Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix), 메이저놀이터 the best pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball who won the Sawamura Award for 2 consecutive years, became the losing pitcher for 2 consecutive games. a strange look
Yamamoto pitched as a starting pitcher in the match against Seibu held at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on the 22nd. He threw 112 pitches in 7⅓ innings, getting 11 hits and giving up 3 runs, becoming the losing pitcher.
His highest speed was 156 km. However, his 11 hits was his own record for most hits. It has been almost a year since he allowed double-digit hits in the match against Softbank on May 3 of last year with 10 hits.
Yamamoto got a hit every inning except for the sixth. He was hit in a row after two outs in the second inning and escaped by striking out in the first and second base crisis. He was hit by a double by the leading batter in the third inning, struck out on third base with a run, and blocked it without a run with an infield grounder.
He gave up his first run after hitting a lead-off hit, a double in a row, and a run in the fifth inning, leading 2–1. The continued crisis of one out and third base escaped with a series of strikeouts. Then, he seemed to regain his power by striking out 5 batters in a row until the 6th inning, KKK.
However, he was hit by three batters in a row in the eighth inning and allowed one run. In the first and second bases, foreign hitter Makinon got a heavy hit and allowed a 2-2 tie. When the runner on first base ran to third base and was out, one company became second base.
After allowing a tie, he was replaced by Udagawa Yuki, but Udagawa allowed 3 runs as he allowed a timely turnaround. And as Orix lost 2-4, Yamamoto became the losing pitcher.
After the game, Yamamoto said, “We have to reflect on allowing consecutive hits.” “The redemption came quickly. I had strength in my upper body, but the ball couldn’t reach. Throw without power in balance and weight transfer. There are several reasons,” he said.
On the 14th, in a confrontation with Loki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte), he became a losing pitcher with 6 innings and 1 run, and on this day, he lost 2 games in a row. 1 win and 2 losses in 3 matches this season. His earned run average soared from 0.75 to 1.86.
Yamamoto recorded 15 wins, 5 losses, 1.68 ERA in 26 games (193 innings) in 2022, 205 strikeouts, and a .750 win rate. In 2021, he went 18-5 with a 1.39 earned run average, 206 strikeouts, and a .783 winning percentage in 26 games (193.2 innings). He won four wins, earned run average, strikeouts, and win rate for two consecutive years, and won the Sawamura Award for two consecutive years.