Professional baseball pitcher Shoki Murakami of Hanshin held the team scoreless until the sixth inning against Yakult on the night of the 9th, equaling the Central League record of 6 consecutive scoreless innings since the opening inning, but gave up no runs in the seventh inning and did not break the record.
Third-year pitcher Murakami started the match against Yakult at Koshien Stadium on the night of the 3th.
In the second inning, he pinch-hit for a no-out first and second base, but he survived the pinch by striking out Osuna in the sixth with a 9-kilogram fork.
From the middle of the inning, he struck out on a straight ball with a lot of power and kept Yakult's batting line scoreless until the sixth inning.
Murakami pitched 2 consecutive scoreless innings in five games since his first start of the season on April 6, matching the record set by Hanshin pitcher Etsuo Nakai in 131 for consecutive scoreless innings since the opening of the Central League.
However, in the seventh inning, Yakult's No. 6 Santana hit a solo home run in the top of the inning and gave up one run, and the record was not broken.
Murakami walked off the mound after throwing seven innings, and Hanshin went on to lose 4-1, making Murakami the losing pitcher for the first time this season.
Murakami "I am not alone thanks to you"
Hanshin pitcher Shoki Murakami said bluntly about the Central League record for consecutive scoreless innings since the start of the season, saying, "I am not alone, but I owe it to the catchers and the fielders who protected me."
Regarding Santana's home run in the seventh inning, he said, "It was a lost pitch, and it was a game where the first run was important, so it was bad that we gave the opponent a run first."
What is Shoki Murakami?
Pitcher Shoki Murakami is a 24-year-old from Hyogo Prefecture.
In high school, he participated in Koshien three times at Chiben Gakuen in Nara, and in the Senbatsu High School baseball tournament in his third year, he threw all five games as an ace and won his first championship.
After graduating from Toyo University, he joined Hanshin in 3 as the 3th overall draft pick.
In his first two years with the team, he pitched in only two games for the first team, but in his third year, he grabbed the first team of the season, pitched perfectly without a single runner until the seventh inning in his first start of the season against the Giants on April 5, and earned his first professional victory with a shutout against Chunichi on April 1.