22.1KYomiuri Giants pitcher Haruto Inoue set a career-high with 14 strikeouts (Photo: Chunichi Shimbun)
Yomiuri Giants southpaw Haruto Inoue dazzles with a 14-strikeout game, Rakuten Eagles slugger Hideto Asamura hits his 300th career home run, and the Hanshin Tigers continue their hot streak to take over the best record in Japan. All that and more in this week’s recap.
Stat Leaders (So Far)
Haruto Inoue’s 14 strikeouts
Tuesday (April 22)
Haruto Inoue’s 14 strikeouts
Haruto Inoue (Giants) struck out 14 batters with no walks in eight innings against the Dragons. Final line: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 14 K. It was the most strikeouts in an NPB game since Roki Sasaki with 14 on July 12, 2023, and the most in a Central League game since Shota Imanaga with 15 on July 7, 2023.
Hideto Asamura (Eagles) smashed his 300th career home run. He hit 147 with Seibu and now has 153 and counting with Rakuten.
Shogo Nakamura hit a walk-off single to push the Marines over the Lions in extras.
Wednesday (April 16)
Ruei Yang Gu Lin’s NPB debut
Reigning CPBL MVP Ruei Yang Gu Lin made his NPB debut for the Fighters. His fastball was up to 96 mph, but he was knocked out in the sixth inning after allowing five earned runs against the Eagles.
Yusuke Ohyama hit a go-ahead home run in the tenth inning to lift the Tigers over the BayStars.
Thursday (April 24)
Shota Morishita’s go-ahead homer
Shota Morishita broke a 2-2 tie with a two-run shot in the seventh inning as the Tigers topped the BayStars again, putting them within 0.5 games of Hiroshima for first place in the CL.
Friday (April 25)
Teruaki Sato’s eighth home run
Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts across seven shutout innings against the Hawks.
Tatsuya Imai (Lions) struck out nine batters in seven scoreless frames, lowering his season ERA to 0.69.
Shoki Murakami’s eight strong innings and Teruaki Sato’s NPB-leading eighth home run of 2025 led the Tigers to their fifth straight win.
Saturday (April 26)
Chihiro Sumida’s 11 strikeouts
Chihiro Sumida (Lions) threw seven shutout innings with 11 punchouts (and 24 swinging strikes!) against the Buffaloes, lowering his season ERA to 0.58.
