Monthly Archives: July 2019

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NPB games, news of July 26

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The streakers are streaking and the leads are shrinking as we enter the final weekend of July. The Carp, who have an 11-game winning streak, an 11-game losing streak, won their seventh straight, their third longest winning streak of the season.

After Friday’s games, the SoftBank Hawks lead the PL by 1-1/2 games after entering the second half with a seven game lead. The Yomiuri Giants, who came out of the all-star break leading by 10-1/2 games, now lead by 4-1/2 games over the DeNA BayStars.

They call them the streaks: 2019’s longest runs

TeamTypeLengthEnding date
Yakult SwallowsLosing15May 31
Hiroshima CarpWinning11May 25
Hiroshima CarpLosing11July 10
DeNA BayStarsLosing10April 28
Rakuten EaglesLosing10July 8
SoftBank HawksWinning9July 6

Pacific League

Fighters 12, Lions 7

At MetLife Dome, Nippon Ham beat up Seibu starter Ken Togame for seven runs over 1-1/3 innings, but the Lions barely blinked. Japan’s best offense bounced back to tie it as Takeya Nakamura homered twice, tying it with a two-run shot in the fifth. The six-time PL home run champ now has 19 home runs and four over three games.

But after the game was tied, the Fighters rallied with two outs and no one on, loading the bases for Ryo Watanabe who tripled past center fielder Shogo Akiyama, who was playing shallow.

Bryan Rodriguez, who pitched three innings of scoreless relief, earned the win to improve to 5-2. The Fighters moved to within 1-1/2 wins of the PL-leading Hawks.

Game highlights are HERE.

Eagles 6, Marines 3

At Zozo Marine Stadium, Leonys Martin made his debut for Lotte, but the night belonged to Zelous Wheeler, whose 15th homer, a three-run shot, overturned a 3-2 deficit for third-place Rakuten.

Game highlights are HERE.

Buffaloes 6, Hawks 2

At Yafuoku Dome, Masataka Yoshida homered twice as SoftBank’s Kodai Senga (9-4) missed with too many pitches and Orix snapped a three-game losing streak with some help from Stefen Romero and Steven Moya.

“His pitches moved OK, but he lacked control,” manager Kimiyasu Kudo said of his top pitcher. “Next time, I expect he won’t make so many mistakes.”

Senga struck out eight over seven innings and now leads both leagues with 154 strikeouts.

Moya doubled in the third and scored from third on an error after Senga had trouble handling a smash off Romero’s bat. Romero homered in the sixth, and Moya singled in a run in the seventh.

Game highlights are HERE.

Central League

Tigers 4, Giants 2

At Tokyo Dome, Yangervis Solarte made his Japan debut, batting second and playing shortstop for Hanshin. He broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh with a two-run home run, and went 1-for-4 with a walk.

Jefry Marte singled and scored as Hanshin took a 2-0, second-inning lead against Yomiuri ace Tomoyuki Sugano. Pierce Johnson struck out two in a scoreless seventh, while Kyuji Fujikawa worked the ninth to save his first game of the season.

Game highlights are HERE.

Carp 12, Swallows 3

At Jingu Stadium, Hiroshima scored six runs, five earned, against Yakult lefty Keiji Takahashi (2-4) in three innings with new Carp Takumi Miyoshi homering for the second-straight day.

Kaito Kozono, Hiroshima’s top draft pick last autumn, hit his first career home run, a three-run shot, doubled twice and singled.

The Swallows’ Wladimir Balentien homered for the fifth-straight game.

BayStars 2, Dragons 1

At Nagoya Dome, DeNA’s atypical batting order made the difference as Japan cleanup hitter Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, batting in the No. 2 hole, homered with pitcher Kentaro Taira on board after singling from the No. 8 spot.

Taira (3-2) struck out seven over 6-2/3 innings, while allowing a run on three hits and no walks. The Dragons’ only run came on a Dayan Viciedo homer leading off the seventh.

Dragons starter Yuya Yanagi was the unlucky loser, allowing both runs on four hits and a walk over seven innings. He struck out five but saw his record fall to 9-4

Baseball, Commentary, News, Paid Content

Sasaki had elbow issue before start

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Ofunato High School manager Yohei Kokubo, who was criticized by some in Japan for not throwing his ace pitcher Roki Sasaki two days in a row after he had thrown 332 pitches over four days, but not criticized for having him throw 194 pitches last Sunday, may have a new headache.

100-mph pitcher told medical staff of issues

The Nikkan Sports is reporting Friday morning that Sasaki, who has been clocked at 100 mph and has been followed by at least 20 of 30 MLB teams told the medical staff prior to Wednesday’s Iwate Prefecture semifinal that he felt discomfort in the inner part of his right elbow.

Sasaki, who hit 99.4 mph in the fourth inning of Sunday’s 12-inning, fourth-round game, threw 129 pitches in the semifinal. Manager Kokubo, who had previously treated his star carefully, held him out Thursday’s final — a 12-2 loss to local powerhouse Hanamaki Higashi HS, due to muscle stiffness. Something that flies in the face of Japanese high school baseball tradition, where, it seems, nothing short of death is an excuse to keep your best pitcher off the mound in a big game.

Sasaki threw 435 pitches over 4 games

In 29 innings over four games of Iwate’s prefectural tournament, Sasaki threw 435 pitches over 29 innings. He allowed two runs on nine hits and struck out 51 batters.

Before that last game, he had apparently not recovered fully from Sunday’s marathon and told the Iwate Prefecture High School Baseball Federation’s medical staff about the discomfort.

Despite that, he pitched and showed no ill effects, hitting close 98 mph with ease in his loose relaxed motion.

That is the problem in Japanese amateur ball in a nutshell. Pitchers whose arms are in danger may still be able to pitch effectively — but in so doing may push their elbow ligaments past the breaking point.

The Nikkan Sports writer asserts that there was “only a small chance of the injury getting worse” but he is asserting something that even a thorough examination could ascertain.

Former manager: ‘I would have thrown him,’ but…

A story on Asahi.com asked Shinichi Sawada, the former manager of Iwate Prefecture’s Morioka Dai Fuzoku HS about Kokubo’s decision, and Sawada praised the choice of holding Sasaki out to protect his arm, saying he could not have made that choice.

“It was a brave decision,” Sawada said. “If it had been me, I would have said, ‘I’m counting on you,’ and sent him out there.”

Yet, Sawada applauded it.

“Even if the player wants to go, it’s the coach’s job to protect the children’s future,” Sawada said. “Until now the dogma has been training kids to have guts through an absolute focus on winning. But going forward, we have to respect the rights and wants of the students. I think manager Kokubo is the picture of the new age manager.”

Sawada recommended the regional tournaments switch to round robins from the current knockout style in order to reduce the number of games on the top teams.