Category Archives: Baseball

NPB games, news of July 8, 2019

By John E. Gibson
Guest Writer

The Tohoku Rakuten Eagles have lost the wind beneath their wings, and their fall from the top of the Pacific League standings continued Monday night in Yamagata Prefecture.

Orix used a Koji Oshiro sacrifice fly in the third inning, a two-out Yuma Mune RBI single in the seventh and seven scoreless innings from Taishi Yamaoka to send Rakuten to its 10th consecutive loss in a 2-0 decision.

Rakuten was leading the Pacific League when the skid started and is now at 39-39 and in fourth.

Yamaoka (6-2) fanned seven while holding the Eagles to one hit and one walk, and new closer Brandon Dickson tossed a perfect ninth for his sixth save as the Buffaloes won a close game at Kirayaka Stadium.

The skid is one shy of Rakuten’s franchise-worst mark, set in the team’s inaugural 2005 season.

The Buffaloes scored in the fourth when Ryoichi Adachi ran around catcher Kengo Horiuchi’s attempted tag on Oshiro’s fly to right. A replay request failed to overturn the call.

Steven Moya’s one-out single in the seventh opened the door for an insurance run. Keita Nakagawa forced the pinch runner at second, but stole second, and scored on Mune’s single.

Rakuten’s Zelous Wheeler got tossed in the eighth for arguing a strike call on a check-swing, perhaps showing the growing frustration amid the losing streak.

The Eagles will look to get a boost on Tuesday, when right-hander Takahiro Norimoto is slated to make his first start of the season.

The game highlights are HERE.

Fighters 5, Marines 3

Sho Nakata slugged a pair of two-run homers for Nippon Ham and Kenshi Sugiya added a solo shot to back Hiroshi Urano (2-1), who went five strong innings for the victory over Lotte at Zozo Marine Stadium.

The game highlights are HERE.

Hawks 8 Lions 7, 12 innings

Pinch-hitter Ryoya Kurihara of SoftBank hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to end a marathon battle against Seibu at Tokyo Dome in which both teams’ closers blew ninth-inning saves to send the game into extra innings.

Down to their last strike with a runner on in the ninth, Tomoya Mori hit a two-run homer to the opposite field off rookie Hiroshi Kaino, taking advantage of the shortest power allies in Japan. Lions closer Tatsushi Masuda returned the favor in the home half, surrendering a liner into the stands from Seiji Uebayashi to tie it.

The game highlights are HERE.

Dragons 3, Carp 2

Daisuke Yamai, at 41 NPB’s oldest pitcher, helped push Hiroshima’s skid to a season-worst nine games as Chunchi topped the Carp at Nagoya Dome.
Yamai (3-3) limited the Carp to a run on two hits with four walks and two strikeouts over 6.1 innings, and Zoilo Almonte, Dayan Viciedo, and Yota Kyoda all knocked in runs for the Dragons.

“I may be 41, but I don’t feel like I’m 41. I intend to keep plugging away, so please cheer for me,” Yamai said after his first win over the Carp in nine years.

Swallows 5 BayStars 3

Taishi Hirooka capped a four-run second inning with a two-run blast, and Hiroki Yamada (1-0) earned his first win in two seasons as Yakult topped Yokohama DeNA at Jingu Stadium.

Yakult’s bullpen allowed just two singles over the final 3-2/3 innings to close out the win with David Huff and Scott McGough working 1-2-3 innings in the eighth and ninth, respectively. McGough, who hasn’t allowed a run in 14 straight games, recorded his third save.

Giants 4, Tigers 3

Yang Dai-kang’s tiebreaking RBI h9t in the eighth was the difference as Yomiuri outlasted Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.

Closer Kota Nakagawa came in to pitch a scoreless eighth, while Scott Mathieson, in his second game back from an adductor strain, worked around a pair of two-out walks in the ninth to earn his first save of the season.

The game highlights are HERE.

The short and long of Hideki Kuriyama

–By Jim Allen

After two straight days of two-inning “short starters,” manager Hideki Kuriyama got five innings of one-run ball from Urano in a more-conventional start.

As John Gibson (@JBWPodcast) and I mentioned this week on the podcast, figuring out manager Hideki Kuriyama’s pitching staff usage would require some serious elbow grease. Urano was making his second start of the season after allowing two runs over two innings the previous Sunday. It was a short outing, but was it one of Kuriyama’s typical two-inning short starts? I have no idea. Until then, Urano had only been used as a middle reliever this season.

Even when he took the mound for the first time in a week, Urano was only allowed to throw 67 pitches. He wasn’t dominating, and one key to Kuriyama’s pitching staff jigsaw puzzle may well be Urano’s batter-faced total: 18. It could be that Kuriyama only expects his second-tier starters to go through the opposing lineup twice.

NPB games, news of July 7, 2019

NPB’s two long winning streaks came to a halt on Sunday, with as the two league leaders each suffered their first losses in July

Buffaloes 5, Hawks 2

Orix’s Chris Marrero blasted a three-run double to cap a five-run eighth inning after SoftBank starter Yuki Matsumoto dominated for 7-2/3 innings. The right-hander retired 22 of the first 25 batters he faced before walking Shunta Gota and allowing a two-out single to Yuma Mune.

Hawks center fielder Go Kamamoto came within a hair of snaring Shuhei Fukuda’s sinking liner and ending the inning, but it fell for a game-tying double. With two outs and the bases loaded, Marrero drilled a mistake to the track, and Brandon Dickson pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.

The game highlights are HERE.

Marines 8, Lions 2

With Lotte wearing their Hawaiian-shirt jerseys, lefty Seiya Dohi (1-0) repeatedly pitched out of trouble as Seibu racked up 10 hits and six walks but managed just two runs.

After the Lions left the bases loaded in the top of the inning, the Marines rallied for four in a bizarre inning. A wind-assisted error, a walk, a sacrifice, and a throwing error by pitcher Wataru Matsumoto made it 2-1. A walk and a double made it 3-1, and a throwing error by center fielder Shogo Akiyama capped the inning.

The game highlights are HERE.

Fighters 6, Eagles 3

After “short starter” Takayuki Kato allowed a run in two innings and Bryan Rodriguez allowed two runs over three frames, the Nippon Ham Fighters bullpen allowed just two runners over four scoreless innings as the visitors came from behind to hand Rakuten its ninth straight loss. The losing streak is the Eagles’ longest in two years.

The game highlights are HERE.

BayStars 6, Giants 4

DeNA came from a run down in the sixth by scoring four times off rookie Yomiuri right-hander Takuya Kuwahara (0-1) who suffered the loss in relief. Hikaru Ito, traded to the BayStars last summer from Orix, capped the four-run inning with his second home run in two days.

“I was too big a hurry to throw strikes and that was that,” Kuwahara said.

The loss snapped Yomiuri’s seven-game win streak.

Venezuelan left-hander Sammy Solis, signed from the BayStars’ developmental roster in June, allowed a run in the eighth inning in his first-team debut. While the Giants’ Scott Mathieson faced two batters in the ninth as he returned from an injury layoff.

The game highlights are HERE.

Dragons 7, Swallows 1

Chunichi’s Yuya Yanagi (9-2) struck out eight and scattered eight hits over eight innings to overcome Tetsuto Yamada’s leadoff homer in the first. Yakult starter Hirotoshi Takanashi (4-5) blew the game up in a 10-man, six-run first inning.

Tigers 1, Carp 0

Lefty Haruto Takahashi (2-2) struck out nine over eight innings and Rafael Dolis threw a 1-2-3 ninth to record his 18th save.

Hiroshima rookie Hiroki Tokoda (5-5) allowed a run over seven innings, taking the tough loss after Yusuke Oyama doubled in Yoshio Itoi in the seventh inning.

The loss was the Carp’s

The game highlights are HERE.

News

Tigers complete Solarte signing

The Hanshin Tigers have completed their acquisition of 32-year-old utility infielder Yangervis Solarte on a one-year contract worth a reported 50 million yen.

Tigers skipper Akihiro Yano said, “Our expectations for him are primarily with his bat. His being able to switch hit will give us more lineup options.”

Eagles, Giants swap players

The Yomiuri Giants sent 23-year-old outfielder Ren Wada to the Rakuten Eagles on Sunday for 23-year-old right-hander Yuri Furukawa.

Wada was the Giants’ second pick in the 2014 draft and led the Eastern League in home runs and RBIs last year.