Cy Sneed of the Houston Astros pitches during the game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on August 21, 2020 in San Diego, California. The Padres defeated the Astros 4-3. (Photo by Rob Leiter/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Tokyo Yakult Swallows starting pitcher Cy Sneed threw a complete game shutout on Sunday, beating the Chunichi Dragons 1-0 in their final game of their three game homestand at Jingu Stadium.
Sneed became the first foreign pitcher to throw a complete game shutout since former Yakult Swallows pitcher Orlando Roman accomplished that feat against the Yokohama DeNA Baystars on August 9, 2012.
Sneed faced 31 batters, throwing 115 pitches and allowing four hits, no walks, and striking out five.
Sneed is now 6-6 during the 2023 season and has thrown two complete games with 104.1 innings allowing 106 hits, 12 home runs, 29 walks, and 85 strikeouts including a 3.62 ERA in 18 games.
Sneed, playing in his third season in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Swallows, is 21-14 with a 3.54 ERA and has thrown 305.1 innings, allowing 306 hits, 38 home runs, 78 walks, and has struck out 250 batters.
Sneed played two seasons for the Houston Astros from 2019-20 before heading over to Japan.
The Swallows lone run of Sunday’s game came from right fielder Domingo Santana’s solo home run over the right center field wall in the bottom of the second inning.
Dragons starting pitcher Yua Yanagi dropped his record to 3-9 in the season. Yanagi threw eight innings, facing 27 batters and allowing five hits, one earned runs, no walks and struck out eight during his performance on Sunday.
The Dragons have also been shutout 18 times this season, and have lost 12 consecutive games on the road, which they haven’t done since the 1969 Nippon Professional Baseball season.
The Swallows are 47-60-2 and are in fourth place in the Central League. The Dragons are in last place in the Central League at 41-65-3.
The Swallows will start their three game series against the fourth place 53-54-1 Yomiuri Giants on the road in the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday at 5 a.m. EDT. The Dragons will go on the road to Osaka, Japan in their three game series against the first place Central League Hanshin Tigers at 65-41-4 at 5 a.m. EDT in Koshien Stadium.