On Wednesday in Japan, Rakuten and Orix both came from behind as the Pacific League took four of six interleague games on the road and improved to 26-19-2. Meanwhile, a day after his team brutalized the Lotte Marines, Yomiuri manager Shinnosuke Abe’s commitment to Japan’s one-run dogma left his team on the short end.
In other news, the Seibu Lions deactivated one of their big bats, second baseman Shuta Tonosaki with a tight left hamstring, and I do a big of a Tuesday rewind.
I generally don’t blog on days when I am not required to work my other job, and so I skipped games to focus on some other tasks. But late last night a reader texted me to see if I’d caught the end of the Swallows walk-off win over the Lions.
Also on Tuesday, Tigers manager Akinobu Okada showed once more that his patience has its limits. After allowing runs in three consecutive appearances, Javy Guerra, who has been sharing the Tigers’ closer duties with lefty Suguru Iwazaki, was deactivated, along with first baseman Yusuke Oyama. An on-base machine with power, Oyama’s OBP Tuesday was .282, his slugging average an abysmal .272.
Wednesday’s games:
Marines 4, Giants 3: At Tokyo Ugly Dome, Lotte’s Atsuki Taneichi (4-3) struck out nine over eight scoreless innings, and Yomiuri manager Abe gave away a critical ninth-inning insurance run that cost him when the Giants’ ninth-inning rally fell a run short.
The Marines responded to the 18-2 butt-kicking they received Tuesday by scoring first. Fourth-inning ingles by Gregory Polanco and Akito Takabe set up Neftali Soto‘s sixth home run, off Kenshin Hotta (3-2). Takabe singled to open the Marines’ ninth, stole second and scored an insurance run on a Toshiya Sato “double” – a soft liner over the head of the Giants’ left fielder who was pulled in to prevent Takabe from scoring on a ground single.
The run came in handy when Lotte’s Rikuto Yokoyama surrendered two singles in the ninth. With two outs and a run in, pinch-hitter Takumi Oshiro singled off Naoya Masuda, who walked Yoshihiro Maru. Elier Hernandez singled off a beauty of a low splitter to make it a one-run game. Hernandez has so far been an absolute find but Masuda held on for his eighth save in what has been a difficult season for him.
The 29-year-old Hernandez, who has played in over 1,100 games in the MLB’s minor leagues, got called up to Japan’s majors after going 12-for-29 for the Eastern League Giants. He’s now 15-for-34 against PL pitching with two homers.
Carp 6, Fighters 0: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Hiromi Ito (4-1) struck out eight over seven innings, but allowed three runs, one earned, as he failed to become Nippon Ham’s first starting pitcher to begin a season 5-0 since Shohei Ohtani, while Masato Morishita (5-2) held the Fighters to five singles and no walks over eight innings to snap Hiroshima’s five-game losing streak.
Continue reading NPB news: June 5, 2024