Tag Archives: Roki Sasaki

NPB news: Aug. 3, 2023

Masahiro Tanaka won his 196th big league game in his season’s longest outing, Kazuma Okamoto mashed, and if Yomiuri Giants fans are lucky, Shosei Togo will show no ill effects from his long night on the mound, while Taiga Hirasawa showed that reports of his professional demise are still premature.

We have a report on Dragons pitcher Humberto Mejia’s injury, while Japan’s players union wants to stop teams from suppressing service time by doing the Senga shuffle.

Thursday’s games

Eagles 9, Buffaloes 1: At Osaka Flying Saucer Dome, Masahiro Tanaka (6-6) got an early lead and held Orix to a run over eight innings. It wasn’t vintage Tanaka, but a finesse gem, in which he located, changed speeds and, striking out just three, but not giving up much real contact. Still, it was a vast improvement over his July starts, when he twice gave up over seven runs and didn’t go five innings.

Jacob Waguespack (3-5), making an emergency start after Daiki Tajima developed felt a forearm strain — one symptom of a serious elbow strain, allowed two runs in the first and two more in the third. When he came out, the Eagles set fire to rookie Atsuki Kogita, scoring five runs off him in three innings.

Kazuki Murabayashi went 3-for-5 for the Eagles, scoring twice and hitting a three-run homer.

Continue reading NPB news: Aug. 3, 2023

NPB news: July 25, 2023

The SoftBank Hawks finally ended their 12-game nightmare, leaving the Nippon Ham Fighters to carry Japan’s futility torch. On Monday, the Hawks scored off Roki Sasaki and took a 1-0 lead into the ninth, and on Tuesday faced the daunting task of snapping their skid against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Meanwhile, there was some big injury news.

Tuesday’s games

Carp 6, Swallows 3: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Matt Davidson singled and scored as Hiroshima came from behind to tie it 3-3 in a two-run sixth, and broke the tie in a three-run seventh, doubling to the wall to make it 5-3.

Yakult’s Dillon Peters, who has morphed into a strikeout pitcher, fanning eight in each of his last two starts, allowed two runs in 5-1/3 innings. Munetaka Murakami walked, doubled and scored two of the Swallows’ three runs off Allen Kuri, who worked six innings.

Continue reading NPB news: July 25, 2023