On June 14, 1995, Hideo Nomo set the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise rookie record for most strikeouts in a game.
The right-hander punched out 16 batters in the team’s 8-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, which broke Karl Spooner’s previous record of 15 strikeouts in a 1954 game against the New York Giants.
Nomo held the Pirates to three runs and six hits over eight innings in what marked only his ninth career MLB start. He previously faced Pittsburgh on May 17 of that year and collected 14 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings at Dodger Stadium.
Nomo finished 13-6 with a 2.54 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and National League-leading 236 strikeouts en route to winning Rookie of the Year honors. He became the first Dodgers pitcher to receive the award since Fernando Valenzeula in 1981.
Nomo also started for the NL in the 1995 All-Star Game and allowed one hit over two scoreless innings.
Hideo Nomo’s MLB career
The Dodgers originally signed Nomo to a Minor League contract that included a $2 million signing bonus, which was made possible by a loophole in the Japanese Uniform Players Contract that allowed the right-hander to voluntarily retire and play for whomever he desired after returning to active status.
Nomo had spent the previous five seasons with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Kintetsu Buffaloes before getting into a contract dispute with team management, which led to pursuing a Major League career.
Nomo was called up to the Dodgers the following week for his first Major League start against the San Francisco Giants on May 2, 1995. He gave up just one hit over five scoreless frames and collected seven strikeouts.
That made Nomo the first Japanese-born pitcher to appear in an MLB game since Masanori Murakami pitched for the Giants in 1965.
Nomo’s first stint with the Dodgers came to an end after the 1998 season, when he was traded to the New York Mets. He found his way back to L.A. prior to the 2002 season and pitched in parts of three more seasons for the organization.
Over a 12-year Major League career, Nomo was 123-109 with a 4.24 ERA and 1,918 strikeouts. Along with pitching for the Dodgers over parts of two separate stints, he spent time with the Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and Kansas City Royals.
Nomo’s success in the Majors helped pave the way for other Japanese natives such as, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka, among others.
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