On a windy Friday afternoon, DeNA and Yakult came within one home run of tying an NPB record for the most in a game, while Lotte’s Roki Sasaki threw five hitless innings, and Orix’s rookie sensation had another solid outing.
After a day of hemming and hawing, I concluded that “DenialStars” goes best with DeNA, so thanks to those who contributed to finding a more fitting nickname for a team that has happily glossed over how a former Cy Young Award winner was available after 30 MLB teams ran from him like the plague.
Friday’s games
Swallows 10, DenialStars 9: At Jingu Stadium, Hideki Nagaoka‘s first home run of the season, a wind-assisted shot near the foul pole off closer Yasuaki Yamasaki (0-3), lifted Yakult past DeNA in an 11-homer slugfest.
For the Swallows, it continued a stretch of games decided by home runs after their three-game see-saw slugfest series against the Giants at Tokyo Dome.
Domingo Santana got it started in the second with a solo shot in what looked on paper like a duel between two of Japan’s best lefties, Yakult’s Keiji Takahashi and DeNA’s Shota Imanaga, although neither impressed.
Keita Sano tied it in the third with the first of his two home runs, and two-time CL home run leader Neftali Soto made it 3-1 with his first homer. Slumping Swallows cleanup hitter Munetaka Murakami blasted his second home run in two days, tying it 3-3 by hitting an outside pitch that only stayed in the park because it hit the netting high above the left-field stands.
Sano made it 6-3 in the fourth when he put a sweet swing on a high hanging changeup. Three solo homers, by Yakult’s Taiki Hamada, and DeNA’s Yota Kyoda and Shugo Maki made it 8-4, and Murakami’s third error in two days allowed DeNA extra insurance.
Swallows catcher Yuhei Nakamura homered to open the eighth off lefty Edwin Escobar, who left two on with no outs for Hiromu Ise. The right-hander got two big outs before Hamada knocked a three-run homer off the left-field foul pole. Ise got out of the inning by retiring Murakami with a man on, and DeNA seemed out of the woods.
Yamasaki got two outs before Jose Osuna reached on his third single, and Nagaoka just cleared the fence in right.
“The manager called out to me and said, ‘That was the wind.’ He didn’t praise me at all,” Nagaoka said. “I thought I got under it too much, but the wind did the job.”
Asked about the playing conditions, DeNA manager Daisuke Miura said no one should have been surprised that balls were flying, “Everyone knew it was windy.”
Swallows-DenialStars highlights
Dragons 8, Giants 3: At Nagoya Dome, second-chancer Seiya Hosokawa had three hits, including a two-run eighth-inning single that brought Chunichi from behind and opened the spigots for a six-run inning.
Continue reading NPB news: May 5, 2023