Fumiya Nishiguchi 9 perfect innings.

[Hmark6]

Not sure where this should go, or if anyone cares about Japanese baseball.
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The Yomiuri Shimbun

It would have been the 16th perfect game in Japan pro baseball history, and the first since 1994. Unfortunately, Fumiya Nishiguchi had to pitch another inning.

Seibu's Nishiguchi (16-4) threw nine perfect innings against expansion the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, but had to settle for a 10-inning, one-hit shutout as the Lions won 1-0 on Saturday night.

It took a two-out RBI double by Yoshihito Ishii to center to score the winning run in the bottom of the 10th to give Nishiguchi the win after Rakuten rookie Yasuhiro Ichiba, at 0-7 still searching for his first win, blanked the Lions for nine innings at Invoice Seibu Dome.

Nishiguchi was one of the first to greet Ishii after his liner to center off Kazuo Fukumori (4-2) bounced in and out of the glove of center fielder Manabu Satake.

On May 13, Nishiguchi was one pitch away from a no-hitter against the Yomiuri Giants before Takayuki Shimizu belted a solo homer to break it up in the ninth.

This time it was Rakuten's Yoshinori Okihara, who singled to right lead off the 10th. Nishiguchi also walked Takeshi Yamasaki with two outs, but struck out Koichi Sekikawa to end the threat.

"I didn't have my best stuff tonight, but the results were good," Nishiguchi said. "I couldn't finish it off, though" said the hurler, who added that the fourth-place defending Japan Series champions are working hard to grab the third playoff spot in the Pacific League.

Nishiguchi, who struck out 10 and walked one, equaled a career best with his 16th win, which also tied him for the PL lead.

No pitcher in Japan had ever taken a perfect game into extra innings, and only nine no-hitters had gone beyond the ninth inning.

[Kingdom]

Best name ever.

[Geki Ace]

This guy sounds like quite the pitcher, if he can pitch 9 perfect innings without his best stuff.