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NPB news: April 11, 2023

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How is it that one can hardly get through a season anymore without hearing about another Orix rookie with unhittable stuff? Well, we have another. On Tuesday, Buffaloes rookie Shumpeita Yamashita, Hiroshima’s Allen Kuri and Yomiuri’s Shosei Togo were all masterful, while Luis Okoye continues to make the most of his second chance, Marwin Gonzalez was marvelous for the Buffaloes.

And as if things couldn’t get worse in Nagoya, the Dragons who have been shut out five times this season and nearly were again on Tuesday, skipper Kazuyoshi Tatsunami explained after the game that ace lefty Yudai Ono, his scheduled starter for Tuesday, would undergo elbow cleaning surgery to remove detached cartilage and would not return until at least August.

Tuesday’s games

Carp 4, Dragons 1: At Nagoya Dome, Allen Kuri (1-0) struck out seven over eight scoreless innings while issuing a walk and giving up four hits. Shogo Akiyama had three hits and led off Hiroshima’s two-run fourth, scoring on a double by Ryan McBroom, who scored on a Ryoma Nishikawa single off emergency starter Yuya Yanagi (0-2).

Carp reliever Nik Turley allowed a single and a walk in the ninth, causing closer Ryoji Kuribayashi to be summoned from the bullpen. Kuribayashi allowed a single and an inherited runner to score on a double play before locking down his fourth save.

Dragons-Carp highlights

Giants 7, Tigers 1: At Tokyo Dome, Shosei Togo (2-0) struck out five without a walk while allowing three singles over seven innings and would have gone eight had he not been pulled for a pinch-hitter.

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Baseball, Free, News

NPB news: April 1, 2023

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OK. It’s not ALL NPB news today.

All 12 teams were in action for the first time Saturday afternoon, and after two games, four teams are unbeaten, two teams have yet to score while three players have homered in both of their teams’ games, and one player has driven in all of his team’s runs so far. Also a returning free agent did not get such a warm welcome back.

Away from pro baseball, Yamanashi Gakuin won the 95th high school invitational tournament at Koshien Stadium behind its fourth complete game victory from ace Kengo Hayashi, who started all six of the school’s games. Over 15 days, Hayashi threw 696 pitches – and that’s with the national federation’s pitch limits in place. It was the first time a school from Yamanashi Prefecture had reached a Koshien final.

The school played the tournament’s first game, notable by a player from Sendai’s Tohoku High School being warned by an umpire for doing Lars Nootbaar’s “pepper grinder” salute after reaching on an error.

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In other high school news, Rintaro Suzuki, whose father manages Hanamaki Higashi High School and oversaw the development of both Yusei Kikuchi and Shohei Ohtani, was celebrated in Japan’s media for breaking the unofficial high school home record with his 117th. It’s a dumb record that includes practice games and only exists to hype headlines. The other news is that Suzuki was left off the national under-18 team.

Highlights

Hawks 7, Marines 0: At Fukuoka Dome, Marines starter Atsuki Taneuchi struck out the first five batters he faced and struck out 10 over four innings as he pitched out of a pair of bases-loaded jams, and got stuck with the loss. He allowed one run, on Ryoya Kurihara’s second homer, and SoftBank left an impression on Lotte’s bullpen.

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