Tag Archives: Drew VerHagen

NPB 2020 Sept. 23

Asamura wrecks Marines again

One day after Hideto Asamura routed the Lotte Marines single handed with three home runs, his 28th home run of the year broke a 3-3 tie to lift Hideaki Wakui (9-3) and the Rakuten Eagles to a 5-3 win at Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi on Wednesday.

With a man on in the seventh, a ferocious swing launched a high two-strike straight-as-string cutter from reliever Yuki Karakawa (0-1) well beyond the center-field fence.

“I was only trying to set the table for the hitters coming up behind me,” said Asamura, who now leads both leagues in home runs.

Marines manager Tadahito Iguchi, speaking more out of frustration than logic, said, “He burned us with the home run again, and at a time when the only thing we couldn’t afford to give up was a home run.”

Considering there was indeed more meat coming up after Asamura, despite his claims of trying to play small ball, a walk or any kind of hit could easily have sunk the Marines at that stage.

Wakui, who last won on Aug. 19, allowed four hits and hit a batter and gave up three runs, all in the sixth inning with Leonys Martin’s two-run double tying it.

Kazuhisa Makita torpedoed the Marines in the eighth and Alan Busenitz worked the ninth to record his 14th save as the Eagles won four straight for the first time this season.

Buffaloes hand Hawks 5th straight loss

Daiki Tajima (3-4) allowed two runs in five innings, while Steven Moya drove in three runs and hit his third home run in five games as the Orix Buffaloes beat the SoftBank Hawks 10-5 at Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome.

With Yuki Yanagita not on the game roster for the first time this season due to stiffness in the neck. Hawks right-hander Shota Takeda (2-1) walked four and hit one as he allowed six runs over three innings.

Alfredo Despaigne drove in two consolation runs in the seventh with his fourth home run of the season and the 2,000th of the Hawks’ franchise.

Kimura leads Lions comeback

Fumikazu Kimura produces some electrifying swings as he hit a three-run homer and added an RBI single as the Seibu Lions overturned a 3-0 deficit in their 6-5 win over the Nippon Ham Fighters at MetLife Dome.

Rookie lefty Shota Hamaya (2-0) looked poised for a 21-year-old. He allowed four runs over 5-1/3 innings. Fighters starter Drew VerHagen (6-4) allowed six runs, five earned, over 4-1/3 innings.

Six-time PL home run champ Takeya Nakamura was back for the first time since Sept. 1, having missed 19 games due to pain in right wrist.

Fighters rookie Ryunosuke Higuchi went 1-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch in his debut. Drafted in the second round of the 2019 developmental draft from independent Albirex Niigata, the 26-year-old Higuchi has been demolishing Eastern League pitching this summer, slashing .342/.441/.651.

Seibu closer Tatsushi Masuda earned his 21st save.

Taguchi flashes old form for Giants

Lefty Kazuto Taguchi (5-3) came within two outs of his first complete game in two years but earned the win in the Yomiuri Giants’ 7-3 victory over the Hiroshima Carp at Tokyo Dome.

For eight innings, the 25-year-old Taguchi looked like the guy who was a mainstay of the Giants rotation in 2016 and 2017 until Jose Pirela chased him in the ninth with a two-run homer. Takumi Oshiro drove in two runs for the Giants and Hayato Sakamoto’s three hits moved him to within 39 of 2,000 in his career.

What are his chances of reach 3,000? Find out in today’s members notes.

Kamichatani shuts out Tigers

Taiga Kamichatani (2-1) threw his second career shutout, and Neftali Soto hit his 17th home run, a three-run shot in the seventh as the DeNA BayStars beat the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium.

Using an absolutely wicked cutter, Kamichatani struck out 10. He allowed six hits and walked three in his 144 pitches, causing Pro Yakyu News analyst Takenori Emoto and former pitcher to praise manager Alex Ramirez: “Ramirez-san understands how important it is to get complete games.”

Dragons bash Swallows

The Chunichi Dragons overcame home runs by Tetsuto Yamada and Munetaka Murakami grinding out a 14-hit 11-5 win over the Yakult Swallows at Nagoya Dome.

Shuhei Takahashi drove in three runs and Dayan Viciedo four with an eighth-inning grand slam for the Dragons as the Swallows lost after holding a lead for the 21st time this season.

Active roster moves 9/23/2020

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 10/3

Central League

Activated

GiantsIF98Estamy Urena

Dectivated

GiantsOF88Gerardo Parra

Pacific League

Activated

LionsIF60Takeya Nakamura
HawksP18Shota Takeda
MarinesOF7Shuhei Fukuda
FightersIF32Ryota Yachi
FightersIF93Ryunosuke Higuchi
BuffaloesP48Koki Saito

Dectivated

LionsOF58Masato Kumashiro
EaglesP58Wataru Karashima
MarinesC53Naoya Emura
MarinesIF67Kenta Chatani
FightersIF38Kazunari Ishii
FightersOF26Daiki Asama
BuffaloesP14Kazumasa Yoshida

Starting pitchers for Sept. 22, 2020

Pacific League

Eagles vs Marines: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Yuki Matsui (2-3, 4.05) vs Daiki Iwashita (5-5, 4.52)

Lions vs Fighters: MetLife Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Sho Ito (0-1, 3.15) vs Kenta Uehara (0-1, 1.04)

Hawks vs Buffaloes: PayPay Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Tsuyoshi Wada (5-1, 2.83) vs Chang Yi (1-2, 3.71)

NPB 2020 Sept. 14

Futaki shuts out Buffaloes

The Lotte Marines moved to within a half game of the Pacific League-leading SoftBank Hawks on Monday, when Kota Futaki (4-2) threw a three-hitter in a 5-0 win over the Orix Buffaloes at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium.

The 25-year-old right-hander struck out three without issuing a walk in a 108-pitch effort. The win was Futaki’s third in three starts.

“Futaki established a real good rhythm, was very aggressive inside to their left-handed hitters and was very confident with his fastball in the strike zone,” Marines manager Tadahito Iguchi said.

“Today we wanted to be ready to hit, and we did a good job of not chasing and putting good swings on mistakes.”

Rookie cleanup hitter Hisanori Yasuda, who had three run-scoring hits in Sunday’s win over Orix, opened the scoring with a two-run third-inning double off Andrew Albers (3-6), following a one-out Leonys Martin walk and a double by Shogo Nakamura.

Solo home runs by Yudai Fujioka, Nakamura and Ikuhiro Kiyota completed the scoring.

Albers allowed all five runs over five innings.

VerHagen goes 8 to beat Eagles

Drew VerHagen (6-3) threw eight scoreless innings, and lefty Naoki Miyanishi survived a ninth-inning scare to nail down his first save as the Nippon Ham Fighters beat the Rakuten Eagles 2-1 at Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi.

Eagles starter Takahiro Shiomi (4-6) was victimized in the fourth inning, when Kensuke Kondo got the barrel on a slider low and away and it carried out to left for an opposite-field home run.

Kondo singled to open the seventh by smashing a hanging curve on the ground through the infield, becoming the Fighters’ first leadoff runner of the game. Cleanup hitter Sho Nakata followed by chopping an 0-1 slider that missed up through the infield.

Rookie right-hander Kanji Teraoka, who earned his first career win the night before, got one out before leaving a slider in the heart of the zone that Taishi Ota also smashed through the infield for an RBI single.

The Eagles’ bullpen played with fire in the top of the eighth and ninth. By stranding six runners over two innings, they kept their team in the game,.

Kazuki Tanaka homered to open the bottom of the ninth off Miyanishi, who ran the count full to the next two hitters, getting one out and giving up one single. With two outs, Miyanishi got ahead of left-handed-hitting Eigoro Mogi.

Throughout the game, umpire Masaharu Kasahara had been hesitant to call strikes low and away, and for a cross-firing side-arm lefty against a left-handed hitter, Kasahara really tried Miyanishi’s patience running the count to 2-2 after a couple of pretty close pitches. When the lefty threw another slider on the outside corner but up a little, Mogi thought he was safe only for Kasahara to ring him up and end the game.

Active roster moves 9/14/2020

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 9/24

Central League

Activated

None

Dectivated

TigersP19Shintaro Fujinami
DragonsP19Kazuki Yoshimi
SwallowsOF9Yasutaka Shiomi
SwallowsOF41Yuhei Takai

Pacific League

Activated

EaglesC2Hikaru Ota
BuffaloesP27Andrew Albers

Dectivated

EaglesC44Yuichi Adachi
BuffaloesP98Chang Yi

Starting pitchers for Sept. 15, 2020

Pacific League

Fighters vs Hawks: Sapporo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Naoyuki Uwasawa (5-3, 2.65) vs Kodai Senga (6-3, 3.39)

Lions vs Marines: MetLife Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Kona Takahashi (5-6, 4.28) vs Ayumu Ishikawa (6-2, 3.82)

Buffaloes vs Eagles: Hotto Motto Field 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (4-3, 3.01) vs Wataru Karashima (0-2, 4.42)

Central League

Giants vs Tigers: Tokyo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Tomoyuki Sugano (10-0, 1.44) vs Haruto Takahashi (2-2, 1.03)

Swallows vs BayStars: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Masanori Ishikawa (0-3, 4.67) vs Yuya Sakamoto (1-0, 5.73)

Carp vs Dragons: Mazda Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Allen Kuri (3-4, 4.31) vs Yudai Ono (5-4, 2.31)