Tag Archives: Gregory Polanco

NPB news: May 18, 2022

It’s Wednesday and, I’m here for pitcher Junya Nishi swinging the bat, for Leonys Martin sayonara home runs and for Chusei Mannami to turn up the power. I swear, if you can’t like delightful players like Junya Nishi and Chusei Mannami, you seriously can’t enjoy baseball.

We also had some former Dragons throwing cold water on the idea that Akira Neo, who has failed to hit a lick in 3-1/2 pro seasons, should pitch and play shortstop.

OK. Let’s get to it.

Marines 1, Eagles 0, 10 innings: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Hideaki Wakui returned to his second pro team and held them scoreless but was knocked out after taking a hard one-hopper off his right thigh and catching it between his legs before getting the leadoff batter in the fourth.

Continue reading NPB news: May 18, 2022

NPB news: May 14, 2022

The Yakult Swallows faced off against the Hiroshima Carp for the Central League lead on Saturday, Japan is talking about how a sacrifice bunt restored Sho Nakata’s home run power on a day when there were plenty to go around.

The Pacific League marked the return of Yoshinobu Yamamoto after a 10-day break in a game in which the final out was followed by an ejection, while the league’s top two teams, the Rakuten Eagles and SoftBank Hawks tried to bounce back from losses on Friday.

Ready? Let’s go.

Saturday’s games

Swallows 5, Carp 3: At Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Yakult won a see-saw home run derby. Munetaka Murakami‘s 10th home run tied it 2-2 in the top of the sixth, before Shogo Sakakura put Hiroshima back in front in the home half with his third. Murakami re-tied it in the eighth with his 11th off new import Nik Turley (0-1).

Continue reading NPB news: May 14, 2022