Fujii K's 9 Hawks in a Row

For you stat heads out there, twice in Japanese baseball history has a pitcher gotten nine consecutive strikeouts in an official game. The first such feat was in 1957 by southpaw Takao Kajimoto of the Hankyu Braves (now the Orix Blue Wave) against Nankai (now Daiei) on July 23rd of that year. Kajimoto went on to win 24 games that year and lose 16 with an ERA of 1.92 in 53 appearances. For his career, Kajimoto won 254 and dropped 255 with a lifetime ERA of 2.98. Can you say, "no run support"?

The other time someone has culled nine straight empties from opposition batters was on May 31st of 1958, when Masayuki Dobashi of the Toei Flyers (now Nippon Ham) did it against the Nishitetsu (now Seibu) Lions. In 1961, Dobashi would be a 30 game winner and eventually finish with a record of 162-135 with an ERA of 2.66. So Fujii has gotten himself into some pretty elite company.

In 1971, lefthander Yutaka Enatsu, who also owns the strikeout world record for a season at 401 (that was in 329 innings, 10.97 K/9 against an average of 2.65 BB/9) in 1968 when he was with Hanshin, started against the Pacific League's best in an all star game at Nishinomiya Stadium and nine came up and nine went back to the dugout after leaving strike three behind in the catcher's mit. And to make it even more memorable, Enatsu clouted a dinger deep into the rightfield stands in the top of the second. Eight of the nine Enatsu whiffed went down hacking.

And to make this accomplishment even crazier, in 1970, Enatsu fanned the final five hitters he faced in that season's all star series and then got another strikeout against the first hitter he faced in the third game in the 1971 all star series. Thus, Enatsu mowed down 15 of the PL's finest in a row in those five innings. Incredible.

Yomiuri Giants great Suguru Egawa struckout eight in a row in all star action in 1984 to come close to Enatsu. The MLB all star record for consecutive strikeouts by one pitcher is five.

Thanks for the information.

I picked up a book sometime ago on Ebay that is a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the two league system in Japan. Since it's all in Japanese, I can't read a word of it, but they have a lot of pictures and I've been able to identify most of the players. In the section on All Star games, they have pictures of both Enatsu and Egawa and (I assume) some discussion of both of their feats. On the same page with them, there is a picture of Daisuke Matsuzaka that is apparantly from the 1999 All Star series. Did he have an impressive consecutive strikeout stretch in an All Star Game also?

> Thanks for the information.
>
> I picked up a book sometime ago on Ebay that is a
> celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the two league
> system in Japan. Since it's all in Japanese, I can't
> read a word of it, but they have a lot of pictures
> and I've been able to identify most of the players.
> In the section on All Star games, they have pictures
> of both Enatsu and Egawa and (I assume) some
> discussion of both of their feats. On the same page
> with them, there is a picture of Daisuke Matsuzaka
> that is apparantly from the 1999 All Star series.
> Did he have an impressive consecutive strikeout
> t stretch in an All Star Game also?

I don't think it was consecutive, but he struck out 5 in three innings. I think but I can't at all accurately recall, that he struck out two in the first, two in the second, and then one in the third. The key point, though, is that this was Matsuzaka's rookie year. Pretty darn impressive...