Tanaka started the game against the Nippon Ham Fighters at Escon Field in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, on Nov. 11, allowing two runs on nine hits and one walk over seven innings (85 pitches) to earn the win.
Rakuten won 3-2, extending their winning streak to six games. With Tanaka’s victory, six different starters have won in a row, a franchise record.
Tanaka did not strike out a batter on the night. This is the first time in his 237-game Nippon Professional Baseball career that he has struck out zero batters. The win was his fifth of the season and 195th of his career.
He led off the first inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a grounder to shortstop. A fly out to center field ended the threat. In the second, a grounder to shortstop and a fly out to center field loaded the bases with two outs. A fly out to right field ended the inning.
Third inning. After one inning, Nippon Hammers 1-3 Gunji, Isobata, and Matsumoto gave up three consecutive singles to take the lead.카지노
Rakuten quickly tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth inning. Then in the fifth, Yuya Ogawa hit a two-run homer to make it 3-1.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Tanaka walked the leadoff batter in the fifth and then hit a grounder to shortstop with two outs. But two batters later, he gave up three straight singles to Isobata, Matsumoto, and Kiyomiya.
A strikeout ended the inning for the first time in the sixth, and an infield grounder and an outfield popup ended the seventh. Rakuten held on to the one-run lead in the eighth and ninth innings as the bullpen held the game scoreless.
Tanaka is now 5-5 with a 4.43 ERA in 14 games this season. His ERA is the lowest (10th) among Pacific League pitchers who have pitched in regulation innings.
Last year, he went 9-12 with a 3.31 ERA in 25 games, the most losses of his career. Has bounced back this season, but has been up and down. In his last six games, he has three quality starts of seven innings or less, but he also allowed nine runs against the Orix on April 4.
