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NPB news: May 21, 2023

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Yomiuri’s Foster Griffin had his obligatory good outing against Chunichi, two second-chancers had big games for their clubs, while another guy who badly needed a second chance but finally got playing time with the team that drafted him in 2013 also delivered. The red-and-black attack keeps rolling, a former closer threw a complete game, and a rookie named Morishita got the better of a former rookie of the year named Morishita.

Minor moves

On Friday, the SoftBank Hawks called up a minor league pitcher, which is not really news worthy, other than that the team ordered him pulled off the mound in his Western League game so he could report to the major league club.

Meanwhile, DeNA announced it was letting the team’s recent graduate of MLB’s domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse suspension program to pitch in the Eastern League Sunday against Lotte as a tune-up for his next start. He was not deactivated.

Saturday’s games

Giants 6, Dragons 2: At Tokyo Dome, Foster Griffin (4-1) held Chunichi to two runs over six innings to improve to 3-0 against the Dragons, who coughed up the game’s first run on one-out singles by Takumi Oshiro and Yuto Akihiro and an error by shortstop Ryuku Tsuchida.

Naoki Yoshikawa doubled off Shinnosuke Ogasawara (3-2) and scored on a Kazumasa Okamoto third-inning single, while Yoshikawa and Okamoto reached in the fourth and Takumi Oshiro followed with his sixth homer, and his first career grand slam.

Second-chancer Seiya Hosokawa had two doubles for the Dragons and scored on Takaya Ishikawa’s fourth home run, while the Giants bullpen didn’t make the game interesting for a change.

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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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