Sunday, June 12, 2022

Card Of The Week June 12

On Tuesday evening Shota Imanaga of the Baystars threw the third no-hitter of the 2022 NPB season.  His gem came against the Fighters who had previously this season been no-hit for nine innings by the Marines in a game they ultimately won in the tenth inning on their only hit - a home run by Chusei Mannami.  It looked for a while that the Imanaga was going to get the same run support that Roki Sasaki had gotten than day - i.e. none - but DeNA rallied to score two runs in the top of the ninth to ensure the game ended after nine.  It was the first no-hitter ever thrown by an NPB pitcher at Sapporo Dome and with the Fighters moving to a new stadium next year, it may be the last.  It was also the first no-hitter thrown by a Baystars pitcher since Hiroshi Kito threw one on almost the same day in 1970 (June 9th instead of June 7th) when the franchise was still called the Taiyo Whales and played their home games in Kawasaki.

Here's a 2021 Calbee Star card of Imanaga (#S-19):



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