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NPB news: April 6, 2024

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In Japan on Saturday, Teruaki Sato did in the Swallows again, a SoftBank rookie had a heck of a homecoming in Sendai, where Livan Moinelo once more came up empty after a solid performance and Yuki Yanagita won a Hiroshima-connection throw-down. Seiya Hosoka, who started the season 0-for-14, helped out a favorite veteran teammate with his third homer, and new Orix import Anderson Espinoza continued to deal.

On a future programming note, I was at Jingu Stadium today, where I talked with Munetaka Murakami, Domingo Santana and Sheldon Neuse, where despite the crappy situation for the media, I got a few interesting bits to share with you in the coming weeks.

Saturday’s games

Tigers 4, Swallows 3: At Jingu “Tokyo’s Sacrifice to Corporate Greed and Governmental Malfeasance” Stadium, the Tigers’ Teruaki Sato sank the Swallows for the second straight day with a tie-breaking home run.

The Swallows loaded the bases in the third against Kotaro Otake (1-1) with a one-out walk and two singles for Domingo Santa to single in Norichika Aoki and Hideki Nagaoka‘s sac fly to plate Jose Osuna. After facing the minimum over three innings, Kojiro Yoshimura (0-1) surrendered a leadoff homer to Koji Chikamoto in the fourth. Takumu Nakano then singled and scored the tying run on a Yusuke Oyama single, but Yoshimura followed with three straight outs to keep it tied.

The Tigers untied it in the seventh. Ukyo Maekawa singled and came home when Sato, whose 10th-inning homer proved decisive Friday, repeated the feat.

Takeshi Miyamoto drew a leadoff walk in the home half, went to third on an Aoki double and scored on a ground out, but that was it for the Swallowers.

Continue reading NPB news: April 6, 2024 →
Baseball, Free, News

NPB news: June 10, 2023

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Saturday saw a duel between a goldilocks impersonator and a golden oldie in a park where staying on base this weekend has been hazardous. Kazuma Okamoto keeps hitting home runs like a boss, as did Tomoya Mori, while Gosuke Kato had the last word in Hokkaido, and Katsuya Kakunaka’s revival helped snapped Hiroshima’s four-game win streak.

Saturday’s games

Swallows 2, Lions 0: At Seibu Dome, 43-year-old Masanori Ishikawa (2-3) shared Japan’s record for career interleague wins for less than 24 hours with 42-year-old Tsuyoshi Wada before reclaiming it with his 28th in an efficient 5-2/3 innings against Seibu, whose ace Kona Takahashi (4-4) allowed a run on four walks and five hits over seven innings.

“I did watch his game last night. It was great seeing another pitcher of the same generation perform like that,” Ishikawa said of Wada. “He was throwing some amazing pitches, so the two of us aren’t even comparable. But still, It was motivational.”

“There aren’t many of our generation still playing. Wada’s pitching inspired me.”

A day after three Lions runners were unceremoniously caught off base, portly Seib rookie Kento Watanabe must have been fooled into thinking he was fast after a stand-up double and was out easily trying to steal third, while Swallows catcher Yuhei Nakamura was picked off first.

Nakamura singled in the Swallows’ first run after a pair of fourth-inning walks set the table, and Tetsuto Yamada doubled in another in the ninth as Yakult snapped a three-game losing skid.

Continue reading NPB news: June 10, 2023 →