[NPB NOTEBOOK] Back in Top Form, Roki Sasaki Leads Marines into PL Playoffs

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Roki Sasaki seems to have put his injury woes behind him. That's good news for Sasaki, his Chiba Lotte Marines and the bevy of MLB teams hoping to sign the NPB pitcher one day.

Sasaki allowed one run over the distance on Tuesday, October 1 as the Marines beat the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 5-1 at Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi to clinch the Pacific League's final playoff spot.

Looking like his old dominant self, the 22-year-old right-hander struck out 10 batters in his first complete game in two seasons to reach 10 wins for the first time in his career.

Sasaki (10-5) allowed five hits and no walks. The only run he gave up was on a wild pitch in the second inning.

"Right from the start, my feel for my pitches wasn't that bad," Sasaki said, according to Kyodo News. "I gave up the early lead, but I'm glad I could preserve our own lead after we came from behind."

Even though he got to 10 wins, it wasn't the easiest season for Sasaki. He was dropped from Lotte's active roster on June 13 due to issues related to the fitness of his throwing arm and did not pitch again until early August.

Sasaki Finishes Strong to Close Out the NPB Season

Since his start on August 30 against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, Sasaki is 4-1, including a 6-2 victory over the PL champion Hawks when he went seven scoreless innings for the win.

Tuesday's game was a closely contested pitchers' duel with 39-year-old veteran Takayuki Kishi (6-11) working his magic for the Eagles.

Kishi held the Marines scoreless until the fifth when he was the victim of some bad luck.

A two-out, two-on pop-up to shallow left deflected off the glove of shortstop Itsuki Murabayashi, allowing two runs to score.

Hiromi Oka followed with an RBI double to cap the three-run inning. The Marines tacked on two runs in the ninth off Kishi, who went 8⅓ innings.

With the win, Lotte also knocked the Eagles out of contention and set up a PL Climax Series First Stage between the Marines and Tsuyoshi Shinjo's Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters beginning on Saturday, October 12 at Es Con Field Hokkaido.

The winner goes on to face the pennant-winning Hawks, who will host the best-of-six Climax Series Final Stage to determine who advances to the Japan Series. (As the pennant winner, SoftBank receives an automatic one-win advantage to begin the series.)

Ever since he became Japanese pro baseball's youngest perfect-game pitcher in 2022, Sasaki has been on the radar of MLB teams and is widely considered to be the next pitching star from Japan who will go to the majors.

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Author: Jim Armstrong

The author is a longtime journalist who has covered sports in Japan for over 25 years. You can find his articles on SportsLook.