20-year-old pitching phenom Roki Sasaki throws perfect game with 19 strikeouts in Japan's NPB

Apr 10, 2022 | News On Japan

Sasaki, who threw NPB's first perfect game in 28 years, is considered a future MLB prospect

Apr 10, 2022 (cbssports.com) - Roki Sasaki, a 20-year-old right-handed starter for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league, may have authored the pitching performance of the year on Sunday by delivering a 19-strikeout perfect game.

Sasaki's perfect game, the first in NPB in 28 years, came against the Orix Buffaloes, a team whose lineup features former big-league players like Breyvic Valera and Rangel Ravelo. It didn't matter to Sasaki, who tied the league record for strikeouts and set a new mark for consecutive strikeouts by notching 13 in a row over one inspired stretch.

Sasaki finished the day with a 106 Game Score, a metric created by Bill James that attempts to put a single number on a pitcher's dominance by factoring in their box score statistics from any given outing. For perspective, the highest Game Score in Major League Baseball last season was the 99 pitched by Baltimore Orioles left-hander John Means in May when he no-hit the Seattle Mariners in an outing that saw him nearly toss a perfect game. Furthermore, the highest game score in MLB since the last round of expansion belongs to former Chicago Cubs phenom Kerry Wood (105), who struck out 20 Houston Astros as part of a one-hitter back in May 1998.

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