Ogawa becomes Japan’s 82nd to throw no-no

Yakult Swallows right-hander Yasuhiro “Ryan” Ogawa became the 82nd top-flight pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Japanese pro baseball on Saturday, when he struck out 10 and walked three in a 9-0 Central League win over the DeNA BayStars at Yokohama Stadium.

Ogawa, whose nickname comes from the Nolan Ryan leg kick he adopted as a youngster, became the first Swallows pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Rick Guttormson achieved the feat in May 2006. It was the 93rd no-hitter, called a “no-hit, no-run” game in the history of Japanese pro ball. No-hitter’s aren’t awarded without a shutout.

Ogawa, who leaned heavily on his fastball and splitter, issued a first-inning walk, while the BayStars managed a runner in the second, when rookie right fielder Taiki Hamada went down to a knee to catch a line drive, only for the ball to spill out of the webbing of his glove for an error.

The Swallows hit BayStars ace Shota Imanaga like a truck, scoring six runs, three earned, off the lefty on six hits and three walks over 3-1/3 innings.

Seven of Ogawa’s 10 strikeouts came after he had a 6-0 lead, and after Hamada’s misplay, the right-hander retired the next 12 batters before he walked Tatsuhiro Shibata with tow outs in the sixth.

Ogawa needed 102 pitches to get through the seventh and his no-hit bid was looking bleak when he walked the leadoff hitter in the eighth after a 10-pitch battle. Daisuke Nakai smacked his next pitch to short, but what looked like two quick outs soon looked like a long tough inning when second baseman Taishi Hirooka dropped the throw from his shortstop.

The first BayStars runner to reach second, would also be the last as Ogawa needed just 22 pitches to finish off the last six hitters, recording his final strike out with pitch No. 135 to end it.

Dragons’ Rodriguez stops Giants

Yariel Rodriguez went seven impressive innings for the Chunichi Dragons in their 7-4 win over the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome.

The 23-year-old, who joined the Dragons on a non-roster developmental contract on Feb. 5 and was added to the 70-man roster on July 1, allowed a run on six hits, a walk and a hit batsman while striking out nine.

Dayan Viciedo hit his 10th home run of the season in the fourth, a no-out, two-run shot off Giants lefty Kazuto Taguchi (2-2) to make it 3-0. Nobumasa Fukuda, who had an RBI single in the first, walked ahead of Viciedo’s homer and also walked and scored in Chunichi’s four-run eighth.

Zelous Wheeler had three hits, including his sixth home run, a ninth-inning solo shot off closer Raidel Martinez.

Giants-Dragons highlights.

Para to be deactivated with bum knee

The Yomiuri Giants indicated Saturday that they will deactivate outfielder Gerardo Parra, who is suffering from pain in his right knee, the Nikkan Sports reported.

“It’s been troubling him since well before this,” head coach Daisuke Motoki said. “It looked like he was in pain both when he ran and when he batted, so we’ve decided not to push him. Instead we want him to go to the farm team, get it healed and come back.”

Bour, Sands maul Carp in Tigers win

First-year imports Justin Bour and Jerry Sands each drove in three runs, and Yuki Nishi (3-3) allowed two runs over seven innings as the Hanshin Tigers whipped the Hiroshima Carp 10-2 at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome.

Carp ace Daichi Osera (4-2) was hammered for five runs on eight hits over five innings.

Sands drove in the game’s first run with an infield single, but went to the other end of the spectrum with his ninth home run, a two-run shot, in the sixth that made it 8-2.

Bullpen to the rescue as Buffaloes snap skid

Takahiro Okada’s two-run “excuse-me-swing” single opened the floodgates for the Orix Buffaloes, and their bullpen kept the SoftBank Hawks in check in an 8-2 win on Saturday afternoon to snap their seven-game losing streak.

Coming off a tough loss in which their starting pitcher did everything well except keep Yuki Yanagita from crushing a well-executed inside fastbal, the Buffaloes caught some breaks in a two-run first before hammering Hawks starter Akira Niho (3-4) for three more in the second.

The Buffaloes opened the scoring on Shuhei Fukuda’s one-out walk, a Yuma Mune single up the middle and a two-out, two-run double when Okada was fooled by 1-2 splitter out of the zone. The left-handed slugger managed to hit it off the end of the bat for a flare that dropped in shallow left that gave the visitors the lead.

Orix starter Kazumasa Yoshida worked three scoreless innings. He gave up two singles and two walks, and twice disposed of Yanagita on two pitches, including just one fastball well out of the zone.

The Buffaloes took the air out of the game in the second. Masato Matsui looked like he was sitting on a curveball when he drove an 0-1 breaking ball to the track for a one-out double. Niho failed to glove a comebacker for an error and hit a batter to load the bases for Fukuda, who drilled a hanging two-seamer for a two-run single. Masaki Mimori robbed Mune of a single with a diving catch of a liner to second only for Masataka Yoshida to bang an RBI double and make it 5-0.

Right-hander Yudai Aranishi made some good pitches to Wladimir Balentien, but Japan’s single-season home run record holder homered off the bat to center. Rookie right-hander Ryo Yoshida (1-1), the third of Orix’s seven-pitcher parade, was awarded his first career win for pitching a scoreless fifth.

Arihara gets it done in Fighters’ rout

Kohei Arihara (2-5) put his struggles behind him for one night as he struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, and Sho Nakata drove in three early runs in the Nippon Ham Fighters’ 9-0 win over the Lotte Marines at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium.

Nakata belted his 16th homer, a two-run shot off Kota Futaki (1-2) in the fourth. The right-hander allowed four runs over seven innings to take the loss.

Eagles tie it off Lions top relievers

The two rocks in the Seibu Lions bullpen this season, setup man Reed Garrett and closer Tatsushi Masuda, combined to blow a late 3-0 lead against the Rakuten Eagles at MetLife Dome. Their game was called a 3-3 tie after 10 innings.

The Lions took a three-run first-inning lead on a Hotaka Yamakawa RBI double and Ernest Mejia’s two run home run, his fifth in five games. Rookie Wtaru Matsumoto left the game after seven shutout innings, having allowed one hit and three walks.

With the Lions’ game in their best hands, the Eagles struck. Ryosuke Tatsumi homered with one out in the eighth, and rookie Hiroto Kobukata doubled and scored on an Eigoro Mogi single.

Hiroaki Shimauchi singled to open the Eagles’ ninth and scored the tying run on a Tatsumi single.

Active roster moves 8/15/2020

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 8/25

Central League

Activated

Dectivated

None

Pacific League

Activated

Dectivated

Starting pitchers for Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020

Pacific League

p>Lions vs Eagles: MetLife Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Keisuke Honda (0-4, 3.76) vs Yuya Fukui (0-1, 1.69)

Marines vs Fighters: Zozo Marine Stadium 5 pm, 4 am EDT

Toshiya Nakamura (1-0, 3.42) vs Drew VerHagen (4-1, 3.02)

Hawks vs Buffaloes: PayPay Dome 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Shuta Ishikawa (4-0, 2.39) vs Andrew Albers (2-4, 3.35)

Central League

Giants vs Dragons: Tokyo Dome 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Seishu Hatake (0-1, 3.18) vs Yudai Ono (2-3, 3.35)

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

Kentaro Taira (3-2, 1.72) vs Hirofumi Yamanaka (0-1, 3.00)

Tigers vs Carp: Kyocera Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Takumi Akiyama (4-1, 4.30) vs Atsushi Endo (2-2, 4.38)