Sasaki Roki of the Japanese professional baseball club Chiba Lotte Marines says he was able to keep cool until the end when throwing a perfect game on Sunday.

Sasaki told reporters that many players have congratulated him and he is happy. He said his first pitching of the season wasn't satisfactory, so he tried to relax in his last two games.

Sasaki also struck out 19 batters, tying a Japanese record.

Sasaki said he just trusted catcher Matsukawa Ko to lead him throughout the game. He added he was not particularly aiming for strikeouts, and just believed in the team's defense.