Tag Archives: Darwinzon Hernandez

NPB news: Aug. 2, 2024

Kensuke Kondo hit his first homer since June 29, Carter Stewart Jr. kept one streak alive but failed to extend another on a night of streaks, in which one manager blamed his players for their poor approach and another coach shouldered the blame himself.

Friday’s games:

Marines 3, Buffaloes 2: At Osaka UFO Dome, Tatsuya Tamura hit a two-run second-inning double off a fat fastball from Hiroya Miyagi (3-7), and scored on a Hiromi Oka single. Ayumu Ishikawa (3-0) worked five scoreless innings, before Orix scored twice against Lotte’s bullpen on RBI singles by Leandro Cedeno and Yutaro Sugimoto. Miyagi allowed three runs on seven hits, two walks and a hit batsman. Lotte’s Rikuto Yokoyama recorded his third save.

The three-time defending PL champion Buffaloes lost 10 straight decisions for the first time since 2012, having gone 0-10-1 in their last 11 games.

“I’m the reason we lost,” Miyagi said.

Continue reading NPB news: Aug. 2, 2024

NPB news: July 21, 2024

Nippon Professional Baseball played its final games Sunday before this week’s all-star break, with Tomoyuki Sugano picking more low hanging fruit with some help from a new teammate. Livan Moinelo was solid again, Tyler Austin hit another big homer on a night when no matter how many DeNA hit, it wouldn’t be enough.

Nippon Ham came from behind twice thanks to an outstanding effort from its bullpen, while Orix and Hiroshima got crushed in Kansai.

Sunday’s games:

Giants 4, Dragons 1:  At Nagoya Dome, Tomoyuki Sugano allowed a run over six innings and new Giant Gakuto Wakabayashi hit a two-run home run to lead Yomiuri past Chunichi.  Yomiuri, looking for its first Central League pennant in four years, bounced back from a 1-0 loss on Friday to take the final two games of the series.

The 34-year-old Sugano, a two-time winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award as Japanese pro baseball’s most impressive starting pitcher, improved to 8-2. He allowed five hits while striking out five and walking none.

Wakabayashi made it 2-0 Giants in the fifth inning with his first home run since being traded from the Pacific League’s Seibu Lions on June 25.

With a four-run lead in the sixth, Sugano surrendered a home run to Sho Nakata, who was released by Yomiuri in December, two and a half years after he was discarded by Nippon Ham.

Six of Sugano’s wins have come against the worst two CL teams, three each against the fifth-place Dragons and last-place Swallows. His other two came against title-contender Hiroshima, and the team with Japan’s worst record, the Seibu Lions.

Continue reading NPB news: July 21, 2024