On Wednesday in Japan, Hiromi Ito and Chihiro Sumida each tossed a Maddux, while each league’s front-runner got roughed up by the rival league’s cellar dweller, including one in which an 18-year-old catcher fresh out of high school had a big major league debut. Also, the Japan Series rematch series went to Game 2 in Osaka. In other news, the Buffaloes called up Leandro Cedeno, while the Yakult Swallows brought back setup man Noboru Shimizu for the first time in a month and a half, and he said he has fixed those things that made him ineffective in April
Wednesday’s games:
Fighters 7, Dragons 0: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, Hiromi Ito (6-1) struck out seven while holding Chunichi to three singles and no walks in a 98-pitch Maddux to snap the Fighters’ three-game losing streak.
Chunichi’s Shinnosuke Ogasawara (2-6) retired the first two hitters in the fourth before three singles put a run on the board and Chusei Mannami made it 4-0 with his eighth home run. Former Dragon Yuya Gunji made it 5-0 off his former batterymate Ogasawara with his sixth home run. Nippon Ham’s Daiki Narama’s two-run eighth-inning single completed the rout.
Lions 5, Carp 0: At the domed stadium formerly known as “Prince,” Chihiro Sumida (4-5) threw a 99-pitch Maddux to halt the Seibu Lions’ second eight-game losing streak of the season with a win over the Central League-leading Hiroshima Carp. Sumida allowed three singles, two in the ninth inning, a double and two early walks, retiring 15 in a row at one stretch.
The Lions, with NPB’s most impotent offense, had all but two of their base runners in a six-hit one-walk fifth inning against Masato Morishita (5-3).
Seibu opened the inning with Natsuo Takizawa‘s leadoff single, a sacrifice, a groundout and Hyu Motoyama’s RBI single. After two outs of small ball, the roof unexpectedly caved in. Shinya Hasegawa singled and scored on Manaya Nishikawa‘s two-run triple. A walk and back-to-back RBI singles from Takeya Nakamura–yet another little dribbler on a night of dribbled infield singles, and Naomasa Yokawa completed the damage before the last nine Lions hitters made out.
Buffaloes 4, Tigers 0: At Osaka UFO Dome, Anderson Espinoza (5-3) retired the first 16 batters he faced. He allowed three hits and a walk over 6-2/3 scoreless innings – thanks to lefty Ryota Tomiyama striking out Teruaki Sato to end the seventh with the bases loaded as Orix won its seventh straight.
While the Buffaloes spent the first three innings hitting bullets at third for Sato to show off his arm and turn them into outs, the Tigers early offense consisted of one well-hit ball caught on a leap by the tallest regular shortstop in Japan, 187-centimeter Kotaro Kurebayashi, and reserve Tigers catcher Seishiro Sakamoto fouling off 12 two-strike pitches in the season’s most annoying at-bat.
The Buffaloes broke the ice by going short against Satoin the fourth on Keita Nakagawa‘s little dribbler infield single. After a sacrifice, Nakagawa was out trying for third on a ball hit to short, a play I love but announcers hate. Ryoma Nishikawa‘s eight-pitch walk from Kotaro Otake (4-4) restored the runner to scoring position. Kurebayashi, who had stopped mid-swing in the second to single an 88-kph “fastball,” hit a real fastball from Otake to drive in a run. A walk and a two-run Yuma Mune single made it 3-0.
A Nishikawa sixth-inning Nishikawa single and a Kurebayashi double made it 4-0 Orix in the sixth, after which the Tigers went to the pen.
The Tigers threatened with two outs in the seventh, when Koji Chikamoto barely beat out an infield single thanks to a video replay. Kento Itohara singled, and Ryo Watanabe walked. Sato appeared to have fouled out only for the ball to be ruled dead after it hit one of the rings suspended from the dome’s superstructure, requiring Toyama to strike him out.
Andres Machado issued two two-out walks before ending the game.
Swallows 9, Hawks 3: At Fukuoka “Your company’s name can go here” Dome, 18-year-old major league debutant Kyo Suzuki, started at catcher for Yakult, broke a 1-1 tie with his first career hit, a two-run single. He went 2-for-4 and caught eight innings as rookie lefty Taichi Yamano (1-0) held the PL leaders to a run over seven innings in his season debut.
SoftBank got a run on three third-inning singles. Yakult, however, came back with a run on Kazuya Maruyama‘s leadoff triple against Ryosuke Otsu in the fourth and a Hideki Nagaoka single. Munetaka Murakami doubled, and first base filled intentionally with two outs so Suzuki could bat. The rookie catcher lined a good 1-2 slider to left for a two-run tie-breaking single.
Murakami’s three-run homer, his 14th and a Tetsuto Yamada RBI double made it 7-1 Yakult in the fifth. Otsu (4-2) allowed seven runs on nine hits and two walks over five innings. Back-to-back solo homers by Domingo Santana and Jose Osuna made it 9-1 in the seventh. Noboru Shimizu, who had been on the farm finding his form for the past 1-1/2 months, worked a 1-2-3 eighth.
Eagles 5, Giants 4: At Miyagi Stadium, Rakuten batted around in a five-run first, capped by Maikel Franco‘s two-out three-run home run off Kenshin Hotta (3-3). The Giants got a run back on Yuta Izuguchi‘s two-out third-inning triple and a Yoshihiro Maru single off Seiryu Uchi (3-4), and another on fourth-inning error by the pitcher and a Kazuma Okamoto RBI double. Eagles ace-turned-closer Takahiro Norimoto surrendered two runs in the ninth on a two-out Izuguchi double but recorded his 15th save. The Giants have lost five straight.
BayStars 13, Marines 3: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Lotte took a 3-2 lead into the seventh inning, and DeNA took reliever Yusuke Azuma (0-1) out to the woodshed and beat him severely, scoring six runs on three singles, three doubles and a walk to take an 8-3 lead.
Lotte, shut out the night before by Andre Jackson scored twice in the first off Anthony Kay (4-4) on a walk, an Atsuki Tomosugi single, a wild pitch, a Neftali Soto dribbling infield single and a throwing error on the play. Tyler Austin singled to open the fourth against rookie Shunsuke Nakamori in his season debut and scored via a Shugo Maki double and a sacrifice fly. An Aito Takeda leadoff double in the home half and a Tatsuhiro Tamura single restored Lotte’s two-run lead.
Swallows’ Shimizu believes he’s back
The cornerstone of the Yakult Swallows’ bullpen for the past four years, right-handed setup man Shimizu said he went back to Square 1 on the farm and reviewed what he’d been doing since this past offseason, analyzed his pitches and believes he has identified the keys to consistent command and quality that plagued him in the spring and caused Yakult to drop him on April 26.
