Japanese Baseball Cards documents a rare game anywhere, a pitcher going nine no-hit innings for a no decision:

It was a bittersweet day for Chihiro Kaneko and the Orix Buffaloes yesterday. Kaneko had no hit the Giants through nine innings, pitching brilliantly and striking out 11. The bad news, however, was that the Giants pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano had also pitched pretty well and the Buffaloes had failed to score any runs. Kaneko was lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth but despite loading the bases, the Bufflaoes again failed to score so Kaneko would not factor in the decision. (Kind of funny that if this game had happened before this season, Kaneko wouldn’t have been scheduled to bat in the bottom of the ninth because the DH rule would have been in effect. Of course, Kaneko had already thrown 144 pitches so he was unlikely to continue in the game anyway.)

But at least the Buffaloes could still win the game, right? Reliever Yoshihisa Hirano was able to keep the Giants hitless in the tenth, but Tatsuya Sato gave up a hit to Yasuyuki Kataoka in the eleventh. The Buffaloes loaded the bases again in the bottom of the eleventh – this time with only one out – but again failed to score. In the top of the twelfth, after giving up two DEEP fly ball outs to the first two batters in the inning, Takahiro Mahara gave up the first run in the game on a home run by Yoshiyuki Kamei. (Kamei being the last hope for the Giants that they could win the game as the game would have ended in a tie after 12 if neither team was leading.) That run would hold up as the Buffaloes went quietly in the bottom of the twelfth and the Giants won.

And here is more from the email telling me about the game:

A couple things that stand out about the circumstances of the game that you might not understand if you don’t follow Japanese baseball:

– There are two leagues in Japan, the Central League and the Pacific League. The Pacific League uses the DH, the Central League does not. This is the 10th season of interleague play in Japan. In every season previous to this one, the DH was used for interleague games in the PL home parks and not for games in the CL home parks. This year, NPB decided to switch it, mostly because there’s a player for your Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters named Shohei Ohtani who both plays outfield and pitches and his home fans had never gotten to see him pitch and bat in the same game. If not for that rule change, Kaneko would not have been scheduled to bat in the ninth (the game was played in Osaka Dome, the Buffaloes home ballpark) because there would have been a DH. (Of course, Kaneko would have had to face a DH in the Giants lineup so maybe he gives up a hit before the ninth anyway. And he’d thrown 144 pitches so he probably wasn’t coming out for the 10th regardless.)

– Regular season games go no longer than 12 innings in Japan. If there’s no winner after 12, the game is declared a tie. The game winning home run was hit with two outs in the top of the twelfth which means that the last possible batter who could win the game for the GIants did – he didn’t have to homer but he couldn’t make an out. If he had made an out, the Giants could do no better than tie the game and the Buffaloes could do no worse than tie.

Great information.