked from early in the morning when Sasaki Rocky was expected to be selected for the spring camp exchange match between Chiba Lotte and Lotte Giants.
Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun said, "About 500 fans waited in line at the baseball stadium even before 11 a.m. when spectators began to enter. There was a long line about 300 meters long," adding a comment from a stadium guard.
A woman in her 40s who was at the front of the line said, "I've been waiting since 8 a.m. to see Rocky Sasaki." The "Yomiuri Shimbun" said, "On this day, the cold wind was strong in the baseball stadium, so it was not a good environment to watch baseball games, so I could see the high interest of fans in Rocky Sasaki."
Rocky Sasaki had a conflict with Chiba Lotte Group ahead of the 2024 season. He expressed his intention to move to the Major League through the posting system, but the team's front desk refused to allow him. He joined Chiba Lotte's spring camp a little later than his colleagues, as salary negotiations for the 2024 season were delayed due to failure to meet the required innings last year.
Meanwhile, Lotte failed to take the mound at Chiba Lotte except for Han Dong-hee's solo home run with one out in the top of the second inning. Lotte pitchers also struggled with the Chiba Lotte bat, boasting accurate batting and pioneering vision, and failed to garner eight runs.
Lotte bowed its head to 1-8 the next day following the 3-7 defeat in the exchange match with Chiba Lotte held at the same place on the 24th. The results are unfortunate, but they gained valuable experience against Chiba Lotte players, who were one of the best in pitching and hitting.
The two teams, Lotte Giants of Korea and Chiba Lotte of Japan, have been exchanging baseball games for a long time, taking advantage of their brotherly clubs. The two-way Lotte baseball game started in 1976, when Lotte was a professional team and Chiba Lotte was the predecessor of Lotte Orion, and thus has been a group-level exchange for more than 40 years.
The first team exchange game between Korea and Japan has resumed in 17 years since 2007. Lotte Giants finished its first spring camp in Guam from June 31 to June 20, and then moved to Okinawa, Japan, on June 21 to conduct the second spring camp focusing on actual practice matches.
Aaron Wilkerson of Lotte, who started the first round of the exchange game with Chiba Lotte, said through his club, "I thank the club for supporting the exchange with Chiba Lotte, my brother's club," adding, "I think it was a good experience ahead of the opening of the KBO League. I hope international exchanges between the two countries will continue to expand."
Chiba Lotte pitcher Ohjima said, "I heard that there are many good players on the Lotte Giants team, but when I played the game, I was impressed that Korean players have strong physical strength," adding, "I hope there will be more opportunities to exchange between the two clubs in the future."