Japan has a new league leader Thursday, when Masahiro Tanaka‘s progress toward There’s also an injury update on Norichika Aoki.
Fighters 9, Eagles 5: At Miyagi Stadium, Nippon Ham made a meal of Masahiro Tanaka (5-6), breaking a 2-2 fifth-inning tie in a six-run inning, that the Eagles starter did not survive. Maikel Franco doubled and scored the tying run for Rakuten in the fourth, and with the Eagles trailing 8-2 in the fifth, he belted a two-run homer, his seventh.
Fifteen strikeouts, a three-hitter, and a couple of nail-biters. Not bad for a Friday with just three games.
Eagles 6, Hawks 5: At Miyagi Stadium, Kohei Arihara (3-1), who had given up all three of his runs this year on three solo home runs, diversified his portfolio as the Eagles hitters took early batting practice against him. Arihara retired the first two batters he faced in the game, only for the next six to reach. Maikel Franco popped the cork on the five-run inning with an RBI single. Ryosuke Tatsumi singled in another and Yukiya Ito capped it with a three-run shot.
Franco homered to make it 6-0 in the third, as Takahiro Norimoto (4-4) pitched out of a couple of early scrapes. Then suddenly, SoftBank got back in it. Akira Nakamura doubled and scored in the fifth on a Kensuke Kondo single.
Ryoya Kurihara made it 6-2 with a sixth-inning homer, before three walks loaded the bases with two out. Another Kondo single made it 6-3 and Yuki Yanagita‘s third hit of the game made it 6-5, but there it would stay even after Kondo and Yanagita reached in the ninth against Yuki Matsui , who closed out his 18th save by striking out Kurihara.
Continue reading NPB news: July 7, 2023