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Date: August 30, 1973
As the season was heading into its final month and the Tigers fighting to catch the Yomiuri Giants (who had won 8 straight Nippon Series at this point), the Tigers faced the Chunichi Dragons at Koshien Stadium. Young ace Yutaka Enatsu (25) was on the mound, and he pitched a game for the ages. In fact, through nine innings he was holding onto a no-hitter. Unfortunately for him, the nine Tigers hitters (himself included) could not plate a single base runner, and the game went into extra innings. Enatsu trotted out to the mound in the 10th, shut out the Dragons, and sat in the dugout as the home team again got shut out in the bottom half. Once again, the ace mowed down the Dragons, completing an unthinkable 11 innings of no-hit ball.
The bottom of inning saw Enatsu slated to lead off. Pitchers are rarely good hitters, and Enatsu was no exception (he finished the year batting .133). Rather than subbing in a pinch hitter, manager Masayasu Kaneda let him step into the batter’s box. And the first pitch he saw…
Unbelievable. After the game, an elated Enatsu was quoted as saying, “I guess one person can win a baseball game on his own!” Truly on this night, he was right.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, they finished the year just 0.5 games out of first place, and just 1.0 ahead of third-place Chunichi. The Giants went on to win their ninth straight Nippon Series, but the streak ended the following year when the Chunichi Dragons ousted them, led by manager Wally Yonamine.
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