Tag Archives: Joe Gunkel

NPB news: June 12, 2022

The CL won interleague for the second time in two years and the third time overall since 2005 with a 55-53 record despite being outscored 375-338.

Tsuyoshi Wada pitched against the Yakult Swallows with a shot at his 37th career interleague win, while a pitcher half his age who is garnering 10 times as many headlines, Roki Sasaki, has been deactivated for another 10-day stint on the inactive list.

Brian O’Grady whipped it up, while, Dietrich Enns, and Joe Gunkel also had days to remember, so let’s get to it.

Sunday’s games

Swallows 3, Hawks 0: At Fukukuoka Dome, 41-year-old Tsuyoshi Wada and 25-year-old Keiji Takahashi stole the show from Munetaka Murakami in a riveting pitchers’ duel. Wada, whose velocity is the best it’s been since he had Tommy John surgery in 2012, struck out eight while allowing two walks and one hit over six innings.

Continue reading NPB news: June 12, 2022

NPB news: June 2, 2022

The Central League didn’t let the Pacific League rest on its laurels on Thursday, answering the PL’s 5-1 interleague Wednesday with a 5-1 mark the day after, although it required a big comeback from Yakult to attain that.

Elsewhere, the players union met with NPB in a working session and presented its ideas for an “active player draft” that ideally would give some players without opportunities at their present clubs another chance with a different team. The union also submitted a list of questions about NPB’s umpiring policies so that players can be better informed of how things stand. This was a response to Roki Sasaki‘s May 24 confrontation with umpire Kazuyuki Shirai.

Thursday’s games

Swallows 7, Marines 3: At Jingu Stadium, Yakult overcame an early three-run deficit to maintain their three-game CL lead.

Yakult lefty Andrew Suarez threw a bunch of first-inning strikes with mistakes in the heart of the zone and it cost him three runs.

Continue reading NPB news: June 2, 2022