Oakland Athletics pitcher Shintaro Fujinami earned his fifth win of the season.

Fujinami pitched one inning and three strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning to break a 0-0 tie against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Friday. He earned the win when Ryan Noda singled in the top of the 10th inning to give his team a 1-0 victory.온라인바카라

On the day, Fujinami retired Jake Rogers on a swinging strikeout, Zach McKinstry on a swinging strikeout, and Miguel Cabrera on a swinging strikeout to complete a three-hit shutout. He threw 11 of his 12 pitches, all but one a splitter, with his fastball reaching up to 102.1 mph.

Fujinami also pitched the top of the 10th inning of a 6-6 extra-inning victory over the Chicago White Sox on Feb. 2, working out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs, getting a swinging strikeout and a grounder to second base to put runners on first and second before getting Andrew Benintendi to ground into a foul-tip double play. He then closed out the game in the bottom of the 10th for his fourth win of the season in a 7-6 victory. It was his second consecutive save in as many games.

Fujinami’s season record now stands at 5-7 with a 9.35 ERA in 29 games (seven starts). That’s still a very high ERA, but it’s certainly better than his first four starts, when he went 4-0 with a 14.40 ERA. Five games into his major league career, Fujinami was sent to the bullpen. He made three more starts, but they were “openers” lasting just one inning at most.

This year, he has a 7-6 record with a 14.26 ERA in seven starts and a 5-1 record with a 5.96 ERA in 22 appearances out of the bullpen. Fujinami, who throws a fastball that sits around 160km/h but has a shaky command, seems to find that giving 100% in short innings makes more of an impact than breathing through long innings.

The Daily Sports, which covers Fujinami locally, said, “Fujinami pitched the winning run in relief. His 102.1 mph is his highest individual major league fastball since he set it against the Pittsburgh Pirates on March 5. Fujinami pitched like he was about to awaken.”

Fujinami signed a one-year, $3.25 million deal with Oakland ahead of this season to challenge for the major leagues. Fujinami’s recent struggles in Japan have earned him the unwelcome label of “marketing to the Asian fan base,” but he is Oakland’s best pitcher through five days. With two wins under his belt, it could be argued that the Oakland situation is the worst, but Fujinami is doing his part in Oakland anyway.