Shintaro Fujinami (Oakland Athletics), who was called a rival of Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels) in high school, displayed an impressive pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won 111 games last year.
Fujinami started on the 20th (Korean time) in the 2023 major league demonstration game against the Los Angeles Dodgers held at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, USA, and became the winning pitcher with 4 ⅔ innings, 1 hit, 5 walks, 4 strikeouts and 1 run. It is the third consecutive individual victory in the exhibition match. 온라인바카라
From the first inning with a two-point lead, James Ottman, Freddie Freeman, and J.D. Martinez struck out in the order of three strikeouts. In the second inning, he walked Tracy Thompson after one out, but finished the inning with Miguel Rojas with a double stroke.
He conceded the first run in the third inning, still leading 2–0. His pitch shook sharply, giving up three consecutive walks from leader Miguel Vargas to Stephen Dugger and Patrick Majaica. He struck out Ottman on a swing and took a breather, but Freeman hit a sacrifice fly. The continued crisis with 2nd, 1st and 2nd base was overcome by catching Martinez with a floating ball in left field.
In the fourth inning, after walking lead Max Muncy, he committed a wild throw and was put on second base safely. Afterwards, Thompson’s well-hit ball went straight to the shortstop, and Muncy, who had not yet returned, was out from second base, and two out counts rose in an instant. The follow-up Rojas caught it with a shortstop grounder.
Fujinami, who was on the mound in the 5th inning with a 5-1 lead, was replaced by Austin Briggs after giving up a double to Majeika after two outs. Fujinami’s earned run remained at 0 as Briggs returned Freeman with a fly ball to left field in a crisis that continued with Ottman’s walk. The number of pitches was 79, and the highest fastball speed was 97 miles (156 km).
Fujinami threw a 160km fastball in high school and was called Ohtani’s rival. After that, he entered the professional league wearing a Hanshin Tigers uniform and won double-digit wins for three consecutive years from 2013, but since 2017, he has not lived up to expectations due to difficulties in ball hunting and injuries. In 2020, following the Corona 19 infection, he was also punished for being late for team training and was relegated to the second team indefinitely.
Last year, Fujinami, who had an average ERA of 3.38 in 16 games, 3 wins and 5 losses, pushed for advancement into the major leagues through the posting system after the season. And finally, on January 14th, he made his dream come true by signing a contract with Auckland for 3.25 million dollars (about 4 billion won) for a year.
Fujinami’s prospects for his debut season are bright with a respectable record of 3 wins, 0 loss and 4.26 earned run average in 4 exhibition matches. After the game, Fujinami said, “It was a game where the good and bad points were clearly revealed. With a little bit of strength, there were 3 consecutive walks, but I overcame it through adjustment. He expressed his determination, saying, “I will make the mechanism more stable and participate in the final match of the exhibition game.”