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NPB games, news of July 24, 2019

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Diverging again from pro ball for a moment again tonight after 100-mph pitcher Roki Sasaki pitched Ofunato High School into the final of Iwate Prefecture’s summer tourney with two-hit shutout in Wednesday’s semifinal. Sasaki was working on the luxury of two days rest after a 194-pitch, extra-inning win on Sunday.

Sasaki was held out of Tuesday’s quarterfinal, but the high school senior now has one chance to pitch in the summer nationals at Koshien Stadium if Ofunato can beat Iwate powerhouse Hanamaki Higashi — the alma mater of Yusei Kikuchi and Shohei Ohtani.

The final is set for Thursday, and once again it will be interesting to see how much Sasaki pitches after throwing 129 pitches on Wednesday. His manager, Yohei Kokubo, is unusual by Japanese high school standards. Most managers would think nothing of using a pitcher of Sasaki’s caliber to start on no rest, but Kokubo is unusual.

And with that out of the way, back to NPB…

Pacific League

Eagles 4, Lions 3

At Rakuten Seimei Park, Hideto Asamura tied the game with his 18th home run, a two-run shot in the fourth inning, and Ginji Akaminai’s two-run homer in the sixth brought Rakuten back from 3-2 deficit in a win over Seibu.

Takahiro Norimoto (2-1) struck out nine while allowing three runs, one earned, over six innings to earn the win for the Eagles. He’s now allowed four runs in his three starts with his only loss coming his last time out when the Eagles fell 1-0.

Although he gave up three runs, it was Norimoto as advertised as he pounded the zone with his fastball and gave hitters no choice but to flail at his splitter.

“Nori pitched well again tonight,” Asamura said. “Last time we didn’t give him any support, so I’m glad we could get the job done today.”

Takeya Nakamura, who singled and scored a run for Seibu in the fourth, homered to break a 2-2 tie in the sixth, but Lions starter Tatsuya Imai (5-8) walked four batters but couldn’t hold the lead.

Three Eagles relievers, Frank Herrmann, Kohei Morihara and closer Yuki Matsui each survived a leadoff single, with Matsui recording his Japan-best 26th save.

Game highlights are HERE.

Fighters 5, Buffaloes 4

At Hotto Motto Field Kobe, Kohei Arihara (11-4) won his marquee matchup against Orix’s Taisuke Yamaoka (7-3), who fell to 0-2 against Nippon Ham this season. Yamaoka struck out eight over 4-2/3 innings but allowed five runs on eight hits and better defense might have won the game for him.

Kazutomo Iguchi inherited a potential tying run in the seventh when Arihara left the game but retired all three batters he faced. Ryo Akiyoshi recorded his 17th save for the Fighters, two shy of his 2016 career-high with the Swallows when he split his time between the closing and setup roles.

My moment of the game, 38-year-old and soon-to-be-retired Kensuke Tanaka, once fleet-of-foot, laughing after he chugged around third base to score from first on a double because of a wide throw in the top of the first.

Game highlights are HERE.

Hawks 5, Marines 4

At Yafuoku Dome, SoftBank paid the price for having an inner fence and a “home run terrace” when Brandon Laird’s high fly to center in the first inning went for a grand slam and his 28th home run, but Lotte couldn’t scrape another run across the plate.

Kenta Imamiya had two hits and three RBIs and rookie reserve catcher Ryoya Kurihara broke a 4-4 tie in the eighth with a pinch-hit RBI triple. Yuito Mori earned his 20th save and his first since June 15th with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Game highlights are HERE.

Central League

Swallows 10, Giants 4

At Kyocera Dome, recently acquired pitcher Yuri Furukawa surrendered four runs in the first inning as Yomiuri fell to Yakult.

Game highlights are HERE.

BayStars 3, Tigers 1

At Koshien Stadium, Jose Lopez did the bulk of DeNA’s damage when Hanshin starter Koyo Aoyagi missed with a cookie down the pipe and the BayStars cleanup hitter got enough of the ball to bounce it off the top of the fence and into the stands for a two-run, fourth-inning homer.

Game highlights are HERE.

Carp 2, Dragons 0

At Mazda Stadium, Kris Johnson (7-6) threw a one-hitter and Ryoma Nishikawa homered to open the bottom of the first against 19-year-old rookie Takumi Yamamoto in Hiroshima’s win over Chunichi.

The super streaky Carp have now won five straight. They began the season by losing 12 of their first 16 before reeling off win streaks of eight and 11 games. On July 10, they ended a 12-game winless stretch (0-11-1).

News

Carp skipper Ogata warned over physical abuse

The Hiroshima Carp on Wednesday announced they had issued a stern warning to manager Koichi Ogata over repeatedly slapping outfielder Takayoshi Noma, who had been Hiroshima’s center fielder until June 13.

Ogata blew his cool after the game of June 30, when the 26-year-old had failed to hustle on an 11th-inning pop up to the mound that dropped and was forced at first. The Carp and BayStars played to a 12-inning tie.

Baseball, Commentary, Free, News, Paid Content

NPB games, news of July 23, 2019

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There were a bunch of exciting games and big innings on Tuesday in NPB, with the SoftBank Hawks showing what they can do with the short fences at their ballpark — even with two of their three top home run hitters out of the lineup.

Central League

Giants 6, Swallows 5

At Kyocera Dome, pinch hitter Shnnosuke Shigenobu’s deep fly got over Yakult’s shallow outfield for a sayonara single that snapped Yomiuri’s four-game losing streak.

Both sides had ample chances to win this, missing a chance to deliver a knockout punch with the bases loaded. Giants starter Shun Yamaguchi was on track to win his 11th game of the season when the Giants bludgeoned David Buchanan for four runs in the first. Yamaguchi made the last out, grounding into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.

Yamaguchi didn’t allow a hit until Wladimir Balentien homered to open the fifth. With a three-run lead in the eighth, Yamaguchi left with two outs and two on, but Rubby De La Rosa’s first pitch to Norichika Aoki cleared the outfield wall to tie it.

Giants reliever Scott Mathieson walked two of the four batters he faced in the ninth, and lefty Kota Nakagawa walked the bases loaded but got Tetsuto Yamada to fly out and give the Giants a chance to exhale.

With two on and no outs, the Swallows went into their throw-the-runner-out-at-the-plate-on-a-single shallow outfield defense, and Shigenobu launched a fly to the warning track that Aoki couldn’t haul in.

Game highlights are HERE.

Carp 6, Dragons 5, 10 innings

At Mazda Stadium, Xavier Batista had his second two-home run game since Saturday, his two-run shot tying it in the ninth before Geronimo Franzua pitched out of a 10th-inning jam and Tomohiro Abe won it for Hiroshima by leading off the home half of the 10th with a home run.

Batista, whose first homer was launched into the netting above the upper deck in left field and protects Hiroshima Station’s rail yard from such missiles, now has 23 home runs this season. Franzua (6-3) walked two batters in the 10th but put the lead runner out on the third-base line before he could score and then celebrated when he got a fly out to end the inning.

The talking heads blamed Dragons runner Yohei Oshima for his late start, but it was a poor bunt and also good fielding from Franzua that made the play.

Here’s a look at the Franzua celebration if you haven’t seen it.

BayStars 6, Tigers 6, 12 innings

At Koshien Stadium, Yoshitomo Tsustugo prevented DeNA from losing with a two-strike, two-out, ninth-inning RBI double off Hanshin closer Rafael Dolis that tied a wild game 6-6.

The Tigers welcomed back Kosuke Fukudome, who reached base three times, while Jefry Marte went 3-for-5 with his eighth home run, a result the Nikkan Sports attributed to the arrival of Yangervis Solarte.

The story includes Marte speaking about how happy he is to have another quality player on the team, but there is a kind of subtext to it, essentially saying Marte is playing hard because he has competition.

Pacific League

Fighters 5, Buffaloes 2

At Hotto Motto Field Kobe, former Orix ace Chihiro Kaneko looked at home in Kobe, allowing two walks over six hitless innings for Nippon Ham. Kaneko (4-5), who left Orix in a contract dispute over the winter, struck out four in a 92-pitch effort.

New Buffalo Steven Moya belted a two-run home run for the second-straight game to account for his team’s scoring. Tyler Eppler threw a scoreless inning of relief for the Buffaloes, while Stefen Romero returned to action, going 1-for-4 with a ninth-inning single in his first action since being sidelined with injury in June.

Game highlights are HERE.

Hawks 11, Marines 7

At Yafuoku Dome, Kenta Imamiya returned to action for the first time since June 20, and blasted a home run in his first at-bat. Nobuhiro Matsuda followed with his first of the night, and Alfredo Despaigne made it a hat-trick as SoftBank jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in its win over Lotte.

The Hawks, who lead all 12 teams in home runs with 124, hit five, while Seiya Inoue hit two, two-run shots for Lotte. Katsuya Kakunaka plated Brandon Laird with a home run, and Laird chipped in with his 27th.

Game highlights are HERE.

News

Messenger to return to States for treatment

Veteran Hanshin Tigers pitcher Randy Messenger will return to the United States this summer for treatment to deal with lower-body issues. The 37-year-old right-hander was Hanshin’s Opening Day starter for the fifth-straight season in March, and has had that honor six times since joining the team in 2010.

This season he is 3-7 with a 4.69 ERA.