There was smoke but little fire or light Thursday in the Hotaka Yamakawa story after Seibu wiggled around how he might play while remaining suspended. Yamakawa accepted the blame, proving it’s possible for athletes to do horrible things and not pretend it’s OK.Also the Rakuten Eagles played the Nippon Ham Fighters in a bid to close the gap between them and the Lotte Marines and SoftBank Hawks, who currently occupy the PL’s last two playoff spots.
Thursday’s game
Eagles 5, Fighters 3: At Miyagi Stadium, Rakuten starter Takahisa Hayakawa surrendered three runs in three innings, but Hideto Asamura got one run back by homering off Haruka Nemoto (3-1) in the fourth. The solo homer, his 26th, tied him for the PL home run lead with Lotte’s Gregory Polanco. Nemoto loaded the bases with one out in the fifth on two walks and a hit batsman, but disaster struck after he got the second out.
Asamura’s flare to shallow center tied it 3-3, and left fielder Yuki James Nomura, a third baseman playing in his 31st game in the outfield as a professional, failed to catch Takero Okajima’s fly at the warning track for a two-run double. Six Eagles relievers kept the Fighters from coming back with Yuki Matsui setting a career high with his Japan-leading 39th save.
The win moved the Eagles to within a half-game of the third-place Marines, whom they play at home on Monday. They are 1-1/2 back of the second-place Hawks, whom they host on Sunday. Lotte can wrap up a postseason spot with wins over Orix on Friday and Saturday.
Yamakawa apologetic to a point
The Seibu Lions announced that Hotaka Yamakawa, who is under indefinite suspension after being accused of and investigated for a sexual assault last year but not charged, will play in this autumn’s Phoenix League, a domestic instructional league held in Miyazaki Prefecture. Yamakawa returned to
“His suspension has not been lifted, but these are not official games,” Lions owner Takashi Goto said.
Yamakawa took part in a practice for minor leaguers at Seibu Half Dome’s minor league facility, and spoke with reporters afterward in which he apologized to the baseball world, the fans, the team and his family and spoke of wanting to go back to being someone fans could support.
Unlike the pitcher DeNA signed this spring after he’d served a lengthy suspension for violating MLB’s domestic abuse, sexual assault and child abuse policy, Yamakawa, when asked if he had reached a settlement with his accuser, did not try to claim that his not being indicted was a vindication, nor did he lash out at her. He did, however, do what Trevor Bauer should have done, say he wasn’t going to talk about it.
“There has been no settlement, but another party is involved, and so I would like to refrain from speaking about my opinion and personal sentiments.”
He did however say that “everything that happened had been due to failures in my personal life.”
