Major League Baseball Athletics pitcher Shintaro Fujinami made his first MLB start against the Angels and walked off the mound with eight runs in the middle of the third inning, including a timely hit by Shohei Ohtani.
Fujinami, who transferred to the Athletics from professional baseball club Hanshin, started the second game of the season against the Angels in his home town of Oakland, California, on the 1st.
With his mother watching from the stands, Fujinami struck out the Angels' No. 2 Ward and No. 1 Trout in the first inning with splits over 1 kilos, and Ohtani, who entered the game as the No. 2 designated hitter, also got off to a great start with a 150-kilogram split.
He had a perfect second inning with two strikeouts and three batters, but in the third inning, he broke down after a foreball to lead off the inning, and scored two runs on three consecutive hits.
In addition, with no outs, Ohtani was caught 159 kilometers straight and hit the left field fence with a timely hit.
Fujinami walked off the mound in the third inning after giving up six runs on sacrifice flies and timely hits, and went down to the bench to applause from the home fans.
The relieved pitcher returned the two remaining runners, so Fujinami pitched until the middle of the third inning and gave up eight runs.
He had five hits, three foreballs, and struck out four, but he suddenly collapsed when he hit a foreball, and his big league debut was tough.
The game is still going on, and the Angels took a big lead in the third inning with a batter's first strike and 6 runs in one fell swoop.
Fujinami uniforms and T-shirts at the goods shop
At this game at the home of the Athletics, a T-shirt with Fujinami's jersey number "11" and kanji name printed on it titled "Shintaro Fujinami Ticket" was sold for a special price of $ 20 as a set with a ticket to the game.
In addition, at the official merchandise shop in the stadium, Fujinami pitcher uniforms and T-shirts of different designs were sold in a prominent place just after entering the entrance.
Each T-shirt costs $1 and features an illustration of Mt. Fuji printed with Fujinami pitching the pitcher.
According to the sales representative, pitcher Fujinami introduced himself in fluent English at the press conference in January, so he added it to the design.