Over 46,000 fans watched Roki Sasaki pitch in the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome on Saturday night. The fans cheered every strikeout and murmurs of astonishment shot through the crowd each time Sasaki’s pitches reached 161 kph (100 mph) or above on the radar gun.
There were also cheers in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, Sasaki’s hometown, where residents watched the game during a public viewing and saw one of their own, who overcame tragedy just as they had, have success with the whole baseball world watching.
Sasaki struck out eight batters in his WBC debut and outfielder Masataka Yoshida had another big night as Japan rallied back from an early deficit for a 10-2 victory over the Czech Republic in front of a crowd of 41,647.