NPB 2020 8-17 games and news

Iguchi: Laird had been playing hurt

Lotte Marines third baseman Brandon Laird has been taking injections in order to be able to play, his manager, Tadahito Iguchi revealed Sunday, according to Sports Nippon Annex.

Laird was deactivated on Aug. 5 due to lower back stiffness. In 147 plate appearances over 39 games, he has six home runs with a .299 on-base percentage and a .391 slugging average.

“He had been getting shots while he played,” Iguchi said. “But recently he was getting numbness in his leg. He went back and now we’re waiting to see what the doctors over there say.”

The team announced no timetable for his return.

Utsumi slated for 1st start as Lion

Former Yomiuri Giants ace Tetsuya Utsumi is slated to make his first start for the Seibu Lions since the team acquired him as Kyodo News (Japanese side) reported Monday.

The lefty, acquired as free agent compensation after the 2018 season, has yet to appear with the first team. He has been named to start on Saturday against the Orix Buffaloes at Kyocera Dome.

“Some of the young guys have times when they are a little uneasy, so we want a veteran to go out and give it his best shot,” pitching coach Fumiya Nishiguchi said of Utsumi, who is expected to join the team in Osaka on Thursday.

“If he can draw on all his skill on the mounds, that will be enough.”

The 38-year-old was originally drafted by the Orix BlueWave, but turned them down since he desired to play for the Giants, for whom his grandfather also played.

Active roster moves 8/17/2020

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 8/27

Central League

Activated

None

Dectivated

TigersP66Ippei Ogawa
TigersC94Fumihito Haraguchi
CarpP98Emailin Montilla
SwallowsP68Hirofumi Yamanaka

Pacific League

Activated

None

Dectivated

LionsP45Keisuke Honda
HawksIF68Masaki Mimori
BuffaloesOF25Ryo Nishimura

Starting pitchers for Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020

Pacific League

Fighters vs Eagles: Sapporo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Naoyuki Uwasawa (2-2, 3.77) vs Hayato Yuge (3-1, 3.71)

Marines vs Hawks: Zozo Marine Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Manabu Mima (3-2, 5.28) vs Kodai Senga (4-1, 3.53)

Buffaloes vs Lions: Kyocera Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3-1, 3.86) vs Kona Takahashi (2-5, 6.47)

Central League

Giants vs Tigers: Tokyo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Tomoyuki Sugano (7-0, 1.75) vs Haruto Takahashi (1-0, 0.00)

Swallows vs Dragons: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Keiji Takahashi (1-1, 3.14) vs Shinnosuke Ogasawara (0-1, 4.50)

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

Allen Kuri (2-2, 4.05) vs Shoichi Ino (3-3, 2.60)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *