NPB news: Oct. 25, 2023

There was smoke but little fire or light Thursday in the Hotaka Yamakawa story after Seibu wiggled around how he might play while remaining suspended. Yamakawa accepted the blame, proving it’s possible for athletes to do horrible things and not pretend it’s OK.Also the Rakuten Eagles played the Nippon Ham Fighters in a bid to close the gap between them and the Lotte Marines and SoftBank Hawks, who currently occupy the PL’s last two playoff spots.

Thursday’s game

Eagles 5, Fighters 3: At Miyagi Stadium, Rakuten starter Takahisa Hayakawa surrendered three runs in three innings, but Hideto Asamura got one run back by homering off Haruka Nemoto (3-1) in the fourth. The solo homer, his 26th, tied him for the PL home run lead with Lotte’s Gregory Polanco. Nemoto loaded the bases with one out in the fifth on two walks and a hit batsman, but disaster struck after he got the second out.

Asamura’s flare to shallow center tied it 3-3, and left fielder Yuki James Nomura, a third baseman playing in his 31st game in the outfield as a professional, failed to catch Takero Okajima’s fly at the warning track for a two-run double. Six Eagles relievers kept the Fighters from coming back with Yuki Matsui setting a career high with his Japan-leading 39th save.

The win moved the Eagles to within a half-game of the third-place Marines, whom they play at home on Monday. They are 1-1/2 back of the second-place Hawks, whom they host on Sunday. Lotte can wrap up a postseason spot with wins over Orix on Friday and Saturday.

Continue reading NPB news: Oct. 25, 2023

NPB news: Oct. 4, 2023

The other shoe dropped in the Giants’ managing drama Wednesday as the Central League’s regular season ground to a halt, the Lotte Marines found themselves in Osaka trying to cement their playoff position as the Pacific League season ticks down, and it’s official, Samurai Japan has a new manager on a short leash.

Wednesday’s games

Giants 1, Deniers 0: At Tokyo Ugly Dome, Iori Yamasaki (10-5) threw a 111-pitch two-hitter to outduel Katsuki Azuma (16-3), who allowed a run on eight hits to take the complete-game loss. The victory was Tatsunori Hara’s franchise-record 1,291st, and consigned DeNA to opening its postseason in the climax series

Before the game, Hara revealed he would not continue managing the Giants next year, the final year of what was ostensibly a three-year contract, but would step down after the game, having made up his mind to get out of Dodge after he became the first manager to steer the club to back-to-back second-division finishes.

Continue reading NPB news: Oct. 4, 2023

writing & research on Japanese baseball

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