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NPB 2020 8-9 games and news

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Former Tiger VerHagen wins 3rd straight

Drew VerHagen struck out 10 over seven innings to win his third-straight start after Sho Nakata broke a 1-1 tie with a third-inning RBI single in the Nippon Ham Fighters’ 2-1 victory over the Seibu Lions at Sapporo Dome on Sunday.

With Ryo Watanabe on second after a leadoff double, Nakata singled on the second pitch he saw from Lions right-hander Keisuke Honda (0-4). It was the second run of the game for Watanabe, who singled with one out in the bottom of the first and scored the tying run after singles by Kensuke Kondo and Taishi Ota.

Shuta Tonosaki put the Lions in front in the first with a two-out solo homer in the first. The right-handed hitter barreled up a two-seamer on the inside edge and pulled it down the line for his second homer of the year.

After the Fighters tied it in the bottom of the first, center fielder Haruki Nishikawa helped ensure it stayed tied by robbing No. 9 hitter Shohei Suzuki of a leadoff double in the top of the third.

VerHagen (4-1) allowed five hits but did not issue a walk. Left-handed bullpen workhorse Naoki Miyanishi pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, and side-arm right-hander Ryo Akiyoshi did the same in the ninth to earn his 10th save.

Honda allowed two runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out one. Lions cleanup hitter Hotaka Yamakawa, hurt his right ankle when he stumbled out of an awkward swinging third strike to end the first inning. He was helped off the field and received treatment. He appeared to run without trouble in the field, but struck out in his next two at-bats and was pinch-hit for in the ninth.

Nakamura 3 relievers blank sluggish Buffaloes

Rookie lefty Toshiya Nakamura worked six scoreless innings to outduel Andrew Albers, who surrendered Leonys Martin’s third home run in three games in the Lotte Marines’ 4-0 win over the Orix Buffaloes at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome.

With Adam Jones out of the lineup for the first time this season due to discomfort in his right heal, Torai Fushimi took over the DH duties and went 0-4, ending three innings with one or more runners on.

Nakamura (1-0), the Marines’ fifth draft pick in 2018 scattered four walks and a hit, and faced only one serious challenge, when he got Fushimi to ground out to end the sixth with two men on.

Albers (2-4) looked sharp from the outset, but in the fourth inning, Martin launched a lazy 2-2 slider that missed over the plate and hit it over the center field wall for his 11th home run.

Yuki Karakawa worked a 1-2-3 seventh for the Marines, but Frank Herrmann tempted disaster in the eighth.

Kenya Wakatsuki put a perfect swing on a low first-pitch knuckle curve, looped it over short toward the gap in left and legged out a leadoff double. After failing to get a bunt down, Shuhei Fukuda avoided being rung out on a fastball that missed the outside edge by quite a bit – a location that has been a called strike on lots of batters this year – and walked on eight pitches.

Manager Norifumi Nishimura’s predictable sacrifice followed, but Lotte manager Tadahito Iguchi opted to fill the bases with one out by walking slugger Masataka Yoshida. It should have backfired, but third baseman Hisanori Yasuda made a good play to retire Takahiro Okada on a foul fly after he overran the ball. Herrmann fell behind 3-1 to Fushimi, who swung at two fastballs at the letters that umpire Tetsuya Shimada had been calling balls all day.

The Buffaloes tried the same intentional walk trick in the top of the ninth, walking Martin to load the bases with one out, but Yasuda, the Marines cleanup hitter, delivered a two-run double, and Ikuhiro Kiyota “singled” in another run on a pop fly over second that put the “blooper” in blooper reel.

Hawks bullpen finally holds off Eagles

A bullpen day is nothing to cheer for against the SoftBank Hawks, as the Rakuten Eagles found out in a 5-0 loss at Sendai’s Raktuen Seimei Park Miyagi as four pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout that left the two teams tied for the Pacific League lead.

Lefty Shunsuke Kasaya started and went three innings, while Yugo Bando (2-1) worked four innings to earn the win. Setup man Livan Moinelo and closer Yuito Mori finished up.

Eagles starter Yuya Fukui (0-1), the No. 1 draft pick of the Hiroshima Carp in 2010, took the tough loss after allowing a run on two hits and a walk over 5-2/3 innings while striking out six.

Hawks catcher Takuya Kai doubled in the in the sixth and scored on a wild pitch. Yuki Yanagita hit a fat pitch nearly as far as one can in the eighth to drive in an insurance run, and Kai hit a three-run home run in the ninth.

Giants comeback to salvage tie

On the back foot against first-team debutant Yariel Rodriguez and some good defensive plays by the Chunichi Dragons, the Yomiuri Giants tied it in a two-run seventh in their 2-2 10-inning tie at Nagoya Dome.

Toshiki Abe homered with one out and one on in the first off right-hander Ryosuke MIyaguni, who was making the start on a bullpen day. The Giants relievers, however, shut down the hosts for the rest of the game, allowing the hitters to finally score off Rodriguez.

Making good use of a good fastball and slider, the 23-year-old Cuban allowed three runs to reach through the first six innings, all on walks. He didn’t allow a hit until back-to-back one-out doubles by Takumi Oshiro and Zelous Wheeler. Lefty Toshiya Okada walked the only batter he faced.

Setup man Daisuke Sobue allowed Wheeler to score after a single loaded the bases and veteran left-handed hitter Yoshiyuki Kamei delivered a sacrifice fly on a pitch headed for the dirt.

Rodriguez allowed two hits and three walks while striking out eight over 6-1/3 innings.

The tie ended a run of three-straight losses by the Giants.

Kuramoto slam powers DeNA shutout

Toshihiko Kuramoto hit a first-inning grand slam, his first home run in two years, and Kentaro Taira (3-2) worked seven innings as the DeNA BayStars beat the Yakult Swallows 4-0 at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium.

Kuramoto capped a first-inning rally off submarine right-hander Hirofumi Yamanaka (0-1), who lasted four innings.

Taira allowed four hits and a walk while striking out six. Spencer Patton and Edwin Escobar each supplied one perfect inning of relief to close it out.

Oyama, Akiyama lead Tigers over Carp

Cleanup hitter Yusuke Oyama doubled, tripled, homered, scored two runs and drove in two, while Takumi Aoyama (4-1) allowed a run over six innings in the Hanshin Tigers’ 5-1 win over the Hiroshima Carp at Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium.

Oyama broke the ice in the second, when he doubled to open the inning against 21-year-old right-hander Atsushi Endo (2-2) and scored on a bases-loaded groundout.

After the Carp tied it, the Tigers took the lead for good in the third. Seiya Kinami doubled and Oyama tripled him home. Oyama homered in the eighth to make it 3-1.

Endo allowed two runs over five innings on three hits and four walks, while Akiyama gave up one hit and walked three.

The Carp loaded the bases in the ninth with one out against closer Robert Suarez, but could not score.

Buffs’ Jones out of lineup for 1st time

Adam Jones sat out the Orix Buffaloes’ game against the Lotte Marines on Sunday, marking the first time this season was not in the lineup. According to the Nikkan Sports, Jones came out of Saturday’s game after the fifth inning due to discomfort in his right heel.

He was not examined at a hospital and is expected to play against the Hawks in Fukuoka from Tuesday.

Active roster moves 8/9/2020

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 8/19

Central League

Activated

TigersP46Takumi Akiyama
DragonsP67Yariel Rodriguez
SwallowsP13Hikaru Nakao
SwallowsP69Ryuta Konno

Dectivated

SwallowsP61Takuma Kubo

Pacific League

Activated

BuffaloesP22Ryota Muranishi
BuffaloesP27Andrew Albers

Dectivated

FightersP27Nick Martinez
BuffaloesP30Kohei ”K” Suzuki

Starting pitchers for Monday, Aug. 10, 2020

Central League

BayStars vs Tigers: Yokohama Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Yuta Muto (0-0, 6.75) vs Yuta Iwasada (2-1, 3.41)

Carp vs Dragons: Mazda Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Allen Kuri (1-2, 4.91) vs Shinnosuke Ogasawara (-)

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Dennis Sarfate in Japan

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Dennis Sarfate did more than just blossom as a baseball player in Japan, he turned his life around.

On Saturday, the SoftBank Hawks right-hander announced on his Facebook page that he is headed for a career-ending hip-replacement surgery. He achieved great things in Japan, won awards, set records and earned the respect of Japanese people in the game–which is no easy accomplishment.

But he is more than that.

Sarfate once said how after making it to the majors, he had everything he’d wanted., but despite a beautiful loving wife and a dream job, he was extremely unhappy and admitted he went through a time when he didn’t want to live.

Coming to Japan, he said, coincided with his finding his Christian faith, and this changed him. He learned as I assume most people do at some point, that life isn’t about you, but what you can do for others, what you can build with others.

When Sarfate arrived, he thought he was at the end. It turned out to be another beginning.

Like a lot of hard-throwing imported pitchers, his team expected him to blow fastballs past hitters. But Japanese baseball is more about execution than sheer physical strength, and Sarfate took that side to heart, and like a lot of others who have come here and had success, he embraced the opportunity to learn and grow.

He rediscovered his curveball, mastered throwing it for strikes, learned to command a splitter.

Sarfate will talk about how others have changed him, his wife, his father-in-law, a pastor who influenced his spirituality, his teammates. One of those was catcher Toru Hosokawa, another former Seibu Lion, whom he worked with during his first three seasons in Fukuoka with the Hawks.

Hosokawa was always challenging him, making him be the best version of the pitcher he could be. Sarfate doesn’t say it, but his teammates tend to say the same about him. In Japan where complex is often misconstrued to be a synonym for quality, Sarfate helped other Hawks pitchers identify those things they needed to simplify their thought process on the mound.

He spent his first two seasons in Hiroshima pitching for the Carp, and I rarely had a chance to speak with him until 2013, when he pitched for the Seibu Lions, who play west of Tokyo, just across the border in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture.

I found him to be straight forward and someone who will go out of his way to help others. He has always been happy to share his insight into Japan’s game and how he fit into it, and where he didn’t:”They don’t let me attend meetings.”

My favorite memory of Sarfate came on a scorching afternoon in Chiba, before a day game. I saw him and asked for yet another interview for the Japan Weekly Baseball Podcast, where he probably should be listed on the credits as a guest star considering the number of times he consented to be interviewed by John E. Gibson and myself.

He said he’d do it after he finished practicing, I had to do triple duty that morning, file a story on Masahiro Tanaka’s start for the New York Yankees, cover the Marines-Hawks game and grab an interview for our podcast that weekend.

I tried to finish my Tanaka story while watching the field to see when Sarfate was finished practicing so I could catch him. But as I concentrated more on the story, I focused less on the field. When I realized I had blown it, I went out to look for Sarfate against hope I might still catch him.

Just as I came out, I saw him disappear into the visiting locker room at what is now known as Zozo Marine Stadium. Then to my surprise, he came out, explaining he needed more water. He’d been getting dehydrated waiting in the sun for me to come out and start the interview. It was a small thing, but it told me a lot.

In 2017, Sarfate set Japan’s single-season save record, was named the Pacific League and Japan Series MVP and was awarded the Matsutaro Shoriki Award, an honor intended for the person who contributes the most to Japanese pro baseball.

The Shoriki Award is voted not by writers like most of Japan’s awards, but by a small panel commissioned by the award’s sponsor, the Yomiuri Shimbun. Non-Japanese had won it–the award was first created to honor Sadaharu Oh, a citizen of Taiwan, for hitting more home runs in Japan than Hank Aaron did in the majors.

Although Oh’s father was from China, he was born in Japan, and was always considered a domestic player. No imported player had ever won the Shoriki Award. In fact, in 2001, when Tuffy Rhodes tied Oh’s single-season home run record of 55, he would have been a perfect choice to win the award. He had the kind of season that went with that award.

Rhodes won the PL pennant with the Kintetsu Buffaloes and had learned to speak Japanese, and honored the game with his work ethic. He could be fiery, but he respected Japan’s game. But instead of Rhodes, the Shoriki voters opted not to select an imported player. Perhaps it was because Rhodes is black. I don’t know. But for the next 15 years, an award that had often gone to players, became the automatic award given to the Japan Series champion’s manager.

There were exceptions. In 2003, both Japan Series skippers earned a joint award. In 2006, Nippon Ham Fighters manager Trey Hillman was passed over in favor of Japan’s WBC skipper Sadaharu Oh. In 2012, Yomiuri Giants catcher Shinnosuke Abe was named in tandem with his manager, Tatsunori Hara.

But basically, it was for managers, until Sarfate. He set a record, he won a pennant, he was the league’s MVP, and then in Game 6 of the Japan Series against the DeNA BayStars, he came out in relief in a losing effort.

After 66 regular-season games and 54 saves, another three games and two saves in the playoffs, and two games and two saves in the series, Sarfate came out again.

With the Hawks trailing by a run, Sarfate worked a scoreless ninth. He worked two more innings until SoftBank won on a walk-off in the 11th to clinch the championship. With the exception of a lack of bloodshed, it was a samurai drama come to life, where the hero, spent and exhausted, summons every drop of strength to survive and conquer.

Maybe that was what it took. Because when the Shoriki Award committee, chaired now by Oh, the SoftBank Hawks chairman, they broke with precedent.

I would like to say it is because times have changed, and I suppose they have. Few players have had heroic finishes like Sarfate’s but I also have to think that the respect he earned from his teammates and those in Japan’s game was also a key.