Lotte Marines manager and former Chicago White Sox player Tadahito Iguchi (L) poses with his team's 2019 first-draft pick, hard-throwing high school pitcher Roki Sasaki, in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, on Oct. The Marines beat out three other teams in a four-way draft day lottery for Sasaki in 2019, but sidelined him for the entire 2020 season as Lotte's management, like Sasaki's high school coach, took a long view of their prize prospect. Concerned about Sasaki's low bone density, the manager wanted to protect his arm for the future, something that goes against the grain of Japanese high school baseball's belief in sacrificing everything for victory. It was Sasaki's senior year, and his final chance to play on the national stage as a high schooler, and he was not injured. When his high school manager opted not to pitch Sasaki in Iwate's prefectural championship game, whose winner would advance to the national championship finals at iconic Koshien Stadium, many throughout Japan were outraged. Lotte Marines pitcher Roki Sasaki (C) is congratulated by teammates after throwing a perfect game against the Orix Buffaloes on April 10, 2022, in a Pacific League baseball game at Zozo Marine Stadium in Chiba, Japan. While at Iwate Prefecture's Ofunato High School, Sasaki, began attracting the attention of Major League Baseball scouts even before a pitch of his at a national youth team training camp was clocked at 163 kilometers (101.3 miles) per hour by an NPB scout. Sports website Dazn streamed the Pacific League game between the Marines and Orix Buffaloes, and reported the broadcast attracted a record number of viewers for the site's Japanese pro baseball content.Īs an encore, Sasaki struck out 14 over eight perfect innings on Sunday before leaving the game with the score tied 0-0. Sasaki's perfect game achieved a "game score" - a measure developed by ground-breaking analyst Bill James - of 106, one better than the highest ever recorded in MLB for a nine-inning game. "I'm glad to have done something that will last," he said. Kishida and Yoon will pay their respects together at a Hiroshima memorial for Korean atomic bomb victims in a trust-building gesture as the two countries repair ties strained by disputes stemming from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.Composite photo shows Roki Sasaki of the Lotte Marines pitching against the Orix Buffaloes in a Pacific League baseball game at Zozo Marine Stadium in Chiba, Japan, on April 10, 2022. In a closely watched event on the sidelines of the summit, Kishida will meet together with President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to discuss closer security cooperation, possibly including stronger nuclear deterrence. To address the rise of Global South nations, including many former colonies of Western powers with varied views on and ties to Russia and China, the G7 will offer these countries more support in health, food security and infrastructure to develop closer ties. There will also be a focus on Beijing’s escalating threats against Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island Beijing claims as its own, and ways to reduce Western democracies’ economic and supply chain dependency on China. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will join the session via the internet. G7 leaders are expected to strongly condemn Russia’s war on Ukraine while pledging their continuing support for Ukraine.
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