Hideki Irabu started his second game with the Kochi Fighters Dogs against the Nagasaki Saints on Saturday.

He gave up 5 runs on 6 hits (including a homer), 5 walks, and 3 strike outs over 5 innings of work.

Despite the poor outing, Kochi still managed to beat the Nagasaki Saint, 6-5.

Irabu's final line:
5 IP, 25 BF, 90 NP, 6 H, 5 BB, 3 K, 1 BK, 5 R, 5 ER

2009 Totals

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.

Hideki Irabu made his first appearance for the Kochi Fighting Dogs in an exhibition game against Shikoku Ginko on Wednesday.

Irabu entered the game in the 4th and tossed a shut-out inning.

Shikoku Ginko won the game, 3-0.

Irabu's final line:
1 IP, 5 BF, 15 NP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 0 R

=== Update 8/20 @ 6:35am JST

The one hit he gave up was a double to the lead-off batter.

Irabu is also slated to start in a game against the Ehime Mandarin Pirates on the 23rd at Kochi.