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Alongside the baseball goals, like increasing the “perfect the forkball” or “strengthen the body core” are the qualities that Kanno has been relearning in Oshu: “sensitivity,” “caring,” becoming someone worthy of trust and love.

With a crowd of 36,236 sometimes standing and roaring in anticipation, the rookie right-hander got six strikeouts with his diving, disappearing “ghost forkball” and set a career high for innings in his 10th major league start.

The Dodgers’ Hideo Nomo, with a quirky windup and devastating forkball, pioneered Japanese players coming to the U.S. by quickly becoming an All-Star.

Sasaki has the fastball, the wipeout forkball, and a developing slider — and he just turned 21.

“The way that forkball drops, forget about it.”