Japanese starter Yu Darvish struck out three and walked one over four no-hit innings. (Getty Images)
Yu Darvish was up to the challenge of being tabbed as the starting pitcher for the first game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He pitched 4 no-hit innings, allowing just one walk and striking out three batters before yielding to Hideaki Wakui in the fifth inning.
More coverage at WorldBaseballClassic.com
Box Score
Japan (1-0) 4, China (0-1) 0
March 5, 2009
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | |
| Japan | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 4 | 5 | 0 | |
| China | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun, L, CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | |
| Hou, DH | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | |
| Chang, SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .250 | |
| Feng, F, RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .333 | |
| Wang, C, LF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| Liu, G, 2B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | |
| Chu, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| Jia, D, 3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| a-Chen, Hao, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| Zhang, F, 3B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Zhang, Z, C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | |
| b-Yang, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | |
| Li, C, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Chen, J, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Sun, G, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Liu, K, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Totals | 29 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 8 | .172 | |
| a-Lined out for Jia, D in the 8th. b-Singled for Zhang, Z in the 9th. | |||||||||
| BATTING TB: Sun, L; Chang; Feng, F; Liu, G; Yang. GIDP: Wang, C; Hou. Team LOB: 3. BASERUNNING FIELDING |
|||||||||
| Japan | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suzuki, RF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | |
| Nakajima, SS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| Aoki, LF-CF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .500 | |
| Inaba, DH | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .250 | |
| Murata, 3B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .250 | |
| Ogasawara, 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | |
| Fukudome, CF | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| 1-Kataoka, PR-2B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Johjima, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .000 | |
| 2-Kamei, PR-LF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Iwamura, 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .000 | |
| Abe, C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Darvish, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Wakui, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Yamaguchi, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Tanaka, M, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Mahara, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Fujikawa, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Totals | 29 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 24 | .172 | |
| 1-Ran for Fukudome in the 8th. 2-Ran for Johjima in the 8th. | |||||||||
| BATTING 2B: Aoki (1, Li, C), Inaba (1, Sun, G). HR: Murata (1, 3rd inning off Li, C, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Aoki 3; Inaba 2; Murata 4; Ogasawara. RBI: Murata 2 (2). 2-out RBI: Murata 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Murata 2; Iwamura; Aoki 2; Nakajima; Ogasawara. GIDP: Johjima. Team LOB: 9. BASERUNNING FIELDING |
|||||||||
| China | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Li, C (L, 0-1) | 3.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9.00 | |
| Chen, J | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | |
| Sun, G | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Liu, K | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Totals | 8.0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 4.50 | |
| Japan | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darvish (W, 1-0) | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Wakui (H, 1) | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Yamaguchi | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Tanaka, M | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Mahara | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Fujikawa | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Totals | 9.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0.00 |
Chen, J pitched to 1 batter in the 6th.
WP: Li, C.
Balk: Sun, G.
IBB: Nakajima (by Chen, J).
Pitches-strikes: Li, C 61-32, Chen, J 43-20, Sun, G 37-25, Liu, K 18-10, Darvish 46-26, Wakui 26-17, Yamaguchi 7-7, Tanaka, M 7-5, Mahara 10-5, Fujikawa 20-13.
Groundouts-flyouts: Li, C 6-2, Chen, J 3-3, Sun, G 2-1, Liu, K 1-2, Darvish 5-3, Wakui 5-0, Yamaguchi 2-0, Tanaka, M 1-0, Mahara 2-1, Fujikawa 1-1.
Batters faced: Li, C 15, Chen, J 10, Sun, G 8, Liu, K 4, Darvish 12, Wakui 6, Yamaguchi 2, Tanaka, M 2, Mahara 4, Fujikawa 4.
Inherited runners-scored: Sun, G 1-1.
Umpires: HP: Ed Hickox. 1B: Jorge Perez. 2B: Dana DeMuth. 3B: Daniel Toledo.
Weather: 72 degrees, dome.
Wind: Indoors.
T: 2:55.
Att: 43,428.
Interesting that the Japanese players currently playing for MLB teams combined for exactly 0 hits (although Fukudome did gather 4 walks in the contest)