Jesse Biddle made his Japan starting debut on Sunday against veteran Tsuyoshi Wada, the Nippon Ham Fighters ran into more than their share of base running outs and still came out smelling like manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo’s perfume of the day, while their opponents could have loaded the bases in every inning and still come up empty.
Gregory “El Coffee” Polanco supplied the Giants defense with the necessary buzz, Swallows manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo decided seven straight losses was the right time for some lineup juggling.
Let’s get to the games shall we?
Sunday’s games
Buffaloes 10, Hawks 2: At Fukuoka Dome, Biddle (4-4), making his first pro start since 2015, when he started all 24 of his games, 15 for Double-A Reading, and nine for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, threw five shutout innings, and Wada (3-4) melted down on a series of good swings against progressively worse pitches in a seven-run fourth inning.
Yuma Mune got the end of the bat on a decent low-and-away slider and lined it over short for a one-out single. On a run-and-hit, Kotaro Kurebayashi lined a high straight fastball for an RBI double. Wada floated a slider away but up and Joe McCarthy lined it to center. Tatsuya Yamaashi lined a first-pitch changeup to left for an RBI single. Torai Fushimi smashed a high flat fastball past short to load them up.
Shuhei Fukuda lined the first pitch he saw in the zone, another high straight fastball, to the wall in right for a two-run double. Reliever Arata Shiino surrendered a two-run double to Keita Nakagawa and walked Masataka Yoshida, and and RBI single to Mune.
Continue reading NPB news: Aug. 14, 2022
