On Friday in Japan, the Lotte Marines escaped a third straight tie and kept their unbeaten streak alive with the help of Hanshin’s bullpen, Maikel Franco‘s bat said “Sayonara,” and Shosei Togo did what he’s been doing.
In other news, Yomiuri Giants catcher Takumi Oshiro came back from minor league deactivation, as did Orix Buffaloes slugger Yutaro “Rao” Sugimoto and DeNA BayStars second baseman Shugo Maki, whose teammate, reliever Taisei Irie, had surgery. Meanwhile, a SoftBank Hawks player delivered a moving message after learning that his offseason mishap is far more serious than originally believed.
But first the games…
Friday’s games:
Hawks 2, Carp 1: At Fukuoka “Your company’s name can go here” Dome, one-out eighth-inning singles by Hotaka Yamakawa and Kensuke Kondo set up Ryoya Kurihara‘s tie-breaking sacrifice fly, lifting Pacific League-leading SoftBank over Central League-leading Hiroshima.
Ryosuke Kikuchi homered in the first off Livan Moinelo, who then retired 15 of the next 18 hgiiters, while Daichi Osera allowed a first-inning run on an error and a Kenta Imamiya double and walked two with two outs before getting out of the inning. Both starters allowed a run on seven
Buffaloes 2, Dragons 1: At Osaka UFO Dome, Orix’s Luis Castillo allowed an unearned run over seven innings, and Hitomi Honda and Andres Machado (2-1) each worked 1-2-3 innings in relief to set up the Buffaloes’ walk-off win.
Sho Gibo led off the ninth with a single, stole second, took third on catcher Takuya Kinoshita‘s wild throw and scored on Yuma Mune‘s game-winning sacrifice fly.
Chunichi’s Yuki Okabayashi manufactured a second-inning run after reaching on an error and stealing second, before Orix tied it in the sixth when singles by Keita Nakagawa and Masahiro Nishino set up Ryo Ota’s sacrifice fly off Hideaki Wakui.
BayStars 4, Fighters 3, 10 innings: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, DeNA’s Tyler Austin tied it in the ninth with a homer off closer Seigi Tanaka. After a 1-2-3 ninth from BayStars closer Kohei Morihara, Keito Mori‘s two-out bases-loaded single gave DeNA the lead. First-year import Rowan Wick, pitching in his third game for the BayStars, worked around a leadoff single to Yuya Gunji to record his first save.
DeNA took a 2-0 lead against Shoma Kanemura on Koki Kajiwara’s second-inning RBI triple and Yoshitomo Tutsugo’s fourth-inning leadoff homer, before Nippon Ham tied it on homers from Gunji in the fourth and Tatsuki Mizuno in the fifth off Katsuki Azuma. The Fighters broke the tie in the eighth against former closer Yasuaki Yamasaki. Ariel Martinez single, a balk and a wild throw from Yamasaki on Go Matsumoto‘s sacrifice brought the run home.
Eagles 5, Swallows 3: At Fukushima Azuma Stadium, Yakult reliever Jose Espada (0-2) stranded the potential tying run in the seventh and eighth innings, but left after allowing one-out singles to Yuya Ogo and Hiroto Kobukata. A pitching change brought right-handed-hitting Maikel Franco to the plate against lefty Hiroki Hasegawa, whose first-pitch changeup hung up in the zone like a balloon, and Franco hit it out for a three-run pinch-hit sayonara homer.
A Domingo Santana double and an error set the table for Jose Osuna‘s second-inning sacrifice fly and a Kotaro Yamasaki RBI single off Rakuten’s Takahisa Hayakawa. Daichi Suzuki singled and scored on a Hikaru Ota single in the home half before Yakult made it 3-1 in the fifth after two were out on Hideki Nagaoka‘s RBI single. The Eagles chased Cy Sneed in the seventh when Haruki Nishikawa in left played Kobukata’s single into a double and Ogo followed with an RBI single.
Giants 4, Lions 1: At the domed stadium formerly known as “Prince,” Shosei Togo (5-2) followed his no-hit shutout in his previous start by allowing a run over seven innings.
Togo caught some breaks in a scoreless first inning, but then slammed the breaks on the Lions’ batters. Two-out doubles by Elier Hernandez and Naoki Yoshikawa followed by singles from Kazuma Okamoto and Hayato Sakamoto made it 2-0 in the third. Rookie Yuta Izuguchi doubled and scored in the fourth. With Lions starter Kona Takahashi (0-5) out of the game after four, Yoshikawa singled in the fifth, stole second and scored on an Okamoto single that made it 4-0.
Takeya Nakamura snapped Togo’s scoreless-inning streak at 16 by leading off Seibu’s seventh with his 478th career home run.
Seibu interim manager Hisanobu Watanabe, upon learning that Friday’s opposing starting pitcher was coming off a no-hitter, said his response, “Are you kidding me?” The Lions have been no-hit three times over the past two seasons.
Marines 5, Tigers 4, 10 innings: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Lotte extended its unbeaten streak to 14 games (10 wins and four ties), thanks to a walk epidemic afflicting the Hanshin bullpen.
A single, a sacrifice and two one-out walks from Javy Guerra set up Akito Takabe‘s ninth-inning game-tying sacrifice fly. Taisei Urushihara (0-2) retired two batters before a single, a walk and another single loaded the bases. Against Ryusei Ogawa who walked his three previous times up, Urushihara just missed 0-2 but missed badly with the next three to issue the walk-off walk.
After ninth-inning game-tying pinch-hit RBI singles on Wednesday and Thursday, Gregory Polanco returned to his regular DH role in his home park. He broke a 1-1 fourth-inning tie by doubling and scoring on Hisanori Yasuda‘s sacrifice fly off Koyo Aoyagi, who surrendered three more singles and another run before making his exit. Hanshin tied it 3-3 in the sixth on Ukyo Maegawa‘s two-run homer off Manabu Mima, who was taking Roki Sasaki‘s scheduled start after the right-hander was deactivated to rest his arm.
The Tigers took a seventh-inning lead when Yusuke Oyama doubled and scored on a single by Maegawa, who also doubled and walked.
Oshiro is back
Takumi Oshiro, Japan’s third catcher at last year’s WBC, worked out with the major league club Friday, after homering and driving in three runs in Thursday’s Eastern League game. He was deactivated on May 8 after batting .188 in 23 games this season. He has hit .125 in six minor league games. When he was sent down “to find his form,” Giants manager Shinnosuke Abe said, “Of course, his numbers are what they are, and I want him to get refreshed.”
Rao is back
Yutaro Sugimoto, the PL’s 2021 home run leader and 2022 interleague batting champion, was reactivated for the first time since May 1 after hitting .178 with no homers in 15 games. There was no report of an injury.
Maki gets a seat on the bench
DeNA BayStars second baseman Shugo Maki returned to the major league club Friday after suffering a mild hamstring strain 10 days before. He was activated but not in manager Daisuke Miura’s starting lineup.
DeNA reliever Irie went in for a cleaning
BayStars reliever Taisei Irie has had his right shoulder surgically cleaned out, the club announced Friday, and he said in a statement, “My goal is to come back healthy as soon as possible,” because we couldn’t possibly have guessed that.
Hawks outfielder Ikuma out for the season
SoftBank Hawks outfielder Kai Ikuma will miss the entire 2024 season, after he was diagnosed with brain damage the team said Friday. While working out at the team’s minor league facility in January, the 23-year-old Ikuma was struck by a batted ball on his left cheek and underwent facial surgery. The impact, however, caused a cerebral contusion to his left temporal lobe that is expected to require from a year to a year and a half to recover from. He is now rehabbing, focusing on aerobic training.
“I was in shock when I got the diagnosis and learned about my status, but my family said, ‘We want to see you playing again,’ and as an individual I am now rehabbing in the conviction that this is not the end,” Ikuma said in a statement released by the club. “My wife is now carrying a child, and I desire to comeback as a ballplayer.”
“I understand that my rehab is going to be a long road, but if there are others in similar circumstances, I may be able to give them courage, too.”
