Franmil Reyes is on a heck of a streak, Shumpeita Yamashita was reminded of his childhood, and he reminded opponents of what they’ve been missing so far this year. Also, I posted a blog about the best pitches thrown in Japan over the last five seasons.
Tuesday’s games
Carp 2, Dragons 1: At Nagoya Dome, Orlando Calixte cracked open the scoreboard, leading off the Dragons second against Hiroki Tokoda (11-5) with his seventh home run. Shogo Sakakura‘s two-run single brought the Carp from behind against Shinnosuke Ogasawara (5-9) in the fourth. Tokoda scattered seven hits over 7-1/3 innings. Ryoji Kuribayashi saved his 35th game with a surprising lack of drama.
BayStars 3, Tigers 2: At Yokohama Stadium, Shota Morishita doubled with two outs against Katsuki Azuma (11-2) in the first inning and scored on a Yusuke Oyama single. The BayStars took the lead against Shoki Murakami (5-9) on a Koki Kajiwara single and RBI doubles from Tatsuo Ebina and Tyler Austin. Hanshin rookie Kota Inoue tied it 2-2 in the sixth with his first career homer only for Austin to untie it with his 22nd of the season.
Murakami struck out seven over six innings, while Azuma struck out eight over seven. J.B. Wendelken took out the heart of the Hanshin order in the eighth and Kohei Morihara earned his 23rd save.
Buffaloes 4, Hawks 1: At Nagasaki Prefectural Baseball Stadium, 2023 PL rookie of the year Shumpeita Yamashita (2-4) reminded SoftBank of the kind of pitches he can bring. The 161-kph fastball he used to strike out the game’s first hitter was the fastest recorded by a Japanese pitcher in franchise history. He mixed the heat with that nasty curve – until Ryoya Kurihara knocked a big slow hanging hook over the wall for his 15th home run and a 1-0 Hawks lead.
The Buffaloes, who had scored five runs in their past seven games, got the lead when they loaded the bases in the seventh against Tomohisa Ozeki with one out on two singles and a walk, and Yuki Tsumori allowed all three to score with two outs on a pair of walks and a hit batsman.
Yamashita struck out seven while allowing two hits and two walks over seven innings. Ryo Ota, who played some outstanding defense at first base, drove in a ninth-inning insurance run, while Luis Perdomo and Andres Machado finished up with Machado securing his 21st save.
After the game, Yamashita, who is from Fukuoka, said he was familiar with Nagasaki because he had often spent time with his grandfather there as a boy.
“I have a lot of good memories of this place, and now one more,” he said.
Giants 3, Swallows 2: At Jingu “Tokyo’s sacrifice to corporate greed and governmental malfeasance” Stadium, the Swallows loaded the bases in the second against Foster Griffin (6-3), who helped his own cause by ending the inning in an eight-pitch strikeout of Swallows pitcher Cy Sneed (2-7), who had looked overpowering in the first two innings, and then promptly hung a slider that got the Giants their first hit, a third-inning leadoff single. Shogo Asano, who was overmatched in the first inning, hit his third homer to make it 2-0 Giants.
Sneed got his revenge in the fourth, when Griffin walked Tetsuto Yamada and surrendered RBI doubles to Shu Masuda and Sneed to tie it. The Giants moved ahead on one-out singles by Kazuma Okamoto and Hayato Sakamoto that set up Naoki Yoshikawa‘s sacrifice fly. That turned out to be the game
Griffin, our guest on the next Japan Baseball Weekly Podcast, when he talks about his use of the slider that, used that back-foot sweeper to devastating effect against the Swallows’ right-handed hitters, while Sneed’s fastball at the start of the game was electric. Taisei Ota recorded his 23rd save.
Eagles 9, Fighters 5: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, Sachiya Yamasaki allowed five runs in four innings, his briefest start since joining Nippon Ham as a free agent last winter.
Maikel Franco opened the scoring in the second with a two-run homer, his eighth, and Rakuten made it 5-0 in the fourth, when Toshiki Abe hit a two-run shot, his ninth, and Hideto Asamura followed with his 11th. The Fighters also hit back-to-back homers in the fourth with Kotaro Kiyomiya hitting his ninth and Franmil Reyes extending his hitting streak to 20 games with his 15th before Daigo Kamikawabata singled and scored on a Torai Fushimi single off Seiryu Uchi. Rakuten’s three-run fifth appeared to ice this one, although Reyes, who went 3-for-4, hit his 16th homer in the eighth.
Marines 4, Lions 3, 12 innings: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Kyota Fujiwara singled off Bo Takahashi (2-7) with one out in the 12th, went to third on Yudai Fujioka‘s two-out single and scored on a wild pitch to end this one after 4 hours, 21 minutes.
The Lions jumped out to an early three-run lead, something that hasn’t happened a whole lot this year. Shinya Hasegawa singled to open the game against Yuki Karakawa, Sosuke Genda doubled him home and scored on Manaya Nishikawa‘s third home run.
Singles by Akito Takabe and Yudai Fujioka set up a first-inning Lotte run against Chihiro Sumida. Fujioka doubled and scored in the sixth when Polanco notched his second RBI, with a single. The Marines tied it in the eighth against Kaima Taira on a walk, a sacrifice, a groundout and a wild pitch.
The Lions appeared to be in deep shit in the 10th when Polanco batted with one out and the bases loaded in the 10th, but Shunsuke Sato struck him out then did the same with Neftali Soto.
