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NPB games, news of June 23, 2019

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If I could have put a bet down on Sunday’s game between the SoftBank Hawks and Yomiuri Giants, I would happily have plunked down 1,000 yen to have Tomoyuki Sugano the winner of the last two Sawamura Awards, beat 38-year-old Tsuyoshi Wada.

But baseball is unpredictable. Wada, who’s had fitness issues the past year and a half, and who hasn’t had any velocity to speak of since he started his big league career in 2012 with Tommy John surgery, got a big early lead and cruised.

Interleague

Hawks 5, Giants 1

At Tokyo Dome, Tsuyoshi Wada (2-1) showed batters his slider, missed bats with a nasty changeup that caused hitters to miss-hit his fastball over five artful innings.

The lefty allowed a run on three hits and two walks, while striking out six in an 81-pitch effort, and Shuhei Fukuda hit two more Giant-killing jacks to lift the Hawks to their eighth interleague championship.

Fukuda hit his second tie-breaking homer of the series, leading off the first by drilling a center cut fastball out to right center. Giants starter Tomoyuki Sugano was yanked after allowing four runs in the first and walking Wada to lead off the second. It was the shortest outing of the 29-year-old’s career.

After two walks, a pair of choppers deep in the hole to short were scored infield singles. Shortstop Hayato Sakamoto’s errant flip to third on the second one plated an extra run making it 3-0. Hawks catcher Takuya Kai, whose bases-loaded, two-out bunt single on Friday turned the table for the Hawks ahead of Fukuda’s grand slam, took the Giants by surprise yet again with another safety squeeze to make it 4-0.

Wada did a number on Sakamoto, the Giants’ most productive hitter this season, striking him out on a combination of low fastballs and changeups, but he also got away with high straight fastballs that were miss-hit. Wada started Giants cleanup hitter Kazuma Okamoto off with a mistake in the fourth and the youngster hit it off the hitter’s background in center.

Wada now 1 shy of interleague win record

Wada’s first win since September 2017 was his 25th regular season win against CL teams, one shy of the interleague record held by his former Hawks teammate Toshiya Sugiuchi.

Wada entered the day tied for second with Masanori Ishikawa of the Swallows and Hideaki Wakui of the Marines with 24.

“(Next season) there will be a chance for Nos. 26 and 27,” Wada said. “I’m an athlete so I aspire to go higher.”

Wada said that more than being overjoyed with securing the Hawks’ interleague title, he felt remorse for having been on the sidelines for so long.

“My strongest emotion runs toward feeling apologetic for having taken this long to get back,” he said. “I’m really just happy the team could win.”

BayStars 3, Eagles 0

At Yokohama Stadium, Taiga Kamichatani (4-3) did it all against Rakuten. The DeNA rookie threw six scoreless innings, and drove in two runs off tough right-hander Takayuki Kishi (2-2).

Swallows 6, Marines 2

At Jingu Stadium, Lotte’s pitchers issued 11 walks, the most in Japan this season and the most by the Marines since 2013, while Yakult rookie Keiji Takahashi (1-3) allowed two runs over six innings to earn the win.

Mike Bolsinger got no decision for the Marines after allowing two runs over five innings, one run coming on Wladimir Balentien’s 15th home run, a first-inning solo shot.

Dragons 8, Fighters 4

At Nagoya Dome, after relying heavily on his fastball in his pro debut, Nippon Ham rookie Kosei Yoshida was ambushed by Chunichi hitters sitting fastball in a three-run first inning as his record fell to 1-1.

The 18-year-old, who threw 881 pitches over the course of last year’s national summer high school finals, allowed five runs over three innings.

“That really is an excellent fastball. We were lucky to score three runs off him in the first inning,” Dragons skipper Tsuyoshi Yoda said of an inning in which his guys were “lucky” to really drive the ball as well as they did.

Even the Dragons’ outs were loud as their third run scored on a sacrifice fly that required an excellent catch on a drive to the warning track.

Dragons lefty Enny Romero (5-5) gave up three runs over six innings, while striking out seven.

Buffaloes 9, Carp 1, 10 innings

At Mazda Stadium, Orix broke up a scoreless game in a nine-run 10th inning that saw five triples, two doubles and three walks to complete a three-game sweep of three-time defending Central League champion Hiroshima.

Brandon Dickson (1-0), currently serving as Orix’s closer while Hirotoshi Masui discovers his form on the farm team, pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win.

The Buffaloes’ four triples in an inning tied their franchise and NPB record set by the Hankyu Braves in their Aug. 16, 1947, game against the Yomiuri Giants.

Lions 7, Tigers 3

At Koshien Stadium, Wataru Matsumoto (3-1), Seibu’s top draft pick last autumn, allowed a run over five innings, while his teammates roughed up lefty Onelki Garcia (2-3) for seven runs over 5-1/3 innings.

Commentary, Paid Content

NPB games, news of June 22, 2019

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The Pacific League won the most interleague games for the 10th straight year after splitting Saturday’s six NPB games, although the Hawks’ loss to the Giants left the overall title up for grabs. The winner of Sunday’s game between the Hawks and Giants will capture the title.

If that game is tied, the Hawks will win unless the Rakuten Eagles win both of their remaining games, on Sunday against the BayStars and Monday against the Carp.

Interleague

Giants 7, Hawks 2

At Tokyo Dome, Yomiuri’s Shun Yamaguchi (7-2) allowed a run over seven innings to shut down SoftBank and give the Giants a chance to capture the interleague title.

Yamaguchi gave up five hits but no walks, while striking out seven and hitting a batter, making him Japan’s hit batsman leader with 10 and moving him out of a tie with the Seibu Lions’ Kona Takahashi.

Yoshihiro Maru went 3-for-4 scored twice and drove in the game’s first run with single in the Giants’ three-run third off right-handed side-armer Rei Takahashi (7-2), who was pulled for a pinch hitter after four innings.

Sunday’s climactic interleague finish will see the Hawks send Tsuyoshi Wada, the club’s former ace, against Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano.

Marines 8, Swallows 4

At Jingu Stadium, Daichi Suzuki homered twice and reached base five times to spark Lotte’s 16-hit attack in a one-sided win over Yakult.

Brandon Laird made it a 4-0 game in the third with his 21st home run, a three-run shot off Swallows lefty Masanori Ishikawa (2-4). The Swallows were the lone NPB team he had yet to hit a homer against.

Eagles 11, BayStars 9

At Yokohama Stadium, Rakuten clobbered rookie Shinichi Onuki, who didn’t retire any of the seven batters he faced in a six-run first inning but still had to come back to beat DeNA.

“I threw too many pitches in the strike zone against a lineup that was filled with a lot of aggressive hitters,” Onuki said.

Eagles starter Yuri Furukawa called Onuki and raised him a run in the home half, when the BayStars sent 12 men to the plate and took a 7-6 lead. The hosts looked to be in command after scoring two more in the fourth, but the Eagles’ bullpen allowed just two walks over the final five innings.

Ayatsugu Yamashita restored Rakuten’s early lead with a two-run homer in the seventh, and Jabari Blash, singled in his second run of the game in the eighth to give the Eagles relievers some breathing room.

Eagles closer Yuki Matsui walked the first batter he faced in the ninth but struck out the next three to nail down his Japan-leading 24th save.

Dragons 5, Fighters 1

At Nagoya Dome, Chunichi’s 34-year-old Kazuki Yoshimi won a veteran pitching matchup against Nippon Ham’s Chihiro Kaneko, allowing a run in 5-1/3 innings.

Yoshimi (1-1) struck out six, while allowing three hits, a walk and a hit batsman.

Ryosuke Hirata, who returned to the Dragons’ lineup on Thursday after missing more than a month with a calf muscle strain, had his second-straight multi-hit game and scored three runs as Chunichi’s top three hitters accounted for nine of the team’s 15 hits.

Tigers 6, Lions 2

At Koshien Stadium, lefty Minoru Iwata (2-2) allowed two runs over six innings, while Jefry Marte’s two-run, fourth-inning single overturned a 2-1 deficit in Hanshin’s win over Seibu.

Takeya Nakamura, who holds the career interleague recors for home runs and RBIs, added to those totals with two solo homers for the Lions.

Buffaloes 3, Carp 2

At Mazda Stadium, rookie Hiroshima shortstop Kaito Kozono let a ball go through his legs with no outs and a runner on first to help set up Orix’s decisive three-run inning.

Buffaloes rookie Keita Nakagawa singled in two runs in his third straight multi-hit game, while 26-year-old rookie starter Yudai Aranishi (1-0) allowed a run over 5-1/3 innings to earn the win.

Brandon Dickson converted his third straight save opportunity as he stands in for deactivated closer Hirotoshi Masui.

News

Hawks deactivate Imamiya

SoftBank opted to rest their star shortstop Kenta Imamiya, who was deactivated due to lingering issues with his left hamstring.

“I want him to know he’ll be back quickly,” manager Kimiyasu Kudo said. “I think it’s best to give him this time since it has not been getting any better.”

Imamiya has been rested whenever possible but has still played in 61 of the Hawks’ 69 games. He’s batting .271 with nine home runs, but nagging injuries have robbed him of much of his old speed and due to the injury the 27-year-old has frequently been pulled this season for a pinch runner.