Tag Archives: Hirokazu Sawamura

NPB news: July 4, 2024

On Thursday in Japan, the results of NPB players’ all-star voting were released, which predictably added a bunch of players to the PL team, five in total, which is not a record, and which I write about at some length below.

On the field, the Carp and Tigers played another doozy and we had a pair of shutouts, one pitcher’s first career complete-game shutout in a game when Yakult was traumatized by the second base bag. One rookie went eight in a duel between two starters with 5-0 records, and Hirokazu Sawamura even got a save, so it was a fun night even with just four games.

Thursday’s games:

BayStars 3, Swallows 0: At Yokohama Stadium, DeNA’s Kentaro Taira (2-0) threw his first career shutout, a seven-hitter in which four of the seven Swallows batters to reach were put out on the bases, one on a double play, two trying to stretch singles into doubles and the other caught stealing.

While second base proved an offensive stumbling block for Yakult, DeNA rode Toshiro Miyazaki‘s second-inning leadoff double to the game’s first run off Yakult’s Miguel Yajure (4-7). Two more doubles, from Keita Sano and Shugo Maki, made it 2-0 DeNA in the sixth. Sano singled in an eighth-inning insurance run, and Yakult finally succeeded in getting a runner in scoring position in the ninth moments before Taira ended it with his fifth strikeout.

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Gosuke Kato’s Japan reeducation

Although his being drafted in the second round of MLB’s 2013 June Draft made news in Japan, Nippon Ham Fighters second baseman Gosuke Kato said Saturday he didn’t picture himself playing pro ball here.

“But it was always in the back of my mind, because I’m Japanese, and all my heroes came from Japan, like Ichiro and all the guys in the big leagues that I watched came from here. It’s been amazing so far, and I’ve enjoyed the experience,” Kato said at Chiba Marine Stadium before the Fighters’ game with the Lotte Marines.

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