Category Archives: Free

NPB wrap 9-22-21

The Yakult Swallows ground their way to a toe-hold on the top of the Central League standings on Wednesday, while the Lotte Marines saw their Pacific League lead trimmed to 2-1/2 games after they failed to beat Kodai Senga for a second straight week and Orix came from behind.

That was the less bad of this week’s bad news for the Marines, whose top home run hitter Leonys Martin, is likely out for the season after fouling a pitch off his right foot and suffering a fracture. Martin, who leads the PL in outfield assists helped make the Marines’ outfield defense easily the best in either league, although shifting 2019 Golden Glove center fielder Takashi Ogino to left to make room for Kyota Fujiwara in center is another reason.

The Swallows will be without pitcher Rick van den Hurk, whom they put on waivers Wednesday after he went 0-1 with a 15.43 ERA in two games this season. He will now be eligible to get his release or sign with any club that claims him.

In meaningless free agent news

Masahiro Tanaka achieved the service time necessary to file for domestic free agency after the Japan Series ends. Tanaka is currently on a two-year deal with the Eagles that ostensibly will allow him to opt-out after this season should he want to return to the majors.

“I’m prepared to talk with the team after the season,” Tanaka told a press conference because no player in Japan is permitted to acquire free agency filing rights without being asked to comment on his future.

Wednesday’s games

Swallows 2, BayStars 1

At Yokohama Stadium, Yuhei Nakamura, getting a day off from his job as starting catcher, came off the bench in the ninth with a two-out RBI tie-breaking single off Yasuaki Yamasaki before Scott McGough locked it down in the ninth with his 22nd save.

Yakult came from behind in the fourth against Shinichi Onuki on a two-out Naomichi Nishiura single and a Domingo Santana double. Munetaka Murakami singled to lead off the ninth against the BayStars’ third pitcher, Edwin Escobar (3-4). With one out, Nishiura bunted for a base hit. Yamasaki was brought in to face right-handed slugger Tetsuto Yamada, who also got much of the day off, and retired him before Nakamura did the damage.

Yakult’s Yasuhiro Ogawa allowed one run despite issuing six walks. Hikaru Ito doubled in DeNA’s run in the second, the second of two hits the right-hander allowed. Setup man Noboru Shimizu (3-5) worked the eighth to earn the win.

Dragons 2, Tigers 1

At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, Dayan Viciedo equaled Chunichi’s record for hits by an import, matching batting coach Alonzo Powell’s 756 with a first-inning RBI double off Koyo Aoyagi (10-4, 2.57), who allowed two runs over six innings. Sixth-inning doubles by Shuhei Takahashi and Takuya Kinoshita made it 2-0.

Takahiro Matsuba (5-3, 2.88), who allowed six hits and a walk over six scoreless innings by retiring Jefry Marte twice to end innings with runners in scoring position. Daisuke Sobue worked the seventh, while Katsuki Matayoshi allowed a run in the eighth on a Marte RBI single before Raidel Martinez bounced back from allowing a run on seven-days rest on Tuesday to earn his 19th save.

Giants 13, Carp 0

At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Carp right-hander Allen Kuri (9-7, 4.27) gave up seven runs, five earned, on 18 hits and four walks over 2-2/3 innings, while the Giants did the rest of the damage in a six-run sixth, with all those runs being charged to Kyle Bird.

Yomiuri’s Shosei Togo (9-6, 3.81) worked seven scoreless innings to pick up the win.

Eagles 4, Lions 2

At MetLife Dome, Rakuten captain and former Lion Hideto Asamura brought the Eagles back from a run down with a two-run third-inning home run, his 14th, off Shota Hamaya (1-4, 6.33). The Eagles made it 3-1 when Luis Okoye walked in the sixth and scored on a Tsuyoshi Yamasaki single.

Takahisa Hayakawa (9-5, 3.61) gave up two runs over 5-2/3 innings. Takeya Nakamura led off the second with his 13th homer, and rookie Junichiro Kishi’s eighth made it 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Sung Chia-hao nailed down his third save.

Hawks 4, Marines 1

At Zozo Marine Stadium, SoftBank’s Kodai Senga (6-2, 2.82) struck out nine, allowed three hits and two walks over 7-2/3 innings to earn the win. The Hawks took a second-inning lead off Manabu Mima (5-5, 5.42) when Yuki Yanagita doubled, went to third when right fielder Koki Yamaguchi fumbled the ball, and scored on Taisei Makihara’s sacrifice fly.

Kenta Imamiya singled and Ryoya Kurihara doubled to open the Hawks’ fourth with one run scoring on a groundout and another on an Alfredo Despaigne single. Richard Sunagawa made it 4-0 in the seventh with a long home run, his fourth, into a stiff wind.

Lotte’s run came on a leadoff triple and a groundout in the eighth, although the triple was a sinking liner to shallow center that kicked off Taisei Makihara’s glove and rolled into right field.

Livan Moinelo got the final out in the eighth and Yuito Mori stranded a runner in the ninth to get his 10th save.

Buffaloes 5, Fighters 3

At Kyocera Dome Osaka, Orix rookie Kotaro Kurebayashi’s three-run triple capped a five-run seventh inning. Takahiro Okada, Steven Moya and Ryoichi Adachi singled to open the inning. Torai Fushimi singled in one run and another scored on a groundout. Yuma Mune walked and Kurebayashi did the rest.

Four of the runs were charged to Fighters rookie Hiromi Ito (9-6, 2.76) as the Orix outburst took rookie right-hander Soichiro Yamazaki off the hook after he allowed two runs in five-plus innings. He left with one on and no outs in the sixth, and the Fighters loaded the bases on two hits against Tomoyuki Kaida before a sac fly and a squeeze made it 3-0.

Nobuyoshi Yamada (1-0), Orix’s fourth pitcher, worked the seventh to earn the win, while Tyler Higgins pitched the eighth and Yoshihisa Hirano earned his 20th save in the ninth.

Thursday’s starting pitchers

Rookie rocket Roki Sasaki is back for the first time since his epic duel with Masahiro Tanaka on Sept. 10, this time he draws another tough customer, SoftBank and Team USA star Nick Martinez.

Lions vs Eagles: MetLife Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Wataru Matsumoto (7-8, 3.77) vs Ryota Takinaka (7-4, 4.05)

Marines vs Hawks: Zozo Marine Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Roki Sasaki (2-2, 3.05) vs Nick Martinez (7-3, 1.87)

Buffaloes vs Fighters: Kyocera Dome (Osaka) 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Daiki Tajima (6-7, 3.69) vs Kazuaki Tateno (2-1, 3.12)

BayStars vs Swallows: Yokohama Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Kenta Ishida (1-1, 5.61) vs Cy Sneed (3-2, 4.34)

Dragons vs Tigers: Vantelin Dome (Nagoya) 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Shotaro Kasahara (0-0, 1.80) vs Masashi Ito (7-7, 2.90)

Carp vs Giants: Mazda Stadium 1:30 pm, 0:30 am EDT

Shogo Tamamura (2-6, 4.04) vs Yuki Takahashi (10-5, 3.13)

Active roster moves 9/22/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 10/2

Central League

Activated

TigersP44Raul Alcantara
BayStarsP45Michael Peoples
BayStarsIF60Naoto Chino
CarpOF59Minoru Omori

Dectivated

TigersOF24Mel Rojas Jr.
BayStarsP20Yuya Sakamoto
BayStarsIF5Toshihiko Kuramoto
CarpOF37Takayoshi Noma

Pacific League

Activated

MarinesC32Toshiya Sato
LionsP20Shota Hamaya
LionsIF4Kakeru Yamanobe
BuffaloesOF8Shunta Goto

Dectivated

BuffaloesIF0Shoki Katsumata

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NPB wrap 9-21-21

After Japan’s long weekend for its respect for the elderly day, there were only three Central League games on the calendar in a kind of interleague competition, with each of the three playoff teams on the road against the three teams who are fighting to avoid finishing last. And like in interleague, these series open the possibility for one team to make up a lot of ground on its two rivals.

Second-place Yakult was poised to gain a half-game on the first-place Tigers until Hanshin broke a ninth-inning tie to keep the the Swallows from closing to within a game.

The Dragons opened the door for analyst Masaji Hiramatsu to open his mouth and insert his foot in his praise of Hanshin’s Jerry Sands, so let’s get to the games.

Swallows 5, BayStars 2

At Yokohama Stadium, there was good news and bad news for DeNA starting pitcher Yuya Sakamoto (4-5, 4.81), who pitched out of a one-out, two-on first-inning jam but only after allowing four straight hits to open the game, culminating in a Munetaka Murakami grand slam, his 36th home run of the season.

Yakult’s Albert Suarez (5-3, 3.80) made things interesting in the third, when DeNA loaded the bases with no outs, and Tyler Austin doubled in two runs. The Swallows scored a sixth-inning run off Kevin Shackelford, who allowed two singles and contributed with an error.

Suarez went five innings. He walked two, struck out three and gave up five hits and one scoreless inning apiece from Tomoya Hoshi, Ryuta Konno, CL holds leader Noboru Shimizu and Scott McGough, who earned his 21st save.

Tigers 3, Dragons 2

At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, Chunichi closer Raidel Martinez (0-3), pitching for the first time in eight days, struggled with his command, surrendered a Kairi Shimada seeing-eye leadoff single. Shimada stole second, took third on a ground out and scored the tie-breaking run on Seiya Kinami’s sacrifice fly.

During his playing career, Chunichi manager Tsuyoshi Yoda was a top reliever and it’s hard to imagine he wanted his closer sitting on the sidelines for a week. This leads me to think that the burden of managing is a little too much for him, if something simple like making sure the guys you count on the most get to pitch at least every five days or so.

CL ERA leader Yuya Yanagi allowed two runs over six innings, all of his troubles coming in the third. A hit batsman, a sacrifice by Tigers starting pitcher Takumi Akiyama, an RBI double by leadoff man Koji Chikamoto and rookie Takumu Nakano’s run-scoring single accounted for the damage.

The Dragons stranded three runners in the fourth and two in the fifth, when leadoff runner Yota Kyoda was picked off first. They tied it in the sixth after Ippei Ogawa retired only one of the three batters he faced.

Kyoda singled in two with two outs against lefty Masaki Oyokawa. The inning could have been worse, but Jefry Marte made a sweet play at first to throw out the lead runner at third with no outs and two on.

Oyokawa stayed in the game to work a scoreless seventh, Suguru Iwazaki (2-3) and closer Robert Suarez, who earned his 33rd save, finished up to keep Hanshin 1-1/2 games ahead of Yakult.

An epilogue to the game was provided on Pro Yakyu News by Masaji Hiramatsu, who praised Jerry Sands for not being like “your typical foreign player” in the ninth inning . Sands swung at a pitch well out of the zone that helped Shimada steal on a run and hit and then hit behind the runner on another ball out of the zone that moved him to third.

“Your foreign hitter understands hits, home runs and RBIs, and typically they don’t care about walks since those don’t help him make more money,” Hiramatsu said.

Carp 2, Giants 0

At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Carp lefty Hiroki Tokoda (4-3, 2.71) stranded two runners in the second, third and fourth innings, but struck out nine in a 125-pitch six-hit shutout in which he walked one and hit one. 

Yomiuri’s Shun Yamaguchi (2-6, 3.34) walked five hitters, but only the last one cost him, when he walked Ryoma Nishikawa with one out and a man on before surrendering back-to-back RBI singles to Seiya Suzuki and Shogo Sakakura.

New Giant Scott Heineman is showing a knack for making catches at the wall. He saved three runs with a ninth-inning catch last week that set the stage for a huge come-from-behind victory, and saved a run on Tuesday with a tough catch to get the first out in the sixth before the Carp hits shit the fan.

Wednesday starting pitchers

On Wednesday, Kodai Senga will see if it takes more than 14 strikeouts to stop the Lotte Marines. A week ago, he got the Ks but took the L.

Lions vs Eagles: MetLife Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Shota Hamaya (1-3, 7.02) vs Takahisa Hayakawa (8-5, 3.63)

Marines vs Hawks: Zozo Marine Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Manabu Mima (5-4, 5.52) vs Kodai Senga (5-2, 3.12)

Buffaloes vs Fighters: Kyocera Dome (Osaka) 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Soichiro Yamazaki (0-2, 5.30) vs Hiromi Ito (9-5, 2.59)

BayStars vs Swallows: Yokohama Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Shinichi Onuki (6-5, 4.50) vs Yasuhiro Ogawa (8-4, 3.96)

Dragons vs Tigers: Vantelin Dome (Nagoya) 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Takahiro Matsuba (4-3, 3.21) vs Koyo Aoyagi (10-3, 2.55)

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

Allen Kuri (9-6, 3.96) vs Shosei Togo (8-6, 4.03)

Active roster moves 9/21/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 10/1

Central League

Activated

GiantsP49Thyago Vieira
GiantsIF10Sho Nakata
DragonsIF37Taiki Mitsumata
BayStarsP20Yuya Sakamoto
CarpP98Robert Corniel

Dectivated

DragonsIF45Ryuku Tsuchida
BayStarsP42Fernando Romero
CarpP41Takuya Yasaki

Pacific League

Activated

None

Dectivated

HawksP21Tsuyoshi Wada
MarinesOF79Leonys Martin
LionsIF31Shota Hiranuma
FightersP41Bryan Rodriguez
BuffaloesP46Hitomi Honda