On April 10, 2022,

Rōki Sasaki , nicknamed , is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Chiba Lotte Marines. He made his NPB debut in 2021 for ...

of the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific Le ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

's (NPB)

Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the a ...

threw a perfect game against the

Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture ...

at Zozo Marine Stadium in

Chiba City is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It sits about east of the centre of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. The city became a government-designated city in 1992. In March 2025, its population was 983,045, with a population density of 3,617 people ...

. It was the 16th perfect game in NPB history. Sasaki tied a NPB single-game record with 19

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s and set an NPB record with 13 consecutive strikeouts.

Background

set a Japanese high school record when he threw a

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...

at , breaking the record set by

Shohei Ohtani is a Japanese professional baseball designated hitter and pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "Shotime", he has previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Angels and in Nippon Professional Basebal ...

, who had achieved . The

(NPB) selected Sasaki with the first overall pick in the 2019 NPB draft. Lotte had him train in bullpen sessions exclusively during the 2020 season to prevent injury. He made his NPB debut in 2021.

Game synopsis

The Marines played a home game against the

at Zozo Marine Stadium on April 10, 2022. Sasaki started for Lotte while Hiroya Miyagi, the Pacific League Rookie of the Year for 2021, started for Orix. The first two batters Sasaki faced grounded out. He completed the top of the first inning by recording a

of Masataka Yoshida, who led the

in batting during the 2021 season. Lotte scored a run off of Miyagi in the bottom of the first inning with two singles followed by a

run batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBI) groundout. Sasaki then continued to strike out batters, striking out all three batters faced in the second, third, and fourth innings, setting a new NPB record with his tenth consecutive strikeout, also of Yoshida, in the fourth inning. The previous record had been set by

Takao Kajimoto was a left-handed Japanese baseball pitcher for the Hankyu Braves from 1954 to 1973. He won 254 games and was a 12-time All-Star during his career. He is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and Meikyukai. Career Kajimoto was signed ...

of the

Hankyu Braves The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture ...

in 1957 and tied by Masayuki Dobashi of the

Toei Flyers The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō, in the Sapporo metropolitan area. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the major ...

in 1958. Sasaki struck out the side in the top of the fifth inning, reaching 13 consecutive strikeouts. This also became a new world record, surpassing the 10 consecutive strikeouts achieved in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) by

Corbin Burnes Corbin Brian Burnes (born October 22, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles. Burnes was se ...

Tom Seaver George Thomas Seaver (November 17, 1944 – August 31, 2020), nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets, Cin ...

, and

Aaron Nola Aaron Michael Nola (born June 4, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nola was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and played baseball alongside his older brother Austin No ...

. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Lotte scored five runs when Shogo Nakamura was

hit by a pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provide ...

, followed by an RBI

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

by Brandon Laird, an RBI single by Adeiny Hechavarria, and a three RBI double by Kō Matsukawa, Lotte's 18-year-old

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

. Sasaki finished the game with a strikeout of

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

Yutaro Sugimoto , nicknamed " Raoh", is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays outfielder for the Orix Buffaloes. Sugimoto won the Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award for the 2022 Japan Series. His nickname is derived from the fact he is a fan o ...

, who led the Pacific League in

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in 2021. Sugimoto's strikeout was the final out of the game and Sasaki's 19th strikeout, tying the NPB record set by Koji Noda of the

Orix BlueWave , styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...

in 1995. Sasaki completed the game with 105 pitches thrown. It was the first perfect game in NPB since November 1, 2007 (Game 5 of the

2007 Japan Series The Japan Series, the 58th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's championship series, began Saturday, October 27, 2007, pitting the Pacific League Regular League and Climax Series' Champion, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, and the Chunichi ...

, a combined perfect game not recognised by NPB but is recognised globally as a no-hitter), as well as the 97th

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

in NPB and its predecessors , the first since August 15, 2020. Yoshida struck out three times against Sasaki, despite striking out just 26 times during the 2021 season, the lowest for all hitters. At the age of 20 years and five months, Sasaki became the youngest NPB pitcher to throw a perfect game. He threw his fastball at , matching his personal best. Sasaki compiled a

game score Game score is a metric devised by Bill James as a rough overall gauge of a starting pitcher's performance in a baseball game. It is designed such that scores tend to range from 0–100, with an average performance being around 50 points. F ...

of 106, surpassing the 105 for Kerry Wood's 20 strikeout game from the

1998 Major League Baseball season The 1998 Major League Baseball season ended with the New York Yankees sweeping the San Diego Padres in the World Series, after they had won a then AL record 114 regular season games. The Yankees finished with 125 wins for the season (regular s ...

, which was the highest MLB game score since the end of the

baseball color line The color line, also known as the color barrier, in American baseball excluded players of black African descent from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor League Baseball, Minor Leagues until 1947 (with a few notable exceptions in the 1 ...

. As a result of this game, the Marines improved to 7-6 and the Buffaloes fell to 6-9 on the season. The Marines would finish 5th in 2022, going 69-73-1 while the Buffaloes would rally past this defeat to win the

pennant on a tiebreaker with the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. Founded on February 22, 1938, as the Nankai Club, being the first Kansai t ...

, going 76-65-2, and would eventually win the

2022 Japan Series The 2022 Japan Series (known as the ''Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, SMBC Nippon Series 2022'' for sponsorship reasons) was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball's season. The 73rd edition of the Japan Series, it was a b ...

over the

Tokyo Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams in Tokyo, the other being the Yomiuri G ...

Line score

Box score

Aftermath

In his next start, on April 17, Sasaki pitched eight perfect innings against the

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō, in the Sapporo metropolitan area. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the major ...

, before manager Tadahito Iguchi took him out of the game before the ninth inning. Had he completed the perfect game, he would have become only the second person in professional baseball history to throw two perfect games and would have become the first man to do so in consecutive starts. He recorded 14 strikeouts on 102 pitches, including striking out the side in the eighth inning with a 101-mph fastball. Sasaki finished the game having retired 52 consecutive batters, setting an NPB record. The MLB record for retiring consecutive batters is 46 by Yusmeiro Petit. Sasaki's streak ended in his next game, on April 24, after he allowed a hit on the first pitch that he threw. A ball from the game autographed by Sasaki was donated to the

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and the county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in ...

. The Orix Buffaloes would go on to win their first

Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series between the winning cl ...

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

since (as the Orix BlueWave), while Sasaki's Marines would miss the playoffs for the first time since .

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sasaki, Roki perfect game 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season Nippon Professional Baseball perfect games Chiba Lotte Marines April 2022 sports events in Asia Orix Buffaloes Sport in Chiba (city) Sports competitions in Chiba Prefecture History of Chiba Prefecture