Tomoyuki Sugano looked like he was back Saturday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was also his old self, a new Marines recruit cost his old team a victory in a sentimental game in front of his old fans, and Yakult and Hanshin played a heck of a game.
Saturday’s games
Buffaloes 5, Lions 1: At Kobe Green Stadium, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-3) struck out 13, while walking one over the distance. Reserve utility man Tomoya Noguchi threw David MacKinnon out on the bases to end the Lions’ second and hit a two-out two-run triple off Kona Takahashi (5-6) in the home half. Kotaro Kurebayashi hit his sixth home run with a man on in the third, and that was the ballgame.
The win pulled the Buffaloes into a virtual tie for first place in the Pacific League, and before I let this one go, I have to say that Yamamoto was the victim of one of the worst hero-interview questions I’ve ever heard: “Tonight we had fireworks at the ballpark. What are your favorite kind of fireworks?” The poor guy was helpless.
Marines 3, Fighters 2: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, Shingo Ishikawa improved to 2-for-2 as a member of the Marines since his trade last week from the Yomiuri Giants. The former Fighter, batting for the guy who drove in Lotte’s first two runs, broke a 2-2 tie against his first pro team at their new park.
Katsuya Kakunaka opened the scoring in the first with a solo homer off Naoyuki Uwasawa (6-6). Kotaro Kiyomiya tied it in the home half with his fourth home run. The Fighters went in front on two-out doubles by Yuki Jamese Nomura and Ryohei Hosokawa, and that lead persisted until Uwasawa surrendered two-out fifth-inning singles to Kyota Fujiwara, Yudai Fujioka and Kakunaka.
With two outs in the seventh Fujiwara doubled, and side-arm lefty Naoki Miyanishi took over. Fujioka singled, and Ishikawa, batting for Kakunaka put the Fighters in front.
“The Fighters brought me into this (pro baseball) world. Fans in Hokkaido are still cheering for me, even if I’m with some other team. I love Hokkaido. Once a game begins, I try to beat the Fighters, but I remember and appreciate things they’ve done for me.”
Eagles 8, Hawks 1: At Miyagi Stadium, Rakuten’s Wataru Karashima (1-2) allowed a run over 6-2/3 innings, while SoftBank starter Nao Higashihama (5-6) paid for walking four batters in a pair of three-run innings. Rakuten’s Hiroto Kobukata tripled in the game’s first run in the third and scored, and singled in the first run of the Eagles’ three-run fifth and scored. Yuki Yanagita hit his 14th home run for the Hawks.
Dragons 5, Carp 1: At Nagoya Dome, Humberto Mejia (1-0) pitched out of a couple of tight spots to allow a run in six innings, and then got the lead in his matchup with Daichi Osera (3-7), who didn’t even sniff danger until he allowed a pair of two-out runners in the fifth and escaped trouble by retiring Mejia.
That changed in the sixth. Yuki Okabayashi drew a leadoff walk and scored the tying run on Yohei Oshima’s double. Dayan Viciedo’s one-out single put the Dragons in front. Takaya Ishikawa led off Chunichi’s seventh with a double to set up the insurance run to score on a pinch-hit sac fly by Shunta Goto. Oshima and Viciedo doubled to power the Dragons’ two-run eighth off Nik Turley.
Raidel Martinez worked the ninth for his 19th save.
Dragons-Carp highlights
Giants 6, Deniers: At Tokyo Dome, Tomoyuki Sugano (2-2 ) was next to untouchable over seven innings, striking out six and walking none, while batterymate Takumi Oshiro and first baseman Sho Nakata supplied much of Yomiuri’s offense against Robert Gsellman (3-4). Oshiro and Nakata singled to open the Giants’ two-run second, and then capped the scoring in the fifth, when Oshiro doubled with one out and Tanaka hit his fifth homer.
Swallows 3, Tigers 2: At Koshien Stadium, Yakult won a tremendous defensive struggle with Hanshin in a game packed with a week’s worth of web gems that began turning precipitously in the bottom of the sixth after Yusuke Oyama’s no-out double plated Takumu Nakano with the tying run and sent Sheldon Neuse to third.
With one out Johan Mieses was robbed of a sacrifice fly, when new Swallows Taiki Mitsumata cut off the throw home and threw out Oyama trying to advance to third, with the tag coming milliseconds before Neuse’s foot touched home.
Munetaka Murakami, whose first-inning sac plated Hidetaka Namiki for the opening run against Masashi Ito (3-3), doubled to lead off the Swallows’ seventh. With two outs, Ito hit Hideki Nagaoka, who stole second, and walked the bases loaded, bringing up Shingo Kawabata, who singled in two runs with his NPB-leading 14th pinch-hit of the season in his 34th at-bat.
Neuse, who was robbed of a first-inning double by Domingo Santana, was robbed of an eighth-inning double by Namiki ahead of Oyama’s second double of the night. Facing a two-on, no-out ninth-inning pickle, Kazuto Taguchi allowed a run but secured his 19th save.
Dillon Peters allowed a run in 5-1/3 innings and did not figure in the decision.
