Shintaro Fujinami of the Oakland Athletics had a disappointing outing.
The right-hander made his 2023 Major League Baseball debut against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre in Ontario, Canada, on Friday and was pulled early after giving up two runs on four hits in ⅔ innings. Fujinami’s ERA rose to 10.57.
Fujinami totaled 22 pitches on the day, with only 13 being called strikes. His fastball topped out at 101.6 mph (163 km/h), but he was unable to shut down the Toronto lineup. Fujimani was forced to leave the game early after the Toronto bats came alive카지노사이트.
Fujimani gave up a leadoff single to George Springer in the first inning and then a double to Bo Pt. With runners on second and third, Fujinami gave up a sacrifice fly to left field to Brandon Belt for the go-ahead run.
He then got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground out to shortstop, but gave up a single to right-center to Matt Chapman. An infield single to Whit Merrifield got the bench moving, and Fujinami eventually gave the ball to Hogan Harris. Harris struck out the next batter, Dolton Basho, to end the inning.
Fujinami is still trying to find his footing. Fujinami, who reached the major leagues this year through the posting system, initially prepared for the season as a starting pitcher. He could deliver a powerful fastball that topped 100 mph (160 km/h), but his secondary pitches remained a weakness from his Nippon Professional Baseball days.
Eventually, Fujinami was dropped from the starting rotation and moved to the bullpen. He was effectively relegated to the closer’s role. In the bullpen, his pitches seemed to be getting better, but he was still not performing up to expectations.
Japanese sports publication Junichi Sports expressed disappointment in Fujinami’s performance, stating, “Fujinami made his third appearance as an opener, but was pulled after just one inning.” Another publication, Sportshochi, wrote, “There was a lot of sighing online while Fujinami was pitching. Teary-eyed emojis appeared in the chat window,” while another outlet, Sportshō, said, “There was a lot of unkindness toward Fujinami.