Baseball: Marines’ Sasaki strikes out 11 in regular season debut

Having made a splash in the World Baseball Classic, hard-throwing Roki Sasaki was an 11-strikeout force in his Pacific League season debut Thursday, going six innings for the Lotte Marines in a 6-1 win over the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Before a weekday crowd of 26,169 at Zozo Marine Stadium, Sasaki (1-0) allowed one single and no walks. The 21-year-old last year became the youngest to throw a perfect game in Japanese pro baseball.

Sasaki surrendered Chusei Mannami’s one-out first-inning line single before retiring the next 17 hitters. After 80 pitches, he left with a 2-0 lead.

“I haven’t been pitc...