Haruki Hosono of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters delivered a historic performance Tuesday night, throwing a no-hitter against the Chiba Lotte Marines in a 9–0 win in the Fighters’ home opener at Es Con Field Hokkaido.
Hosono became the 91st pitcher in Japanese professional baseball history to throw a no-hitter. It marked the 103rd such game in regular-season history dating back to 1936, and the first since Daichi Ohsera on June 7, 2024.
Since 2000, he is just the fourth pitcher to throw a no-hitter with 12 or more strikeouts, joining household names Toshiya Sugiuchi, Kodai Senga, and Roki Sasaki.
It was also the first no-hitter in franchise history since Cody Ponce on August 27, 2022, against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
“It’s slowly starting to sink in that I did something special,” Hosono said postgame.
The 24-year-old southpaw was in complete control from the outset, dominating after issuing a leadoff walk to Akito Takabe. Apart from a hit-by-pitch to Kyota Fujiwara in the fourth inning, he was nearly flawless the rest of the way.
Mixing a mid-90s fastball with a sinker, splitter, slider, and cutter, he struck out 12 over 128 pitches.
He appeared to have the final out secured on a ground ball from Koki Yamaguchi with two outs in the ninth, but a fielding error by Kotaro Kiyomiya at first base extended the inning and briefly put the no-hit bid in jeopardy.
Undeterred, Hosono regrouped and froze Fujiwara with a 93 mph fastball on the outside corner to seal the milestone.
Offensively, the Fighters provided plenty of support early. They broke the game open with a seven-run second inning against Yuto Kimura, highlighted by back-to-back home runs from Kiyomiya and Franmil Reyes. The duo homered in consecutive at-bats again in the seventh, adding two more runs.
Hosono, a 2023 first-round pick out of Toyo University, had been highly touted as a top prospect but had yet to establish himself as a regular in the rotation, as this was only his ninth career start. That certainly changed Tuesday night.
