In the Central League on Wednesday, DeNA closer Yasuaki Yamasaki owned up to sucking as he set a milestone, Munetaka Murakami didn’t hit a home run but did get walked four times, and we have a new Pacific League leader!
A day after I wrote about a player hitting a ball into the next zip code, Kensuke Kondo actually did that.
We also had a manager who is gaining a reputation, sending his slugging catcher to the minors for his pitch calling.
The Pacific League marked the return of Yoshinobu Yamamoto after a 10-day break in a game in which the final out was followed by an ejection, while the league’s top two teams, the Rakuten Eagles and SoftBank Hawks tried to bounce back from losses on Friday.
Ready? Let’s go.
Saturday’s games
Swallows 5, Carp 3: At Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Yakult won a see-saw home run derby. Munetaka Murakami‘s 10th home run tied it 2-2 in the top of the sixth, before Shogo Sakakura put Hiroshima back in front in the home half with his third. Murakami re-tied it in the eighth with his 11th off new import Nik Turley (0-1).
