It was 2022 Flashback Friday, with Roki Sasaki looking as dominant as he was two summers ago and Munetaka Murakami hitting an absurdly low pitch out to right field at Koshien Stadium. It seems a good time to get back to the daily grind after 10+ days off to go to Honolulu.
I was actually in Chiba today after being asked to go to a ballgame and having to choose between Yokohama, and the CL’s two worst teams, or Chiba with some of the worst media access in Japan but Roki Sasaki. Unfortunately, the press wifi wasn’t working and I couldn’t file a story without it, so I trudged back to the office.
Friday’s games:
BayStars 2, Dragons 1: At Yokohama Stadium, Katsuki Azuma (4-0) struck out seven over 7-2/3 innings, Hiromu Ise stranded two runners in the eighth and Kohei Morihara pitched a 1-2-3 ninth against the heart of the Dragons order for his ninth save.
Former BayStar farmhand Seiya Hosokawa put the visitors up in the first inning with a sac fly against Azuma, only for former Yokohama High star Hideaki Wakui (2-3) to cough up two runs in the home half on back-to-back RBI doubles from Shugo Maki and Toshiro Miyazaki.
Tyler Austin started at first base for DeNA in his return from a hamstring strain that had sidelined him since April 11. He went 0-for-3 with a walk. The Dragons’ loss was their third straight.
Swallows 4, Tigers 2: At Koshien Stadium, Munetaka Murakami hit his 201st career homer, Kojiro Yoshimura (4-2) allowed two runs over 5-2/3 innings and five relievers took it the rest of the way with Taichi Ishiyama getting his fourth save
Kazuya Maruyama opened the game with a walk from Koyo Aoyagi (1-3) and scored after a sacrifice and a Hideki Nagaoka single. Munetaka Murakami made it 4-0 with his 10th home run, two days after he became the youngest player in Japanese pro baseball to reach 200 career home runs.
The Tigers got two unearned runs off Yoshimura in the sixth, on a single, and error and two-out RBI singles by Yusuke Oyama, and Kento Itohara, who did the honors against reliever Shota Maruyama.
Carp 2, Giants 0: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Daichi Osera (2-0) threw six innings, and three relievers completed the seven-hit shutout.
Kaito Kozono doubled in Shogo Akiyama in the first off Shosei Togo (3-2), and Masaya Yano doubled and scored in the fourth on an Akiyama ground out. Ryoji Kuribayashi saved his 11th game with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Eagles 5, Buffaloes 3: At Osaka UFO Dome, Rakuten opened the scoring with three-straight one-out first-inning singles off Daiki Tajima, and didn’t get another base runner until Ryosuke Tatsumi‘s second infield single set up a run in the fifth. Keita Nakagawa doubled to open the home half as Orix’s first base runner against Takahisa Hayakawa and scored on a Ryo Ota single.
The Eagles made it 3-1 in the eighth on a Kazuki Murabayashi double and a Hiroaki Shimauchi single only for Orix to tie it after Ota opened the eighth with a single, on three straight two-out singles. Sung Chia-hao (1-0) allowed an inherited runner to score in the eighth, but retired to Nakagawa to get out of the inning.
Rakuten scored twice in the ninth off Taito Takashima (0-1), loading the bases with one out on an Eigoro Mogi pinch-hit double, Hiroto Kobukata‘s third singled of the game and a walk. Murabayashi singled in one and Hideto Asamura‘s sac fly capped the rally before Takahiro Norimoto‘s 1-2-3 ninth sealed his ninth save.
Hawks 6, Lions 2: At Fukuoka “Your Company Name Can Go Here” Dome, Livan Moinelo (2-1) allowed a run on four hits and four walks over seven innings while striking out eight, while SoftBank tagged Bo Takahashi (1-3) for five runs in five innings en route to their third straight win.
Kensuke Kondo tripled and scored in a three-run first with Ukyo Shuto‘s two-out two-run single capping the inning. Solo homers by Kondo and former Lion Hotaka Yamakawa made it 5-0. Lions catcher Yuto Koga homered in the seventh, and Ryoya Kurihara doubled home Yuki Yanagita in the Hawk’s seventh. The loss was the Lions’ third straight.
Marines 1, Fighters 1, 12 innings: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Roki Sasaki struck out a season-high 12, including seven 3-pitch punch-outs, in front of a slew of MLB scouts, while allowing a run over eight innings, while allowing a run on three hits, a walk and a hit batsman. Fighters starter Shoma Kanemura struck out six over five innings while allowing a run when Hisanori Yasuda singled in Gregory Polanco in the fourth.
Sasaki looked very much like his 2022-season version, not completely airing it out, but occasionally touching over 160 kph.
