On Saturday, the SoftBank Hawks and Orix Buffaloes suffered injury hits and concerns, while infielder Akira Neo made his big league pitching debut, and we had some slight shifts in the standings.
Shall we get to it?
Tough day for PL stars
Saturday’s news started with word that Kodai Senga will skip his next start, and not just because manager Hiroshi Fujimoto is still pissed with him.
With interleague coming, up CL pitchers could be heard uttering a subtle sigh of relief after learning that slugging two-time PL batting champ Masataka Yoshida is out again as he gets treatment for a left thigh injury. According to Delta Graphs, Yoshida’s wOBA in the last three interleague seasons, 2018, 2019 and 2021, was .454. He was closer to .420 against PL pitchers in those seasons.
Saturday’s games
Carp 10, Dragons 1: At Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Masato Morishita (4-1) threw seven scoreless innings, while Chunichi starter Yuichiro Okano (1-2) allowed nine runs over two innings behind three run home runs from Ryoma Nishikawa, his fifth, and reserve catcher Yoshitaka Isomura‘s first in two years.
Continue reading NPB news: May 21, 2022