Tag Archives: Kotaro Kiyomiya

Baseball, News, Paid Content

NPB 2020 Sept. 26

Leave a comment

Shuto gains redemption

Ukyo Shuto made up for a dropped ball that contributed to a loss the night before by driving in four runs to help lift the SoftBank Hawks to a 7-3 win over their nemeses, the Lotte Marines, at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium.

With two outs in the second and runners on second and third, Shuto singled off Toshiya Nakamura (2-4) to put the Hawks up by two. The speedster took second when the ball got past center fielder Takashi Ogino and scored on a Keizo Kawashima single.

Shuto then capped a three-run third with his second RBI single of the game to make it 6-2. He added to his day with a good play at second base to deny the Marines a fifth-inning leadoff single.

Nao Higashihama (5-1) allowed three runs over six innings, retiring 10 of the last 11 batters he faced after Leonys Martin hit his 23rd home run of the year in the third to make it 6-3 Hawks.

The Hawks win improves their record against Lotte this season to a dismal 4-9-1.

Kiyomiya saves day for Fighters

Kotaro Kiyomiya’s three-run double tied it in the ninth off Buffaloes closer Brandon Dickson. Taishi Ota drove in the go-ahead run in the 10th and scored an insurance run for Nippon Ham Fighters in their 6-5 win over Orix at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome.

Four of Orix’s runs came on solo homers. Two by Takahiro Okada, one by Steven Moya and one by Hayato Nishiura in the bottom of the 10th, when Katsuhiko Kumon stranded two runners to earn his first save.

Lefty Andrew Albers started for the Buffaloes and allowed a run on six hits and no walks over 5-1/3 innings. He struck out six.

Fighters ace Kohei Arihara allowed three runs over six innings, and though neither bullpen was lights out, the Fighters scored five late runs to come from behind. Dickson got one out before loading the bases on a singled and two walks for Kiyomiya, who went down for a low pitch and found the gap to tie it.

Steven Moya drew a leadoff walk in the ninth from veteran lefty Naoki Miyanishi (2-1), He was pulled for a pinch-runner but the Buffs left the bases loaded in the eighth.

Trailing by a run in the 10th, Moya, who’d hit four homers in the last six games, was out of the game when his spot came up with one out and one on against Kumon.

Lions survive loss of starter

Seven relivers picked up after the Seibu Lions lost starter Sean Nolin after one inning in a 5-1 win over the Rakuten Eagles at MetLife Dome with Sosuke Genda tripling in two runs to break a 1-1 seventh-inning tie.

Nolin worked a 1-2-3 first but left due to severe tightness in his left shoulder. The Eagles took the lead in the second on a Stefen Romero RBI single. With the game tied 1-1 in the fifth, Lions center fielder Fumikazu Kimura threw out a runner trying to score from second on a two-out single.

Eagles starter Ryota Ishibashi allowed a run over five innings, and D.J. Johnson worked a 1-2-3 sixth before the roof caved collapsed in the seventh with Tomohito Sakai on the mound. Corey Spangenberg, who reached base three times, singled in Genda to make it 4-1.

Swallows hold off Tigers

Munetaka Murakami singled in one run and broke a 1-1 tie with his 18th home run, making a winner out of Albert Suarez (4-0) in a 2-1 win over the virus-hit Hanshin Tigers at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium.

The Swallows loaded the bases from the get-go against Joe Gunkel with a hit batsman, a Norichika Aoki double and a walk to Tetsuto Yamada. Murakami singled in one run. Gunkel, however, caught a break on a line out to second before striking out the next two hitters.

Suarez issued a walk in the first but it could have been a disaster as the first two balls were squared up bit hit straight to Swallows defenders. The right-hander gave up the tying run in the third.

Gunkel was pulled for a pinch hitter after allowing a run over four innings, and Murakami homered off Shintaro Fujinami in ( 1-6) in the sixth.

The Tigers came within a hair of scoring the tying run in the seventh but were thwarted when left fielder Norichika Aoki reacted well to a ball coming off a teammate’s glove and reserve catcher Akihisa Nishida made a good tag for the third out at the plate.

Relievers Nobuhiro Shimizu held Hanshin scoreless in the eighth and closer Taichi Ishiyama did the same in the ninth to earn his 13th save.

More Tiger trouble

A day after the Tigers dropped nine players from the active roster after four of them tested positive for the coronavirus, Hanshin’s Western League farm team, played Saturday’s game with just 17 players.

On Saturday evening, the team said Naomasa Yokawa, one of the infected players, had been admitted to a Tokyo hospital with a high fever. This is the most serious symptom yet reported by an NPB player. The worst symptoms reported so far was in March when pitcher Shintaro Fujinami lost his sense of taste.

Kinoshita lifts Dragons over Giants

Dragons catcher Takuya Kinoshita homered to break a 2-2 eighth-inning tie off reliever Kan Otake (1-2), lifting the Chunichi Dragons to a 3-2 win over the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome.

Yota Kyoda hit a two-run homer for the Dragons in the fifth, but Chunichi starter Koji Fukutani allowed the hosts to tie it in the seventh.

Hayato Sakamoto drew his second walk, Kazuma Okamoto doubled, and both scored on a single by the rejuvenated Hiroyuki Nakajima to chase Fukutani. Daisuke Sobue (1-0) retired both batters he faced to close out the seventh and earn the win.

Hiroto Fuku worked the eighth and Raidel Martinez earned his 14th save in the ninth, when he got an assist from Kinoshita, who gunned down pinch-runner Daisuke Masuda trying to steal second.

Giants-Dragons highlights

BayStars beat rookie Morishita

Toshiro Miyazaki went 4-for-5 with a homer, a triple an RBI and three runs to lead the DeNA BayStars attack against Hiroshima Carp rookie Masato Morishita (6-3) in a 5-2 win at Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium.

Haruhiro Hamaguchi (6-4) allowed two runs over six innings to earn the wins. Edwin Escobar, Kenta Ishida and Kazuki Mishima picked up the pieces over the final three innings. Mishima collected his 10th save.

Jose Lopez had four hits scored a run and drove in one, while Tyler Austin hit his ninth home run for the BayStars.

Active roster moves 9/26/2020

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 10/6

Central League

Activated

TigersP27Yuya Onaka
DragonsOF31Masaru Watanabe

Dectivated

DragonsOF6Ryosuke Hirata

Pacific League

Activated

FightersC64Yua Tamiya
BuffaloesC33Masato Matsui

Dectivated

FightersIF44Christian Villanueva
BuffaloesIF31Ryo Ota

Starting pitchers for Sept. 27, 2020

Pacific League

Lions vs Eagles: MetLife Dome 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Wataru Matsumoto (3-3, 4.06) vs Ryota Takinaka (0-0, 1.69)

Marines vs Hawks: Zozo Marine Stadium 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Manabu Mima (7-2, 4.50) vs Akira Niho (4-4, 4.09)

Buffaloes vs Fighters: Kyocera Dome 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Sachiya Yamasaki (3-4, 4.55) vs Kosei Yoshida (0-0, 3.60)

Central League

Giants vs Dragons: Tokyo Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Shosei Togo (7-4, 2.97) vs Takahiro Matsuba (3-4, 3.33)

Swallows vs Tigers: Jingu Stadium 6:30 pm, 5:30 am EDT

Daiki Yoshida (1-4, 4.81) vs Takumi Akiyama (5-2, 2.75)

Carp vs BayStars: Mazda Stadium 1:30 pm, 0:30 am EDT

Yuta Nakamura (0-1, 5.79) vs Shinichi Onuki (6-4, 2.45)

Baseball, Free, News

NPB games, news of Aug. 13, 2019

Leave a comment

Things got ugly in Tokorozawa on Tuesday, when five batters were hit by pitches the benches cleared three times, two pitchers were ejected for hitting batters while under a warning, and one coach was tossed for charging the mound.

Only one pitch really looked dangerous, when Kaima Hirai left a mark on Shuhei Fukuda with a 152-kph fastball to the ribs in the ninth. After the benches cleared for the last time, Lions manager Hatsuhiko Tsuji put his arms around Buffaloes skipper Norifumi Nishimura’s shoulders and must have said something positive, since Nishimura was laughing when he got back to the visitors dugout.

The whole thing reminded me of a clip from Saturday Night Live, when a clip of a “thrilling chase sequence” by comedians Bob and Ray was aired. You can see it in the final 1-1/2 minutes of the following Youtube video.

Pacific League

Lions 11, Buffaloes 4

At MetLife Dome, Shuta Tonosaki set a career high in home runs with his 19th, a first-inning, three-run shot that set Seibu on the road to a bizarre, one-sided victory over Orix.

The game became an encore of the feisty on-field confrontation that flared nine days earlier in Osaka. On Tuesday, Buffaloes outfield and base running coach Manabu Satake was tossed for charging the mound after Orix catcher Kenya Wakatsuki was struck by a pitch in the fourth inning.

On Aug. 4, an Orix hitter was hit in the bottom of the first inning and Lions first base coach Tomoaki Sato started jawing with the Buffaloes bench after Lions catcher Masatoshi Okada was hit in the second — a scenario that repeated itself on Tuesday.

Things were clearly on edge in Saitama Prefecture when Shunta Goto was hit in the third inning. And hen several Orix coaches came out to see to him, the Lions were expecting something, because the Seibu bench and bullpen both emptied.

After Satake was ejected the umpires issued a warning, and with the Lions leading 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth, it looks like Wakatsuki decided to get some payback. He called for three pitches well inside against Lions catcher Tomoya Mori. The third one hit him, and Buffaloes pitcher Daiki Tajima was ejected.

All told, the Lions officially hit four Buffaloes batters. Shuhei Fukuda might just have had a close call in the first inning when he was awarded first, but he did get hit in the ninth by reliever Kaima Taira — who was also ejected and instigated the final bench clearing.

“We’re getting hit too many times,” Orix manager Norifumi Nishimura said with anger in his voice — although the only two of the whole bunch that may have been intentional was the Buffaloes hitting the Lions catchers — and might go some ways to explain why Satake was so incensed when Orix’s catcher got hit.

Lions skipper Hatsuhiko Tsuji said he was embarrassed by the whole thing.

“This leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” Tsuji said. “As a professional, I think it’s an embarrassment. It’s all our fault.”

Lions cleanup hitter Takeya Nakamura then put the game to rest by clearing the bases with a three-run double.

Game highlights are HERE.

Hawks 3, Eagles 0

At Rakuten Seimei Park, rookie Rei Takahashi (10-3) surrendered seven singles but got three double plays turned behind him in 6-2/3 scoreless innings.

Rakuten rookie Hayato Yuge (2-1) gave up a run in each of the first two innings, and left having struck out six in his six innings on the mound. Hawks leadoff man Keizo Kawashima opened with a walk, was doubled to third by Seiichi Uchikawa and scored on a ground out.

Hawks catcher Takuya Kai doubled with two outs in the second, went to third on an infield single and scored on a delayed double steal. the Hawks final run came on Alfredo Despaigne’s 30th home run. Fellow Cuban Livan Moinelo worked the ninth to record his fourth save.

Game highlights are HERE.

Marines 6, Fighters 1

At Tokyo Dome, Nippon Ham closer Ryo Akiyoshi (0-3) surrendered five runs in the ninth inning, as Lotte came from behind to hand the Fighters their sixth-straight loss.

In an unusual pitching progression — even for the Fighters – Mizuki Hori put up his fourth-straight scoreless first inning as an opener, and Johnny Barbato walked two over his two innings before giving way to Toru Murata. The former Cleveland Indian allowed a single over three innings.

The Marines tied it in the seventh off Naoya Ishikawa, who gave up a leadoff double to Seiya Inoue and a Katsuya Kakunaka RBI single.

Ayumu Ishikawa started for the Marines and allowed a run over 6-1/3 innings while striking out five. Three relievers retired the next five batters, before the Marines broke the game open in the top of the ninth.

Game highlights are HERE.

Central League

Carp 2, Giants 1, 11 innings

At Mazda Stadium, Seiya Suzuki doubled and came home in the 11th on a sacrifice fly by reserve catcher Yoshitaka Isomura to earn a walk-off win that snapped Yomiuri’s five-game win streak.

Suzuki singled in the second and scored from first with no outs when Ryuhei Matsuyama lined one into the wide-open gap in right-center for an opposite-field double.

The Giants tied it in the eighth, when Hayato Sakamoto outsmarted the Carp on the bases. With one out and runners on the corners, Sakamoto stopped halfway to second, allowing the lead runner Shinnosuke Shigenobu to score before the Carp could complete the double play.

Swallows 8, BayStars 7

At Jingu Stadium, Wladimir Balentien decided a see-saw game with a seventh-inning RBI double that plated Norichika Aoki, and three relievers sealed the win with scoreless innings over DeNA.

Scott McGough, who gave up runs in his previous three outings as closer, worked a scoreless eighth to set up David Huff, who earned his first save in Japan.

Tigers 0, Dragons 0, 12 innings

At Nagoya Dome, Hanshin had two runners on in an inning seven different times thanks to eight hits and seven walks, but was unable to score against Chunichi.

News

Welcome No. 104 Kiyomiya

I wonder how many people knew that through Aug. 12, the Nippon Ham Fighters’ franchise had 103 different players bat fourth in their order. Sports Nippon did, so the paper alerted the public on Twitter that second-year slugger Kotaro Kiyomiya, their first-round pick in 2017, would make his debut in the four hole on Tuesday, becoming No. 104 in team history.

I’m sure someone must know or care, but I can’t quite guess whether one could count that community on one hand or not.