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.
