Shunpeita Yamashita (Orix), who burst onto the scene last year, throwing 160 kilometers and winning the Pacific League Rookie of the Year award and being touted as the next ace to succeed Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Los Angeles Dodgers), suffered a shocking loss.
Yamashita started a game against the SoftBank Hawks of the Nippon Professional Baseball 2024 at the PayPay Dome in Fukuoka, Japan, on April 19 and was tagged for eight runs on eight hits with four walks and eight strikeouts in four innings. He threw 95 pitches and touched 95 mph.
It was the first time Yamashita, who made his first-team debut last year, gave up eight runs in a game. Notably, he gave up two home runs, the same number of home runs he gave up all of last year.
Yamashita struggled with his pitches on this day. After giving up back-to-back walks to Genta Imamiya and Yuki Yanagita in the top of the first inning to put runners on first and second, Yamashita gave up a single to Hotaka Yamakawa in the next at-bat. He then gave up a walk to Kensuke Gondo to load the bases and a single to Ryoya Kurihara to score another run. It was a big inning, but they were fortunate to get the next batter, Adam Walker, to fly out to third base.
After tying the game in the top of the second, Yamashita gave up a hit by 먹튀검증 pitch to Ukyo Shuto and a stolen base to put runners on second and third, but got Imamiya to ground out to end the threat.
However, the team faltered in the bottom of the inning after taking a 4-2 lead, allowing the tying run to score again. After giving up a single to Yanagita to start the inning, Yamashita gave up a walk to Gondo one out later on a 2-pitch, 1-strike fastball up the middle for a two-run home run over the left field wall.
That was the end of the third inning, but an even more shocking fourth inning awaited Yamashita. Yamashita was hit by three straight singles from Takuya Kai, Taisei Makihara and Shuto to start the fourth inning, putting runners on the corners with nobody out. Right fielder Tomoya Mori tried to make a sliding catch but fell short.
After seemingly escaping the jam by getting Imamiya to fly out to shortstop to end the inning with only one out, Yamashita walked Yanagita again to put runners on second and third, and then gave up a three-run homer to Yamakawa over the left field wall. After barely making it out of the fourth inning, Yamashita was eventually replaced by Kazumoto Iguchi in the fifth inning to end his rough night.
The Orix, whose offense has come alive as of late after struggling early on, exploded for 14 hits and scored seven runs on the day, but were unable to overcome Yamashita's shocking outing and ultimately suffered a 7-9 heartbreaking loss.
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