Masanao Yoshida, who transferred to the Red Sox of the major leagues this season, hit two bases in his first at-bat in his first open game, and learned the new rules firsthand.
Yoshida, who transferred from the professional baseball team Orix to the Red Sox and has been selected as a representative of Japan in the WBC = World Baseball Classic, played an open game with the Rays on the 26th at the camp site of Fort Myers, Florida. , I started for the first time in the 4th left field.
In the first at-bat of the second inning, he played against the right pitcher at the beginning, hit a two-base hit that caught a high-in-course breaking ball from a full count and hit the fence in the middle of the right, and then hit a timely and preemptive home on his ally. I stepped on it.
He was called a strike in the second at-bat in the fourth inning without an outrunner for violating the "pitch clock" rule, which limits the amount of time between pitches introduced this season.
On the pitch clock, the batter must be ready for an opponent's pitch with 8 seconds remaining, or be declared a strike.
Yoshida, who was unexpectedly struck by the new rule, missed this turn at bat and fell into a strikeout, and was replaced from defense in the 6th inning.
Yoshida said, "I'm glad I got the first run for a major league team. I think there's a high possibility that the pitch clock will be a little late if it's a routine in Japan, so I want to make sure I don't make the same mistake." .
He plans to participate in the open game against the Twins on the 27th, and plans to join the Japanese national team at the WBC early next month.