Tag Archives: David MacKinnon

NPB news: July 13, 2023

The Nippon Ham Fighters treated their fans to another ninth-inning game of “Dude, where’s my base runner?” Kenta Ishida did it all for DeNA. Yakult needs more than just Munetaka Murakami, while I need a better picture of Shogo Sakakura than the one I snapped Tuesday in case I needed it for my blog.

Thursday’s games

Eagles 3, Fighters 2: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, Rakuten’s Takayuki Kishi and Nippon Ham’s Takayuki Kato each allowed a run in the first, and another on a home run to leave the game tied 2-2.  Chusei Mannami threw a runner out at the plate to keep the Eagles from scoring the go-ahead run in the seventh.

Chusei Mannami, armed and dangerous.

Daichi Suzuki doubled with one out in the ninth to set up Hiroto Kobukata‘s RBI single, and as it did in Chiba a couple of weeks ago, a golden opportunity in the ninth opportunity vanished.

Ariel Martinez‘s 10th homer made it 2-1 in the third, and Yukiya Ito tied it for the Eagles with a solo shot off Kato in the sixth. In the bottom of the ninth, the Fighters put two on with no outs against closer Yuki Matsui, when the runner on first got greedy. On a deep fly out to right, the lead runner advanced to third, and the trailing runner, Ryota Isobata was out at second for a double play. Matsui then struck out Mannami on a 3-2 pitch out of the zone.

The win was Rakuten’s eighth straight, while the Fighters have dropped seven in a row, including six straight by one run.

Continue reading NPB news: July 13, 2023

NPB news: July 6, 2023

Right field appeared to be the sun field at Yokohama Stadium on Friday night, while Takayuki Kishi and Shumpeita Yamashita locked up in a battle of the ages.

Thursday’s games

Marines 7, Lions 6, 10 innings : At Tokyo Dome, Lotte’s Hisanori Yasuda, who tied the game 2-2 in the first with an RBI single, walked off the Lions with a two-out sayonara single.

Koki Yamaguchi‘s two-out two-run homer made it 4-3 Lotte in the third. Seibu’s Shohei Suzuki, who singled in a run and scored in the first, singled with one out in the fifth and scored the tying run on a David MacKinnon infield single.

The Lions jumped in front for the second time in the seventh when Takeya Nakamura doubled with two outs and scored on a Junichiro Kishi single. Ryusei Sato homered in the eighth to make it 6-4 Lions, only for Gregory Polanco to retie it with a two-run homer in the park that was his home last season with the Yomiuri Giants.

How bout some El Coffee? Gregory Polanco ties it up.

Shogo Nakamura singled, pinch-runner Koshiro Wada stole second and went to third on a throwing error. Lions manager Kazuo Matsui argued unsuccessfully that Polanco, who struck out on the play, interfered with the throw as he followed through with his swing.

Lions center fielder Kishi dutifully tried to catch Lotte in a Merkle’s boner by throwing to first to try for a force out, but Yasuda ran it out for the win.

Continue reading NPB news: July 6, 2023