Major League Baseball's Padres pitcher Hiroki Matsui pitched as the fifth pitcher in the first game of the exhibition game that began on the 22nd, and showed perfect pitching with a sharp slider that resulted in three consecutive strikeouts.
Pitcher Matsui, who transferred from Rakuten of professional baseball to the Padres of Major League Baseball this season, took the mound as the fifth man in the third inning of the first exhibition game against the Dodgers held in Peoria, Arizona on the 22nd. Ta.
Pitcher Matsui drove in a strike against the first batter with his third pitch, the fastest fastball of the day at 149.6km/h, and then threw a low, sharp slider on his fourth pitch, resulting in a strikeout.
After driving in the next batter with fastballs and splits, he struck out on the fourth pitch with a slider, and then the third batter also struck out with a high outside angle slider, giving him a total of 12 pitches and three consecutive strikeouts. I did.
There was also a scene where he hit a foul ball with a high fastball, which he had been working on during camp, and his first pitching in an actual game was a great success.
Pitcher Matsui responded to an interview after pitching and said with a smile, ``I think I had good sense from the bullpen and was able to do some good things.His fastball was the best, but I think the result was too good.''
He said he was "nervous" in his first actual game, but when he took the mound, shortstop Kim Ha-sung called out to him in Japanese, "Good luck!"
Pitcher Matsui said, ``Today was a very good day,'' and added, ``There's no guarantee that I'll be able to hold it down next time.If I can get the split where I want it to be and get the third deciding pitch, I think my hand will expand.'' ``I want to correct my splits for my next pitching,'' he said.