In his first start since Japan's first perfect game in professional baseball since 1994, Ruki Sasaki came close to playing again for the Chiba Rakuten Marines after an eight-inning perfect loss to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. #Japanesepitching #phenomRoki #Sasaki #20 How do you improve perfection? Roki Sasaki is trying to find out. In his first start since Japan's first perfect game in professional baseball since 1994, 20-year-old Sasaki came close to returning to Chiba after being picked after eight perfect innings in a 1-0 loss to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Lotte Marines. Sunday. The right-hander racked up 14 strikeouts after throwing 102 pitches before being eliminated in a scoreless game. Worth noting: He was eliminated after hitting the sideline in the eighth inning, and he's still reportedly pitching at 101 mph. Sasaki didn't let opposing batters get to the bases in an NPB-record 52 straight outs. In four games this season, Sasaki has a 1.16 ERA with 56 strikeouts and has seven hits and two walks in 31 innings. "He [Sasaki] was too tough," said Chusei Mannami, whose game-winning homer -- the Warriors' only hit of the game -- came from the third Marines pitch in the 10th inning. "How did that fork ball fall? Forget it." In his final start, Sasaki set an NPB record with his 19 strikeouts against the Orix Buffaloes while completing just the 16th perfect game in league history. He also hit a streak of 13 hits, a record in Japanese professional baseball, according to Kyodo News. Sasaki, who rose to fame as a high school pitcher with his high-speed fastball, reportedly attracted a lot of interest from MLB teams before signing with Chiba Rakuten at age 18 in 2020.