Trevor Bauer of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars has reached double-digit wins in his first season in Nippon Professional Baseball. But instead of celebrating his 10 wins, Bauer showed his true colors as he consoled the opposing team’s pitcher and won the Cy Young Award.
Bauer took the mound against the Junichi Dragons of the Nippon Professional Baseball 2023 at the Banterin Dome in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on May 25, throwing 126 pitches over eight innings, allowing two runs (two earned) on seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts to earn his 10th win of the season.
Bauer bounced back against the Hanshin Tigers on April 20, throwing a whopping 120 pitches over eight innings, allowing two runs (two earned) on nine hits with one walk and six strikeouts for a Quality Start+ (seven innings of three runs or less). Despite his struggles, Bauer was unable to get the win as the bats didn’t respond. He made up for it today.
Backed by three runs to start the game, Bauer got out of the first inning with all three outs on fly balls. He got out of the first inning just fine. After getting leadoff hitter Takuya Kinoshita to ground out to third base in the second inning, Bauer suddenly got shaky and gave up three straight singles to load the bases. But he got out of the jam by striking out Takahiro Matsuba and Yuki Okabayashi in succession.
The first run came in the third inning. After giving up singles to Seiya Hosokawa and Kinoshita, Bauer was hit by a 152-mph fastball from Orlando Calixte with runners on first and second, allowing two runners to score. Bauer didn’t falter, however, and got the next batter to ground out to first base to prevent further damage, then escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth to record his first career triple play in the fifth against Junichi’s center field lineup.
After cruising through the first inning, Bauer gave up a run in the sixth on back-to-back doubles with the bases loaded, but it didn’t matter as the bats held strong. Bauer returned to the mound in the seventh to record his second no-hitter of the day with two strikeouts, and then shut down the Junichi bats in the eighth with a 155-mph fastball on 125 pitches to earn his 10th win of the season.
Bauer had a moment of clarification after the game. Bauer started the game wearing a light blue glove, but after being warned by the umpire in the third inning, he switched to a pink glove. According to Japan’s Junichi Sports, Bauer said, “The umpire joked, ‘It’s too cool, the other players are envious, so why don’t you change it?’ I think he made that comment because my glove laces were shining,” Bauer laughed.
And before Bauer could bask in the glow of his 10th win, he showed some class by consoling his opposing pitcher. Ren Kondo, who took the mound in the top of the ninth, had given up 10 runs (eight earned) on eight hits and five walks in one inning. “I have one thing to say,” Bauer said, “any good pitcher has days like this. Don’t be discouraged or disheartened by the result, and keep moving forward,” he said in a message of support. 스포츠토토
Bauer went on to win 10 games in his first season in Japanese professional baseball, becoming only the second foreign pitcher in Yokohama DeNA history to win 10 games. He also struck out seven batters, giving him 128 strikeouts on the season, breaking the club’s all-time record for strikeouts by a foreign pitcher by 20 years (123).