Sun Yilei Earns First NPB Win — 6 Innings, 8 Ks, No Runs; Personal Records Set [Video]

Taipei, June 11 (CNA) — Taiwanese pitcher Sun Yilei, pitching for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), delivered six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, not only setting personal records for innings and strikeouts but also earning his first career victory at the NPB top level as his team won 3-0.

Sun opened the game by repeatedly firing fastballs, with four of six early fastballs reaching 155 km/h and his slowest recorded at 153 km/h. He completely suppressed the Yokohama lineup through the first four innings, racking up 12 consecutive outs.

In the fifth, Sun surrendered a single to Yoshitomo Tsutsugo and then issued a walk to Ryuki Tsuji, after which Yokohama executed a sacrifice bunt. With one out and the bases in play, Sun struck out a batter and then induced a double-play fly from Matsuo Shion on a 157 km/h fastball to keep the bases frozen.

In the sixth inning, Sun began with a strikeout but then allowed a hit to Ebiina Tatsuo and a subsequent steal of second base. He struck out Shugo Maki to end the threat and later retired a batter on an outfield fly to extinguish another scoring chance.

Last season, Sun’s longest one-game start at the top level was 3.1 innings and his single-game high for strikeouts was three. Today’s six innings and eight strikeouts greatly improved upon his personal bests. He threw 95 pitches with a top speed of 157 km/h, allowing just two hits and no runs.

When Sun left the mound the score remained 0-0. In the bottom of the sixth, the Fighters strung together hits to load the bases. Yuki Nomura delivered a sacrifice fly to bring in the first run, and Rodolfo Castro followed with an RBI single to add another. The Fighters added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and went on to a 3-0 victory. (Edited by Long Po-an)

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Article ID: 1150611