It’s always a little alarming when people start talking about a perfect game before it’s half over, but Shoki Murakami was dealing. No one reached base against him through four innings, conjuring up images of his first start in 2023 against the Yomiuri Giants (April 12, 7 perfect innings). The perfect game vanished against the first batter of the fifth, but it was basically too late at that point. The Tigers ripped apart (soon-to-be) three-time Sawamura Award winner Yoshinobu Yamamoto, to the tune of four runs on five hits in the fifth inning. Murakami’s pitch count was a little high in the fifth (30 pitches) but he continued to rack up zeroes. The Tigers’ bats used another barrage of hitting in the sixth to pad the lead, and Yamamoto hit the showers. No one reached third base for the Buffaloes all night. Every Tigers starting hitter reached base at least once, and Koji Chikamoto did it four times, coming just a home run away from hitting for the cycle. What an amazing start to the Great Kansai Derby!
