Tag Archives: Kaima Taira

NPB wrap 7-1-21

Players share their all-star votes

A total of 756 players cast ballots for who THEY think should be in the All-Star games, and while no one was close to a unanimous selection, the player most players believe should be there turned out to be Yuki Yanagita, who was named as on 573 ballots.

Individual players who were not voted in by fans, are added to their leagues’ teams if they lead the player voting. Yanagita was already in, so this was just the cherry on top of the sundae for him.

NPB All-Star Players ballot results

Otherwise, the players added were:

Pacific League

  • P: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Buffaloes
  • 3B: Nobuhiro Matsuda, Hawks

Central League

  • P: Yuya Yanagi, Dragons
  • 1B: Dayan Viciedo, Dragons
  • 2B: Ryosuke Kikuchi, Carp
  • 3B: Kazuma Okamoto, Giants
  • SS: Hayato Sakamoto, Giants
  • OF: Zelous Wheeler, Giants

I have no idea why the players and fans disagreed so much in the CL and so little in the PL, although the PL’s DH vote was WEIRD. First of all, the winner, Lotte’s Leonys Martin, won an outfield spot on both ballots and won the DH with just 85 votes. His teammate, Brandon Laird, won the fan ballot for DH but didn’t crack the top three in the players’ ballot, as reported by NPB.

Fighters 2, Eagles 1

At Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park,Nippon Ham rookie Hiromi Ito (6-4) won a duel with Rakuten veteran Takayuki Kishi (3-6). Both pitched seven innings, both allowed one earned run.

The rain-buffeted game was decided by the right fielders. Rakuten’s Rusney Castillo failed to catch a ball that led to an unearned first-inning run, driven in by Fighters right fielder Kensuke Kondo.

The Eagles had a chance to tie it with two outs, but somehow Kondo, a former catcher, managed to throw out Hiroto Kobukata trying to score on a single from second. The throw was strong enough but offline, forcing Fighters catcher Ryo Ishikawa to make an acrobatic tag.

Lions 1, Hawks 0

At Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome, Seibu’s Cory Spangenberg blasted his fifth home run in the seventh inning off Shota Takeda (4-4), who went seven innings. Lions starter Kona Takahashi (7-3) went eight and Kaima Taira set a record by not being charged with a run over 39 consecutive pitching appearances despite allowing a single and a double. He was helped out of the jam when Hawks pinch-runner Naoki Sato barely over-slid the bag at third, where Spangenberg tagged him out.

After the game, asked about what got him through his jam, Taira said, “I was lucky.”

Giants 10, Carp 4

At Tokyo Dome, Hiroshima chased Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano in the third inning before Yomiuri roared back to turn this one into a laugher, with Seiya Matsubara reaching base four times, scoring twice and driving in four runs.

Matsubara and Zelous Wheeler each hit their eighth home run, while Hayato Sakamoto hit his 10th for the Giants. The Carp went deep twice, Ryoma Nishikawa hitting his seventh and Seiya Suzuki his 11th.

As for Sugano, Pro Yakyu News analyst Tomoya Satozaki said, “His velocity was down and he couldn’t locate, so there weren’t a lot of positives.”

Giants-Carp highlights

Swallows 6, Tigers 1

At Koshien Stadium, Hanshin closer Robert Suarez (1-1) blew up a 1-1 tie in the ninth when he just didn’t appear to have much feel for the ball. Tetsuto Yamada, who tied it in the seventh with his 21st homer, off Joe Gunkel, singled with one out. With two outs, Jose Osuna singled for the third time, and pinch-hitter Shingo Kawabata walked. After that, Suarez’s pitches got a little straight, and career minor leaguer Takeshi Miyamoto lined a straight 160-kph fastball to left for a two-run single. Kosuke Baba entered but allowed two inherited runs to score plus one he let on himself.

When Suarez took the mound, all I could think of was how lucky I was to watch such a well-pitched game. Gunkel struck out 10, walked none and allowed four hits over seven innings. Yamada’s homer was a fly to right that found the sweet spot at huge Koshien Stadium, where the outfield fence curves in at the foul pole to make an inviting home run target.

Swallows rookie Yasunobu Okugawa struck out six, walked none and allowed four hits over seven innings, including catcher Ryutaro Umeno’s sixth-inning leadoff homer.

Starting pitchers

Pacific League

Lions vs Buffaloes: MetLife Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Takeru Sasaki (0-0, 5.87) vs Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-5, 1.90)

Marines vs Eagles: Zozo Marine Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Fumiya Motomae (1-1, 5.40) vs Takahiro Norimoto (6-3, 3.01)

Central League

BayStars vs Giants: Jingu Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Taiga Kamichatani (0-3, 10.69) vs C. C. Mercedes (3-1, 3.32)

Dragons vs Swallows: Vantelin Dome (Nagoya) 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Yuya Yanagi (6-3, 2.33) vs Keiji Takahashi (2-0, 2.08)

Carp vs Tigers: Mazda Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Shogo Tamamura (1-3, 3.82) vs Yuki Nishi (4-4, 2.84)

Active roster moves 7/1/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 7/11

Central League

Activated

GiantsP18Tomoyuki Sugano
SwallowsP11Yasunobu Okugawa

Dectivated

SwallowsP38Yugo Umeno

Pacific League

Activated

HawksIF55Daiju Nomura
EaglesIF9Brandon Dixon

Dectivated

HawksIF36Taisei Makihara
MarinesP35Shota Suzuki
MarinesP64Yuta Ohmine
MarinesOF31Tsuyoshi Sugano
MarinesOF38Akito Takabe
EaglesIF5Eigoro Mogi
FightersP33Kazuaki Tateno

NPB Wrap 6-28-21

All Star fan voting done

NPB announced the results of its All-Star fan voting on Monday, with the surprising Orix Buffaloes springing another surprise, with star outfielder Masataka Yoshida leading all players in the ballot, even popular Hanshin Tigers rookie outfielder Teruaki Sato.

Lions 5, Hawks 2

At Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome, Takeya Nakamura broke a 1-1 fourth-inning tie with a solo homer, his eighth, off Colin Rea (1-1), who allowed five runs, four earned, in six innings. Seibu’s Wataru Matsumoto (7-3) pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth to allow just a first-inning run.

Kaima Taira closed out the win for his 10th save while tying the Japan record of 38 consecutive scoreless games, set by former Tigers closer Kyuji Fujikawa in 2006.

It was bound to happen

I missed yesterday’s game recaps, and I apologize for that. I was planning to do them after I finished writing the weekly newsletter for subscribers. That’s usually the last thing I do before getting to bed in the wee hours of Monday morning, and when I finished and sent it out, I completely forgot Sunday’s games.

On Sunday

In the Central League, the Giants won 5-2, completing a three-game sweep of the Yakult Swallows after Kazuma Okamoto broke a 1-1 tie with a three-run sixth-inning home run off Albert Suarez (2-3). It was Okamoto’s 21st homer, leaving him one back of the Swallows’ Munetaka Murakami for the league lead.

The win left the Giants 2-1/2 games back of the Tigers, who were swept at home by the DeNA BayStars after an 8-3 loss as Tyler Austin homered and Neftali Soto went deep twice. In Hiroshima, the Carp and Dragons drew 1-1.

In the Pacific League, Hiroya Miyagi (8-1) went five innings in the Orix Buffaloes’ 8-3 win over the Seibu Lions that kept the Buffaloes tied for first with the Rakuten Eagles. The Eagles completed a three-game sweep of the SoftBank Hawks with a 3-2 win in Sendai. In Shizuoka, the Lotte Marines beat the Nippon Ham Fighters 8-3 with Leonys Martin pulling into a tie with Yuki Yanagita for the PL home run lead with his 18th.

Starting pitchers

Pacific League

Eagles vs Fighters: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Yoshinao Kamata (-) vs Drew VerHagen (1-6, 5.80)

Buffaloes vs Marines: Kyocera Dome (Osaka) 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Tsubasa Sakakibara (-) vs Kota Futaki (3-4, 3.86)

Central League

Giants vs Carp: Tokyo Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Angel Sanchez (5-4, 4.23) vs Daichi Osera (2-3, 3.22)

BayStars vs Dragons: Jingu Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Yuya Sakamoto (1-2, 4.97) vs Yudai Ono (3-5, 3.36)

Tigers vs Swallows: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Koyo Aoyagi (6-2, 1.96) vs Kazuto Taguchi (4-4, 2.93)

Active roster moves 6/28/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 7/8

Central League

Activated

None

Dectivated

TigersIF38Ryuhei Obata
DragonsIF5Toshiki Abe
SwallowsP43Albert Suarez

Pacific League

Activated

HawksIF36Taisei Makihara

Dectivated

HawksP21Tsuyoshi Wada
HawksIF00Hikaru Kawase
LionsP44Kaito Yoza
EaglesIF34Tsuyoshi Yamasaki