Henry Huber on sports: Two no-nos on first day of Series? Talk about a crazy start
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There aren't many crazier ways for the Little League World Series to start than with both a no-hitter and a grand slam featured in the same opening game.
Well…
After Panama starting pitcher Omar Vargas pitched four innings without surrendering a hit and his relievers followed suit, Japan managed to also complete an entire game with its opponent's hit total reading zero, as Panama and Japan attributed no-no Nos. 61 and 62 in LLWS history respectively.
Two no-hitters on the same day? For reference, that last occurred on August 17, 2008, almost exactly 15 years ago to the date.
Japan starting pitcher Hinata Uchigaki followed up Vargas' dominance with a spectacular performance of his own, pitching 13 strikeouts to just three walks through five full innings and 87 pitches. Its closer, Akito Masuda, would ultimately finish the job, striking out one batter and allowing one walk.
Japan needed all 60 of their combined strikes, with Cuba remaining inches away from stealing the lead for the entire game. Though it allowed a hit and run in the first inning, that's all the offensive success Cuba let occur on the day.
A game that could've been a bit more lopsided had a few plays gone the other way turned out to be arguably the day's most exciting, as each time Cuba was put in a rough spot, its outfield clutched up.
When Japan had two in scoring position after earning its lone run in the first, Cuba shortstop Edgar Torrez effectively completed a ground out play to first to keep Japan's scoring output at one. He'd make a double play to conclude the fourth as well, which stranded two more Japan runners, then would pitch the final two innings without surrendering a hit.
The only major difference between the two defenses was that first-inning hit and run. Without it, we could've seen this game go into extras without a single run or hit on the board.
Thus concluded a day that made baseball's offense lovers sigh in disappointment and look ahead to tomorrow.
Of the 12 innings featured in International play on Wednesday afternoon, two included a collective scoring output of more than zero. A collective six hits were attributed throughout those innings as well, with five of those coming from Panama, a game which stood squarely at 0-0 until the bottom of the fourth.
It's unclear whether or not this trend will carry through the remainder of the tournament, or if Curacao, Australia, Canada or Chinese Taipei will put up an offensive onslaught that overshadows the defensive proficiency from Wednesday.
It's worth noting that Chinese Taipei averaged 16 runs in the first four games of its regional, so the second outcome is not unlikely.
But what is clear is that the International side of this bracket features plenty of talent both on the mound and in the outfield. It'll be interesting to see how those two aspects continue to come into play throughout the remainder of the series.
As far as Day 1s go, that was a fun one.
Henry Huber is a sports reporter at the Sun-Gazette. He can be reached at hhuber@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at @HenryHuber_.