Tag Archives: Edwin Escobar

NPB news: April 8, 2023

Sheldon Neuse makes another big catch, Matt Davidson strikes again, Hayato Sakamoto gets a hit and Nippon Ham gets a win in Saturday’s action across Nippon Professional Baseball.

There are also a couple of notes that failed to get in yesterday’s blog about a pair of Samurai Japan players, and I’ll start with those.

Hiroya Miyagi, who didn’t see a lot of action with the national team in the WBC, entered Friday’s game to Atsushi Nomi’s walk-on theme. The former Hanshin Tigers ace, who retired last autumn, spent the final two years of his career with Orix, and was working the game for radio.

Hiroya Miyagi.

Samurai Japan’s pitchers are now 7-0 in the regular season between MLB and NPB.

Hiroshima’s Ryoji Kuribayashi, pitching in his first game since lower-back tightness knocked him off the roster before Pool B started in Tokyo, earned his first save Friday, and compared it to his 2020 rookie of the year season.

“The adrenaline was pumping like it hadn’t since I was a rookie,” Kuribayashi said after ending the game by striking out former teammate Hisayoshi Chono with the tying runs on base.

Saturday’s games

Carp 6, Giants 3: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Matt Davidson hit a solo homer, his third, off Giants starter Foster Griffin (1-1) in the first inning, and Ryan McBroom doubled in a run in Hiroshima’s three-run fourth. Shogo Akiyama tripled in a pair of runs to make it 6-0 in the fifth and chase Griffin. Davidson has now had an RBI in five straight games.

Continue reading NPB news: April 8, 2023

NPB news: April 4, 2023

We had an ugly troll attack, the Hawks and Swallows are playing like they intend to go 143-0, with three shutouts in their first four games, while Hanshin pulled out a close on to join them at 4-0 to keep Takahiro Arai the last of this year’s rookie managers without a win.

Before the games, I need to mention an embarrassment that happened Sunday. An internet troll posted an obscene, racist diatribe against DeNA lefty Edwin Escobar. In addition to the obligatory racial slurs, the message included a wish that his family die in an auto accident.

The BayStars said they would look into the matter and would consider legal action against excessively abusive social media attacks on their players.

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Tuesday’s games

Rookie Ryosuke Kodama‘s first big league hit

Lions 4, Eagles 0: At Miyagi Stadium, Tatsuya Imai (1-0) struck out eight and had two double plays turned behind him as he scattered three singles, four walks and a hit batsman over seven innings. Rookie Ryosuke Kodama, starting at short in place of captain Sosuke Genda, doubled in Shohei Suzuki with his first pro hit and scored on an Aito Takeda single as the Lions broke up a scoreless tie in the fifth against Takahiro Norimoto (0-1).

Continue reading NPB news: April 4, 2023