Tag Archives: Brandon Laird

NPB wrap 6-26-21

Races tighten in both leagues

This weekend presented a chance for the league leaders to make up some ground against their closest pursuers, but it hasn’t worked out that way.

The Hanshin Tigers lost for the second straight day to the DeNA BayStars on Saturday, while the Yomiuri Giants have won two straight to replace the Yakult Swallows in second place and are now 3-1/2 games back.

After a loss and a tie, the Orix Buffaloes find themselves in a flat-footed tie with the Rakuten Eagles for the Pacific League lead with 35-29-9 records. The SoftBank Hawks, who’ve dropped two straight to the Eagles, are two back in third place.

Eagles 3, Hawks 2

At Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park, SoftBank got two rookie Rakuten pitchers for the price of one. Koichi Takada, the Eagles’ second pick last autumn, made his pro debut but hit a batter in the head with two outs, triggering a “kikenkyu” – dangerous ball — automatic ejection. Less heralded rookie Naoto Nishiguchi (1-0), the Eagles’ 10th pick in 2016, stepped into the breach, stranded two runners, and allowed one run over 4-1/3 innings to earn his first pro win.

Hawks starter Nick Martinez (5-2) allowed a leadoff single, issued a one-out walk, and hit a batter with two outs to load the bases for Eigoro Mogi who cleared the bases with a triple.

Martinez escaped serious trouble in the third by starting this nifty double play, and got an assist from Hiroaki Shimauchi, who was thrown out by a mile at the plate to end the inning.

The visitors scored in the first after a Takada issued a one-out walk and allowed a Yuki Yangita single that Shimauchi fumbled in left field. Nishiguchi retired the first seven batters he faced, including a third inning in which he struck out the side, finishing with Yanagita. Ryoya Kurihara led off the fourth with his ninth home run, but the Hawks had no answer for the Eagles bullpen. Yuki Matsui finished up with his 20th save.

Buffaloes 3, Lions 3

At Osaka‘s Kyocera Dome, Kaima Taira was charged with no runs for a 36th straight game to seal the tie after his second walk put two on with one out in the ninth. Yoshihisa Hirano gave Orix a chance to walk off with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.

Takahiro Okada’s second RBI single tied the game in the Buffaloes’ two-run seventh after Lions starter Tatsuya Imai allowed a run over six innings. The Lions took a 2-1 lead in the third on a two-run homer by rookie Sena Tsuge, who got the start with No. 1 catcher Tomoya Mori out hurt and his backup, Masatoshi Okada, getting dinged on Friday.

Marines 3, Fighters 1

At Shizuoka’s Kusanagi Stadium, Daiki Iwashita (6-4) pitched out of a second-inning jam to hold Nippon Ham to a run over six innings, and Lotte came back against

Naoyuki Uwasawa (6-3), tying it when Brandon Laird doubled home Shogo Nakamura. Laird was gunned down trying to score the go-ahead run on a great throw from rookie Fighters center fielder Chusei Mannami.

Katsuya Kakunaka singled in the go-ahead run in the fifth, and a Nakamura sac fly made it 3-1. Three relievers, Frank Herrmann, Chihaya Sasaki and Naoya Masuda finished up for the Marines. Masuda recorded his 18th save.

Giants 10, Swallows 3 

At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, the Yomiuri Giants have sped through and over the Yakult Swallows for the second straight day. A day after a big two-run homer, Takumi Oshiro doubled in two runs to tie it 2-2 in the second against Yasuhiro Ogawa (6-3), who allowed six runs over 2-1/3 innings. Hayato Sakamoto broke the tie with a third-inning RBI single, and Takumi Kitamura capped the inning with a three-run homer, his second.

Shosei Togo (8-3) allowed three runs, two earned, over 6-2/3 innings.

BayStars 3, Tigers 1

At Koshien Stadium, DeNA rookie Kosuke Sakaguchi (2-1) allowed a run over six innings, and leadoff man Masayuki Kuwahara brought the BayStars from behind with his sixth homer, a two-run shot in the seventh off reliever Masayuki Oyokawa (1-1). Edwin Escobar, Yasuaki Yamasaki and Kazuki Mishima each worked a scoreless inning to seal the visitors’ second straight win at Koshien. Mishima’s save was his 13th.

Tigers starter Masashi Ito left after five-plus scoreless innings.

Carp 11, Dragons 5

At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, the Carp went to town against Chunichi lefty Shinnosuke Ogasawara (5-3), tagging him for six runs, five earned, over four innings, while right-hander Haruki Omichi (3-1) held the Dragons to a run through four innings before allowing four in the fifth.

Teams at home that have trouble scoring as the Carp have, often take batting practice after games. On Saturday, the Dragons bullpen alleviated that necessity by throwing batting practice over the final five innings.

Starting pitchers

Pacific League

Fighters vs Marines: Kusanagi Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Takayuki Kato (3-4, 3.34) vs Kazuya Ojima (3-2, 4.38)

Eagles vs Hawks: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Ryota Takinaka (5-3, 4.15) vs Tsuyoshi Wada (4-4, 4.41)

Buffaloes vs Lions: Kyocera Dome (Osaka) 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Hiroya Miyagi (7-1, 2.06) vs Zach Neal (1-1, 3.04)

Central League

Swallows vs Giants: Jingu Stadium 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Albert Suarez (2-2, 4.70) vs Yuki Takahashi (7-2, 2.62)

Tigers vs BayStars: Koshien Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Takumi Akiyama (6-3, 2.87) vs Shinichi Onuki (1-5, 7.40)

Carp vs Dragons: Mazda Stadium 1:30 pm, 0:30 am EDT

Masato Morishita (4-4, 2.50) vs Akiyoshi Katsuno (3-5, 3.79)

Active roster moves 6/26/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 7/6

Central League

Activated

BayStarsP12Kosuke Sakaguchi

Dectivated

BayStarsP26Haruhiro Hamaguchi

Pacific League

Activated

EaglesP29Koichi Takada
FightersIF9Takuya Nakashima
FightersIF53Ronny Rodriguez

Dectivated

None

NPB wrap 6-6-21

Interleague Day 12

A little less than two-thirds left in the 16th season of interleague play and the CL has a chance to win the most games for the second time. After Sunday’s games, the Central League leads 32-30-7 while trailing in runs scored 324-291.

It won’t be easy, considering the remaining games, except for a few makeups, will be played in PL parks. But as the announcer during Friday’s Dragons-Buffaloes game, “Hey, the CL is strong this year.”

Sunday marked Tomoyuki Sugano’s return after a month absence, and though he didn’t win, it was a good outing, while 40-year-old Tsuyoshi Wada turned back the clock in a dominant start and the PL’s Wu-Wang clan delivered more pop hits.

Fighters 4, Giants 2

At Tokyo Dome, Yomiuri ace Tomoyuki Sugano (2-3) returned from a month on the sidelines after suffering from right shoulder discomfort and had trouble putting hitters away, but he’s Sugano, so his troubles are not like other pitchers. The Fighters scraped two runs against him on three hits and no walks over five innings.

Speedy leadoff man Ryota Isobata manufactured one run and helped create another for the Fighters, when Haruki Nishikawa scored from second on his eighth-inning sacrifice. An error on the play set up Isobata to score the Fighters’ fourth run.  The only reason Isobata was credited with an RBI on the play because the official scorer was jealous about Saturday’s bunt assault in Hiroshima.

For the second straight day, there seemed to be a psychic Taiwan tie-up as Wang Po-jung homered a few minutes after Seibu’s Wu Nien-ting homered down the road at Jingu Stadium against the Swallows.

Fighters rookie Hiromi Ito (3-4) worked around four walks to allow just one run on two hits over seven innings. The run came on a third-inning Seiya Matsubara double and a Zelous Wheeler single. Matsubara and Wheeler walked in the eighth and Matsubara came home on a Naoki Yoshikawa single.

Matsubara, who hit one of two ninth-inning homers off closer Toshihiro Sugiura on Saturday, lined out to end the game with the tying runs on base as Sugiura recorded his 11th save.

Giants-Fighters highlights

Swallows 9, Lions 6

At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, Yakult’s Norichika Aoki second RBI double in a four-run eighth inning helped clinch a wild one. Wu’s sixth home run, a two-run third-inning blast, gave Seibu a 3-2 lead, that quickly evaporated. After homers by Aito Takeda and rookie Shinichiro Kishi, the Lions led 6-5 in the sixth.

Scott McGough, who blew a one-run save opportunity and took the loss on Saturday when he surrendered three home runs, retired the heart of the Lions order on Sunday to notch his seventh save.

BayStars 4, Marines 3

At Yokohama Stadium, DeNA squeeked out a win when Lotte left fielder Katsuya Kakunaka got turned around at the wall and failed to make a tough catch that would have ended the game in a 3-3 tie and instead became a two-out walk-off RBI double for Yamato Maeda.

The Marines rallied to tie it in the eighth on three two-out doubles by Shogo Nakamura, Leonys Martin and Kakunaka off Yasuaki Yamasaki, costing ace Shota Imanaga the win after he’d held Lotte to a run over six innings.

The BayStars took a 2-0  lead on homers by Tyler Austin, his 11th, and rookie Shugo Maki, his 10th, off Kazuya Ojima. With the game tied 3-3 and first base open, the BayStars walked Brandon Laird intentionally to face Yudai Fujioka, who’d doubled in Kakunaka in the fourth. But a day after the intentional walk blew up their game, this one paid off. Kazuki Mishima (1-3) worked the ninth, and the BayStars won it against Marines closer Naoya Masuda (0-4).

Buffaloes 4, Dragons 0

At Nagoya‘s Vantelin Dome, Orix’s Hirotoshi Masui (2-4) allowed a walk and a hit over six innings, while his teammates had the kind of three-run inning that makes Japanese analysts and announcers hyper ventilate with excitement, three RBI singles and a sacrifice bunt by the pitcher.

Koji Fukutani (3-5), Chunichi’s Opening Day starter, struck out seven while walking one over six innings, but gave up four runs on six hits.

Hawks 8, Tigers 3

At Koshien Stadium, 40-year-old SoftBank southpaw Tsuyoshi Wada (4-3) had his best start of the season, striking out eight, while hitting a batter and giving up four singles over seven innings. Takuya Kai drove in three runs for the second straight day, singling in two in a three-run first, and another in the eighth. Minor league infielder Masaki Mimori batted leadoff, reached base four times, scored three runs and tripled in another.

Rookie Junya Nishi (1-1) made an emergency start for Hanshin after Joe Gunkel was scratched with a sore throat but tested negative for the coronavirus. Nishi allowed three runs in three innings. Jefry Marte hit his 10th home run for the Tigers and rookie Teruaki Sato his 15th after the game was already out of hand.

Eagles 6, Carp 4

At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Rakuten’s Eigoro Mogi broke a scoreless tie with a fourth-inning RBI double off Koya Takahashi (2-2), and added a two-run home run, his ninth of the season.

Rookie lefty Takahisa Hayakawa (7-2) worked 5-2/3 innings. He left with two and both scored against Tomohiro Anraku on singles by rookie Kota Hayashi and Kevin Cron, who went 3-for-4 with a double.

Yuki Matsui worked the ninth to tie Hanshin’s Robert Suarez for the Japan saves lead with 17.

Active roster moves 6/6/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 6/16

Central League

Activated

GiantsP18Tomoyuki Sugano
TigersP15Junya Nishi
TigersP49Joe Gunkel
DragonsIF48Hayato Mizowaki
CarpP34Koya Takahashi
CarpOF1Seiya Suzuki
SwallowsP14Hirotoshi Takanashi

Dectivated

TigersP56Keisuke Kobayashi
TigersP65Atsuki Yuasa
DragonsP18Kodai Umetsu

Pacific League

Activated

LionsP64Towa Uema
FightersC60Takuya Kori
BuffaloesP49Keisuke Sawada

Dectivated

FightersP33Kazuaki Tateno
BuffaloesP35Motoki Higa