The Yakult Swallows are back in third place in the Central League after losing an outstanding game that finished in one of the dumbest possible ways courtesy of one of Japanese umpiring’s signature moves–the hidden call trick.
Dragons 1, Swallows 0
At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, Shinnosuke Ogasawara (7-7, 3.10) worked seven innings to beat 40-year-old Masanori Ishikawa (3-3, 2.30) in a classy southpaw duel. Ogasawara stranded two runners in the top of the first, and Yota Kyoda opened Chunichi’s first with a triple and scored on the first of Yohei Oshima’s three singles.
Ishikawa escaped further damage despite loading the bases as he did again in the third. Both pitchers struck out five. Ishikawa allowed seven hits, four in the first, and one walk, while Ogasawara walked two.
Umpire Shimada strikes again
Raidel Martinez, Chunichi’s third pitcher, allowed two runners to reach in the ninth, but with one out and runners on first and second, he got an assist from umpire Tetsuya Shimada on a game-ending 4-3-6-3-6-4-2 double play, allowing him to record his 18th save.
Second baseman Naomichi Donoue couldn’t decide how to start a game-ending double play. He waited too long to get the force at first, then with the runner trapped between first and second, the throw from first went to shortstop Yota Kyoda, who eventually figured things out and touched the bag for the force at second.
Shimada, however, gave no indication an out had been recorded. I’d say Shimada stood there like a dummy, but I’m afraid I might get sued for defamation by the makers of crash-test subjects, mannequins and ventriloquists’ props.
With the Dragons seemingly paying no attention to him, and still thinking there was only one out, Swallows pinch-runner Yudai Koga gambled on trying to score. But the Dragons figured it out, the tag was made and the game ended, with the umpires telling Swallows manager Shingo Takatsu that indeed the force had been made at second, call or no call by Shimada.
Not giving explicit signals is probably the biggest failing of Japan’s umpires, and this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a double play take place or fail to take place because an umpire neglected to tell everyone what happened on an attempted put out.
The most infamous case also took place at Nagoya Dome when infamous arbiter Atsushi Kittaka, the home plate ump in Game 1 of the 2004 Japan Series, raised his hand to signal the batter had been tagged out on a check-swing grounder in front of the plate. The throw to second beat the runner by a mile, but the infielder only touched the base instead of making a tag he thought was unnecessary.
That initiated the second-longest delay in Japan Series history, roughly 45 minutes, and caused Kittaka to be demoted from the Japan Series umpiring crew the next day.
Shimada, if you remember, was the same guy last week who showed by his actions that his concept of obstruction at home plate is fuzzy.
I don’t mean to pick on Shimada, much.
Here’s a highlight from 2020 when Shimada missed two pitches badly against Jerry Sands who was called out looking at a ball and given the rest of the night off for his trouble.
Tuesday’s starting pitchers
Eagles vs Buffaloes: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Takahisa Hayakawa (7-5, 3.82) vs Hiroya Miyagi (11-1, 2.13)
Lions vs Fighters: MetLife Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
Kona Takahashi (9-5, 3.37) vs Takahide Ikeda (3-9, 3.74)
Hawks vs Marines: PayPay Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Kodai Senga (5-1, 3.06) vs Enny Romero (1-0, 1.56)
Giants vs BayStars: Tokyo Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
Shun Yamaguchi (2-4, 3.40) vs Fernando Romero (1-2, 4.06)
Swallows vs Tigers: Jingu Stadium 5:30 pm, 4:30 am EDT
Albert Suarez (4-3, 4.08) vs Koyo Aoyagi (10-3, 2.51)
Dragons vs Carp: Vantelin Dome (Nagoya) 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
Takahiro Matsuba (3-3, 3.42) vs Masato Morishita (6-6, 2.82)
Active roster moves 9/13/2021
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 9/23
Central League
Activated
| Swallows | P | 19 | Masanori Ishikawa |
Dectivated
| Giants | IF | 32 | Taishi Hirooka |
Pacific League
Activated
None
Dectivated
| Hawks | P | 28 | Rei Takahashi |
| Hawks | P | 48 | Yuta Watanabe |
| Marines | P | 58 | Tokito Kawamura |
| Eagles | P | 60 | Ryota Ishibashi |
| Fighters | P | 33 | Kazuaki Tateno |
