Masahiro Tanaka (Rakuten), who has 195 career wins in Japan and the United States, has been hit again. According to Japanese media, Tanaka’s chances of reaching 200 career wins in Japan and the United States this season are slim.
Tanaka started the game against the Nippon Ham Fighters on Sunday at Rakuten Mobile Park in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, and struggled, allowing seven runs on eight hits and three walks in 4⅔ innings.
It was the fourth time this season he allowed seven or more runs. Rakuten was unable to overcome the early deficit and fell to 5-9, with Tanaka taking the loss.카지노
Rakuten opened the scoring with a solo home run by Hiroto Kobukata in the top of the first inning, but Tanaka gave up a run in the second. One out later, he gave up a single to Martinez and a walk to Hanson. With runners on first and second, he gave up a two-run double to Yuya Gunji. Tied the game at 1-2.
Worked out of a jam in the third, then walked Martinez with one out in the fourth. A failed steal of second put two on and Hanson singled to right, but a grounder to the second baseman ended the inning. Rakuten got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Franco, a foreign hitter, doubled to right and scored on an infield grounder and a sacrifice fly. It tied the game at 2-2.
Tanaka, however, gave up a big run in the fifth inning. The bottom of the order, batting eighth and ninth, gave up a single up the middle and a double to right field to put runners on second and third with no outs. He struck out top hitter Kosuke Kato for the first out and got Kou Matsumoto to ground out to the second baseman for the second out, allowing the runners to score from third. It was 2-3 again.
Then he was hit by a pitch with runners on second and third. Kotaro Kiyomiya hit a triple up the middle to score another run. Mannami Chusei doubled to left, scoring another run. Martinez singled up the middle to score the sixth run.
He was pulled with the bases loaded and two outs. The reliever gave up back-to-back singles, allowing the runner Tanaka had left on first base to score, increasing his deficit to seven runs.
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The loss dropped Tanaka’s season record to 5-6 with a 4.92 ERA in 15 games. The nearly five-run ERA is the lowest among 54 pitchers with at least 10 starts in both major leagues.
A Japanese media outlet wrote, “Tanaka could reach 200 career wins in Japan and the U.S. this year. If he stays in the starting rotation for the rest of the season, he has a chance to start eight or nine games. Five more wins and he’ll reach the milestone.” “But Tanaka has been on a one-win-a-month pace this season since his opening day win over Nippon Ham on March 30. He hasn’t had a winning streak since, and has alternated wins and losses since May 23 against the Orix. We can’t keep that pace for the next three months.”
Tanaka, who played for the New York Yankees from 2014-2020 before returning to Rakuten in 2021, earned Nippon Professional Baseball’s highest salary of 900 million yen ($8.2 billion) for the second straight year. He went 4-9 with a 3.01 ERA in 23 games in 2021, and struggled last year, going 9-12 with a 3.31 ERA in 25 games.
This season, he took a significant pay cut. He signed for 475 million yen ($3.9 billion), down from 425 million yen ($4.3 billion). Another significant pay cut is expected after this season.