NPB news: Aug. 23, 2023

Yoshinobu Yamamoto got back on the winning track and Gregory Polanco went wild on Wednesday.

The day also marked the culmination of the national summer high school baseball championship, with a manager who has written books on the subject of changing the high school baseball culture, winning the championship and earning himself a soapbox, while a reader commented on the development.

Wednesday’s games

Buffaloes 3, Lions 0: At Seibu Half Dome, Orix stranded 13 runners through the first seven innings, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-5) allowed five hits and a walk over seven. Tatsuya Imai (7-4) was really good at pitching out of trouble, allowing one run despite five walks and seven hits over six innings with the only score coming on a bases-loaded walk.

Yuma Mune singled and scored in the second, Tomoya Mori doubled in the seventh and scored and delivered a sac fly after Keita Nakagawa’s ninth-inning triple.

The win keeps Yamamoto on track to win his third straight PL MVP award and third straight Sawamura Award as Japan’s most impressive starting pitcher.

Continue reading NPB news: Aug. 23, 2023

NPB news: Aug. 22, 2023

Gregory “El Coffee” Polanco had a night Carter Stewart Jr. would not like to repeat on Tuesday in Japanese pro baseball, while Jacob Waguespack gave Orix a reason to keep letting him start games, and Shota Imanaga continued to get hammered early.

Marines 5, Hawks 3: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Gregory Polanco’s 16 home run, a two-run shot in the first on a hanging curve, put Lotte on top against Carter Stewart Jr. (2-4), before the Hawks tied it on Ryoya Kurihara’s two-run homer in the second off C.C. Mercedes (4-6). Shogo Nakamura’s 10th homer, in the third, made it 3-2, and though Stewart worked around a pair of two-out walks, a leadoff walk in the fifth and Nakamura’s third hit set up a Polanco RBI double and a Mike Brosseau sac fly that sealed the win.

Continue reading NPB news: Aug. 22, 2023

writing & research on Japanese baseball

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