Japanese pitcher falters again after throwing 158km…ERA rises to 12.69
Oakland Athletics Japanese pitcher Shintaro Fujinami (29) couldn’t break out of his slump.
Fujinami took the mound in the seventh inning of the Athletics’ 0-8 loss to the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Wednesday (June 23). He was brought in as the de facto closer with the game already in hand, but he struggled, allowing three runs on two hits and one walk while striking out four in two innings.
메이저놀이터 The seventh inning started with a triple play. Up until this point, things were looking good. Teoscar Hernandez struck out and AJ Pollock struck out Jose Caballero on a fly ball to center field to quickly erase the inning.
Then, in the eighth, things suddenly got shaky. He struck out J.P. Crawford, but gave up a walk to Ty France and a hit-by-pitch to Julio Rodriguez. He then gave up a single to Jered Kellenick to load the bases with one out and a double to Eugenio Suarez. He then gave up another run on a sacrifice fly to Carl Rowley and struck out Hernandez to end the inning.
Fujinami’s fastball was clocked at 98.6 mph (158.6 km/h) on the day. He threw 40 pitches, but only 25 were called for strikes. Once again, Fujinami struggled with his pitches. His ERA rose slightly to 12.69.
This is Fujinamida’s first season in the big leagues. A hard-throwing pitcher who dominated Japanese professional baseball with the Hanshin Tigers until last season, Fujinami signed a one-year, $3.25 million contract with Oakland this year through the posting system (a closed competitive tender).
Even in Japan, he was known for his fastball, which reached 160 mph, although his command was poor. The A’s were attracted to Fujinami’s fastball and signed him, but he hasn’t had much luck with it.
At the start of the season, Fujinami was in the starting rotation, but struggled with his pitches and was pulled early. Mired in a slump, Fujinami was eventually moved to the bullpen, where he was relegated to the closer’s role.