Hayato Sakamoto reached a career milestone in a crucial game Sunday, while Roki Sasaki‘s progress in his return from an oblique injury took an ill turn, and – as he has been doing with every start recently – Yoshinobu Yamamoto recaptured the PL strikeout lead from Lotte’s Atsuki Taneichi, in his bid to lead the league for the third straight year.
Sunday’s games
Giants 6, Deniers 0: At Yokohama Stadium, Hayato Sakamoto had three hits and drove in multiple runs for the second straight day, while Shosei Togo (12-5) threw a six-hitter. Sakamoto’s first homer and his 21st of the season made him the 49th player to drive in 1,000 runs in Japanese pro baseball, with 1,001. He added a three-run shot to dead center in the ninth, and Togo stranded two in the ninth to finish his second shutout on 113 pitches.
We had a full schedule Saturday and a public apology.
Saturday’s games
Carp 7, Giants 3: At Tokyo Ugly Dome, four players drove in multiple runs. Shota Suekane led the way with three, a tie-breaking fourth-inning single, a tie-breaking seventh-inning homer and an eighth-inning solo homer for extra insurance. Shota Dobayashi and Shogo Akiyama each homered and drove in two for the Carp, while Hayato Sakamoto twice drove in tying runs for the Giants.
Masato Morishita allowed three runs over six innings for the quality start and win for the Carp, while Suekane chased Tomoyuki Sugano with his seventh-inning leadoff homer that made it 4-3. Takuya Yasaki, who had been Hiroshima’s closer for much of the season, Sotaro Shimauchi and Ryoji Kuribayashi combined to strike out four over three innings while allowing one run.
