Boston Red Sox rookie Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched five hitless innings but the walks he issued to five Cincinnati Reds left him silent and dissatisfied after the spring training game on Monday.
Following Boston's 5-0 loss, Matsuzaka stared at the floor in the visitors' clubhouse for some time.
It's not the way he wanted his last full tuneup for his first major league season to end, especially for a player the Red Sox invested US$103 million in because of his ability to avoid such struggles during eight seasons in Japan.
PHOTO: AP
The usually cooperative pitcher refused to talk to reporters and issued a statement instead.
"This time of year I think the content of my pitching is more important than the result on paper. I am not happy with the content of my pitching today," it said.
"I threw a lot of walks and wasted balls," it said. "It was tough on my [fielders] to defend and to get into a good rhythm on offense. It's something I will want to pay attention to in the regular season."
Manager Terry Francona said the right-hander was fine physically after throwing 104 pitches, his spring training high.
Matsuzaka is expected to throw 40-60 pitches on Saturday in Philadelphia in his final exhibition appearance of the spring.
"Even though he probably didn't command like he wants to," Francona said. "He didn't give them anything. There's a lot of ways for him to get outs."
He warned against reading too much into a preseason game, even though Matsuzaka's outings are scrutinized heavily by reporters.
"He doesn't have the right to have spring training because of every camera and all you guys," Francona said with a touch of sarcasm. "This is a spring training game in Sarasota.
"Let's just ease off," he said.
Besides, there were some impressive parts to Matsuzaka's work.
The Reds fielded nearly their full regular lineup and Matsuzaka struck out six, including his last batter, and had better control in his final inning.
"He very much kept us in the game," pitching coach John Farrell said. "Some of the counts were a little bit of a struggle for him, but I think, overall, he kept his composure to the point of not letting an inning unravel."
Matsuzaka threw an unusually high 45 balls and had trouble controlling his fastball.
But when hitters do make contact with his pitches, they usually make outs -- he hasn't given up a hit in his last 10 innings.
Of the last 37 batters he's faced, 30 made outs, six walked and one reached on a catcher's interference by Jason Varitek against the Reds. Thirteen of the 30 outs were strikeouts.
Matsuzaka worked in his usual deliberate manner, but "at times he rushed a little bit to home plate," and his curveball was too high, Farrell said.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set