Hideki Irabu made his scheduled start against the Ehime Mandarin Pirates on Sunday (first game of a double-header). Irabu gave up 3 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits, 5 walks, and struck out 3 over 7 innings of work. He threw a total 117 pitches.

The game ended in a 4-4.

Irabu's final line:
7 IP, 32 BF, 117 NP, 7 H, 5 BB, 1 HBP, 3 K, 3 R, 2 ER

Said Irabu, "I'm glad I was was able to throw over 100 pitches and get myself into the 7th. I think I did a pretty good job changing speeds on my pitches. I'm part of the rotation so I need to keep having these types of games."

Other notes:

• 1,072 fans were in attendance, that's more than 3 times the usual number.
• Replica Irabu uniforms and t-shirts were already available for purchase at the ball park.
• He topped out at 144km/h on the radar gun and mixed in a fork and a curve.
• None of the 7 hits he surrendered went for extra base hits.