Yudai Ono is exactly the type of pitcher the Sawamura Award committee spent an October morning about this time last year lamenting the game had lost.
He’s also going to force them, for one year at least, to reckon with the monster they created by not handing out the award in 2019.
Ono added another brilliant start to his 2020 resume with a six-hit shutout against the Hanshin Tigers on Wednesday night at Nagoya Dome. He struck out seven and walked one in his fifth shutout and ninth complete game of the season. He hasn’t allowed a run in 36 consecutive innings.