A pitcher with 119 career wins failed to make it past the first inning.
Yomiuri Giants right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano (34) was ejected with one out. He was replaced after giving up six runs in his first start against the Yakult Swallows at Meiji-Jingu Stadium in Tokyo on the 17th.
It was a frantic at-bat. He walked five batters in a row from 1-5 and gave up two home runs. Yakult batters were hitting Sugano’s pitches like they were batting balls.메이저사이트
Hidetaka Namiki, batting first, led off with a single up the middle. He took a fastball from Sugano to the middle of the strike zone. He then took a cut fastball from No. 2 Yamasaka Kotaroka on a 1B2S pitch and lined it to the shortstop for an infield single.
With runners on first and second, No. 3 Domingo Santana hit a two-run double to the right field fence. 1-0.
Sugano and the Yomiuri bench panicked. With two outs and runners on second and third, #4 Murakami Munetaka hit his 16th three-run homer of the season. A forked ball that landed in the outfield low in 1B1S.
Murakami celebrates his 16th three-run home run of the season against Sugano in the top of the first inning. Photo: Yakult Swallows SNS
He flicked it over the left-centre fence. 4-0.
No. 5 Jose Osuna kept the momentum going with a single up the middle, and with two outs, No. 7 Soma Uchiyama hit a two-run homer to left. 6-0.
The Yomiuri bench couldn’t wait any longer. Manager Tatsunori Hara, Sugano’s maternal uncle, made an immediate move, taking to the mound himself to order a substitution.
In ⅓ of an inning, he faced seven batters and threw 17 pitches, giving up six runs on six hits. His ERA skyrocketed from 1.44 to 3.55. It was a nightmare first inning for Sugano against Yakult.
After a late start to the season due to injury, Sugano had gone 2-2 in four games before this one. It was his first start in nine days after a seven-inning no-hitter against the Yokohama BayStars on 8 July.
Yakult pounded out seven hits in the first inning. Murakami had hit four homers in his last five games before his first-inning blast.
Yomiuri pitcher Sugano. Photo credit: Yomiuri Giants SNS