Bauer pitches in Japan for first game in 2 years
YOKOSUKA, Japan — Shunned by Major League Baseball clubs, Trevor Bauer is trying to find his way in Japan, where fans are drawn by his celebrity status and seem unconcerned by domestic violence allegations against him.
The 2020 Cy Young Award winner pitched his first competitive game in almost two years Sunday and said he is almost ready to debut in Japanese baseball.
Pitching for the Yokohama BayStars’ minor league team in nearby Yokosuka, Japan — the home of the United States Seventh Fleet — Bauer allowed four hits and no runs and struck out six in four innings before 2,600 fans.
The minor league park usually draws a few hundred spectators. The team said streaming views reached 77,000 — 15 times the usual 5,000.
“I thought the day went really well,” Bauer said. “The stuff was good, the command was good, the health was good. I feel like I’m ready to compete now, but I have to build my pitch count.”
Bauer, 32, said he was not sure when he would be ready to start for Yokohama. He seems likely to get another minor league start before moving up.
Despite not pitching in a competitive game since 2021, he said it all felt familiar.
“I’ve stayed ready,” Bauer said. “I didn’t feel like I’d been away at all. The game came to me well. It didn’t speed up on me. I commanded the ball. There really wasn’t any adjustment. Just competitive baseball instead of throwing to hitters in a cage.”
Bauer is in Japan on a one-year deal that could let him prove himself and return to MLB, where he was unable to find work this season after an arbitrator reduced his unprecedented 324-game suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred suspended Bauer in April 2022 after a San Diego woman said he beat and sexually abused her in 2021.
Bauer has maintained he did nothing wrong, saying everything that happened between him and the woman was consensual. He was never charged with a crime.
After joining his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers before the 2021 season, Bauer was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts before being placed on paid leave. The Dodgers cut him in January but owe him $22.5 million this season.
Fans in Japan don’t seem bothered by Bauer’s past. Hundreds lined up outside the stadium after he pitched, hoping for a glimpse or maybe an autograph. Dozens wore his BayStars jersey with his No. 96, chosen because that’s his goal for his average fastball velocity: 96 mph.
“I felt like I was pretty close to 100 percent today,” Bauer said. “Obviously, I have to have a couple more outings to get up the pitch count. But I feel 100%.”
The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are rolling. The Carolina Hurricanes are reeling.
Sam Bennett scored one of his two goals in Florida’s three-goal first period, Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves, and the Panthers beat the Hurricanes 5-0 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Gustav Forsling and Matthew Tkachuk also scored in another tone-setting opening 20 minutes for the Panthers, while Carter Verhaeghe had three assists in the win.
“It might have been natural for us to take a little bit to get going tonight, and it was the exact opposite,” said Tkachuk, whose putaway off the feed from Verhaeghe at the crease marked his first goal since Game 3 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “It was an unreal start from us. The goals aside, just the way we played in the first period was as good as it gets. Yeah, that’s just a hell of a road trip.”
Florida had already ripped home-ice advantage away Tuesday night with a 5-2 win, the opener in a rematch of the 2023 conference finals swept by the Panthers with four one-goal wins. Florida tightened its grip on the series with this one and now heads back south to host Game 3 on Saturday night.
Bennett scored a second time by skating in to clean up an attempt at the right post in the final minute of the second period to make it 4-0, ending a long shift in Carolina’s end prolonged by Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns being stuck on the ice after breaking his stick. Aleksander Barkov added a goal midway through the third as punctuation.
Bobrovsky had his third shutout of the playoffs this year and the sixth of his career, with Florida’s defense smothering a Carolina team that typically peppers the net with shots but found little daylight.
Florida has won four straight road games by a combined score of 22-4, this time sending Hurricanes fans fleeing for the exits early.
“It’s fun when you’re on the road and it goes quiet,” Verhaeghe said. “It feels like we’re doing our job.”
It wasn’t all great news for Florida. Veteran forward Sam Reinhart was knocked from the game in the first period after taking a hit from Sebastian Aho in the left leg, causing Reinhart’s knee to bend awkwardly.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after the game that Reinhart would be evaluated Friday and that there would be no update on Reinhart’s status until Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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