Veteran pitcher Masahiro Tanaka (35)스포츠토토 of the Rakuten Eagles of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) suffered two consecutive defeats.
Tanaka took the mound as a starting pitcher in an away game against the Seibu Lions held at Vernadome, Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan on the 17th, and became the losing pitcher with 7 hits, 3 strikeouts, 3 walks and 4 runs in 5⅔ innings. Tanaka, who recorded his 8th loss of the season with the loss on this day, tied for first place with the most losses in the Pacific League.
As if trying to make up for the sluggish appearance on the 10th (losing 6 runs in 5⅓ innings), Tanaka cruised through the early stages of the game by treating the 1st and 2nd innings as a tripartite withdrawal. After allowing the first hit after one run at the end of the 3rd inning, where Rakuten led 2-0, they faced a scoring crisis with 2 out, 1st and 3rd bases, but kept the lead by passing the inning without conceding a run.
However, from the 4th inning, Tanaka was shaken sharply. Tanaka, who gave up a walk to lead hitter Mark Peyton, threw a fly ball off fourth hitter Takeya Nakamura, but gave up a walk to Shuta Tonosaki again, causing a crisis with one company on first and second base. To make matters worse, Tanaka, who made 1 out, 2nd and 3rd base with a wild throw, gave David McKinnon an RBI on a sacrifice fly, and then allowed Kento Watanabe to tie the game at the right time.
The 5th was also difficult. Tanaka allowed leadoff hitter Shinya Hasegawa to double, and Seibu sent a runner to third base on a sacrifice bunt. Tanaka, who allowed Sosuke Genda an RBI on a come-from-behind sacrifice fly, gave Peyton an infield hit and sent a runner out again. In the end, Nakamura hit a double at the right time, and Tanaka’s run went up to 4 points.
Tanaka also went to the mound in the 6th inning. Tanaka, who handled the lead batter as a fly ball, got an infield hit from Watanabe and sent the runner into scoring range with a wild throw. After getting the second out count with a grounder, Tanaka created a crisis with 2 outs on 1st and 3rd base with a walk and eventually came down from the mound. Tomohiro Anraku, who took over the baton, cleared the innings with a foul ball, and Tanaka’s runs did not increase any more.
Rakuten, who could not score an extra point after the other line scored 2 points in the 1st inning, lost to Seibu 2-4. Tanaka, who recorded his 8th loss of the season, saw his ERA soar to 4.97, and he was on the verge of entering the 5-point range. Tanaka is the only pitcher with an ERA of 4 out of 22 pitchers who filled the required innings in NPB this season. It is more than three times higher than the 1.50 ERA of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix Buffaloes), who ranks first in the NPB overall.
Tanaka, who suffered the most losses (12 losses) despite receiving the league’s highest annual salary of 900 million yen (approximately 8.297 billion won) last year when he was in his second year of returning to NPB, suffered the humiliation of the most losses (12 losses). 10,000 won) was renewed. Even though it has been reduced by almost half, Tanaka, who still receives a high salary that is equivalent to the 9th place in the overall NPB salary, is not worth the ransom at all with an average ERA of 4.97 with 6 wins and 8 losses in 18 games. Tanaka, who has 78 major league wins and 118 NPB wins, is just 4 games away from reaching 200 career wins in the US and Japan, but the road to his milestone is arduous.