Pitching at the sweltering Seibu Dome against the Seibu Lions that night, Tanaka, who had not won in a month, gave up six runs and 10 hits. Six of those hits came in succession in the sixth inning before he was removed.

Then, on Aug. 26, while Tanaka was warming up before his next start, against the Nippon Ham Fighters, he was visited in the bullpen by Senichi Hoshino, the Golden Eagles’ manager and an excellent pitcher for the Chunichi Dragons during his playing career.

According to reports from Japanese news outlets at the time, Hoshino told Tanaka: “If I had your pitches, I could have won 30 wins. Your pitching now is so soft. If you stay like that, nobody will feel fear against you.”

The sobering message was received. Tanaka went out and pitched 10 scoreless innings in a 1-0 victory, throwing 112 pitches. It was the first win in a 30-0 regular season streak that has endured for 610 days. (His only loss during that stretch came against the Yomiuri Giants in Game 6 of the Japan Series in October when he threw 160 pitches. But he bounced back the next night to earn the save in the deciding Game 7.) During the last 20 months, even some of the best pitchers in baseball have taken their lumps. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw has lost 12 regular-season games since Aug. 19, 2012. The Detroit Tigers’ Max Scherzer has lost five, and his teammate Justin Verlander has been beaten 14 times. The Yankees’ C. C. Sabathia has lost 18 games.

Those pitchers were working solely in Major League Baseball, while Tanaka built his record almost entirely in Japan, which is accepted as an inferior hitting league. But whether it is in Japan, Venezuela, Class AAA or Little League, 30-0 is amazing.