Despite throwing a career-high 163.5 mph, opener fails again; Nihon Fujinami loses seventh game already in MLB debut season

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Japanese pitcher Shintaro Fujinami (29, Oakland Athletics) suffered his seventh loss of the season in the opener.

Fujinami took the mound for the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series against Toronto at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Friday (July 25).

In his third opener of the season, the right-hander was pulled after one inning. His final line was two runs on four hits with two strikeouts. The A’s were unable to mount a single comeback after Fujinami’s loss, falling to 3-7, with Fujinami taking the loss.토토사이트

Fujinami gave up a leadoff single to George Springer in the first inning and then a double to Bo Bissett. He then gave up an RBI sacrifice fly to Brandon Belt. He retired the fourth batter, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on an infield grounder with runners on first and second and then gave up a single to Matt Chapman with runners on second and third.

Fujinami was removed after throwing 22 pitches (13 for strikes). His fastball touched 101.6 mph (163.5 km/h) on the day, but it was to no avail. All four of his four-seam fastballs against Chapman topped 100.1 miles per hour (160 km/h).

Fujinami walks off the mound after his first inning start against Toronto on Friday. Photo by Getty Images
Fujinami is 3-7 with a 10.57 ERA on the season.

Fujinami was once rivaled by fellow Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) player Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels). But while Ohtani rose to prominence in Japan and the U.S., Fujinami never quite lived up to expectations, until last winter, when he signed a one-year, $3 million ($3.9 billion) short-term deal with Oakland to fulfill his dream of making it to the big leagues.

After struggling in exhibition games, he was given the opportunity to start in April, but again struggled with a 13.00 ERA. His ERA was 10.50 last month. He has stabilized somewhat this month with a 5.40 ERA, but as an opener, he failed to fulfill his mission again. While his velocity has improved since the beginning of the season, his batting average in June is .323 and his walk rate is 1.92 per nine innings.

Fujinami is struggling in his first season in the majors.