Tag Archives: Rubby De La Rosa

NPB wrap 7-3-21

Saturday stuff

The Yomiuri Giants kept pace in the Central League with the Hanshin Tigers on Saturday, 1-1/2 games back in second place as they improved to 8-0 with three ties against the DeNA BayStars, while the Yakult Swallows remained hot on their heals another 2-1/2 games back.

In the Pacific League, the Orix Buffaloes continued to rock and roll, playing with confidence. Their record is about what you’d expect for a team that has scored 330 runs and allowed 283. It isn’t like they lucked into a good record by winning close games.

In other news, the U.S. named its Olympic team with three members coming from NPB teams, DeNA’s Tyler Austin, SoftBank’s Nick Martinez, and Yakult’s Scott McGough. This marks a HUGE departure from how Team USA usually rolls.

Meanwhile, the DeNA BayStars have put outfielder Tomo Otosaka under house arrest, sort of.

Buffaloes 8, Lions 0

At MetLife Dome, Orix lefty Sachiya Yamasaki (4-5) worked seven innings, and diminutive leadoff hitter Shuhei Fukuda hit a three-run homer, his first, off Seibu’s Tatsuya Imai (5-3) in the second. Fukuda also had a sac fly, while Imai allowed six runs, four earned.

Yamasaki allowed four hits but no walks while striking out one, but was helped immensely by a number of hard-hit balls that ended up in his fielder’s gloves.

The Lions, who were hampered by injuries to three key players at the start of the season, got the last of those three back as star second baseman Shuta Tonosaki played for the first time since breaking his left fibula on April 3.

Marines 5, Eagles 3

At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, Shogo Nakamura’s two-run eighth-inning home run, his sixth, off Sung Chia-hao (1-1) brought Lotte back from a 3-2 deficit before Hiromi Oka hit his third of the season to complete the scoring.

Nakamura singled in a run and scored in the first on a Brandon Laird single off Hideaki Wakui before the Eagles came back with three runs over 4-1/3 innings off Fumiya Motomae. Jose Flores (1-0) struck out two of the six batters he faced over two perfect innings to earn the win. Naoya Masuda recorded his 19th save.

Hawks 7, Fighters 1

At Naha’s Okinawa Cellular Field, SoftBank’s Nick Martinez (6-2), one of three NPB players named to the U.S. Olympic baseball team, struck out seven while allowing a run over eight-plus innings, while the Hawks beat up on Nippon Ham’s best starter this season, Naoyuki Uwasawa (6-4), scoring six runs on six walks and three hits over four innings.

Pro Yakyu News analyst made a point of telling the audience that the reason the Hawks, who had been starved for runs, scored so many was their three sacrifice bunts, to which I would answer, well, yes, that and the six walks…

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Tigers 5, Carp 0

At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Hanshin rookie Masashi Ito (5-4) pitched out of two jams, once with the help of a nifty double play started by rookie shortstop Takumu Nakano. Jefry Marte drove in three runs, with a third-inning ground out, a solo homer in the seventh, his 14th, and an RBI single in Hanshin’s three-run eighth.

Hiroshima rookie Haruki Omichi (3-2) allowed a run over five innings.

Swallows 5, Dragons 1

At Nagoya‘s Vantelin Dome, Yakult’s Yasuhiro Ogawa (7-3) allowed five hits but no walks while striking out six over the distance, went 1-for-2 with a single, and two sacrifices, including one that plated a run on a safety squeeze.

Reserve catcher Yudai Koga went 4-for-5 and drove in the Swallows’ first three runs off Chunichi’s Shinnosuke Ogasawara (5-4), who worked five-plus innings. Yakult’s Tetsuto Yamada hit his 22nd home run.

Giants 3, BayStars 1

At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, a trio of Yomiuri Giants, Yoshihiro Maru, Kazuma Okamoto, and Takumi Kitamura, hit solo home runs off DeNA starter Kousuke Sakaguchi (2-1, 3.67). C.C. Mercedes (3-1, 3.32) worked 5-2/3 scoreless innings, after Toyoki Tanaka retired Hikaru Ito for the final out in the sixth with two runners on.

Three two-out singles, the third by Ito off Rubby De La Rosa, made it 3-1 in the eighth. DeNA came close in the ninth with a walk, a line out, and a fly to the warning track but Thyago Vieira kept them off the board for his seventh save.

Starting pitchers

Pacific League

Fighters vs Hawks: Okinawa Cellular Field 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Takahide Ikeda (3-7, 2.98) vs Colin Rea (1-1, 3.12)

Lions vs Buffaloes: MetLife Dome 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Zach Neal (1-2, 4.08) vs Hiroya Miyagi (8-1, 1.93)

Marines vs Eagles: Zozo Marine Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Kazuya Ojima (4-2, 4.20) vs Ryota Takinaka (5-3, 4.04)

Central League

BayStars vs Giants: Jingu Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Shinichi Onuki (2-5, 6.99) vs Yuki Takahashi (8-2, 2.64)

Dragons vs Swallows: Vantelin Dome (Nagoya) 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Akiyoshi Katsuno (3-5, 3.58) vs Masanori Ishikawa (3-2, 3.38)

Carp vs Tigers: Mazda Stadium 1:30 pm, 0:30 am EDT

Masato Morishita (4-4, 2.36) vs Takumi Akiyama (6-4, 3.46)

Active roster moves 7/3/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 7/13

Central League

Activated

GiantsP12Rubby De La Rosa
GiantsP26Nobutaka Imamura

Dectivated

None

Pacific League

Activated

MarinesP49Fumiya Motomae
MarinesOF2Kyota Fujiwara
MarinesOF7Shuhei Fukuda
LionsIF5Shuta Tonosaki
EaglesP16Hideaki Wakui
BuffaloesP49Keisuke Sawada

Dectivated

LionsP28Ryosuke Moriwaki

NPB wrap 5-30-21

Interleague Day 6 – CL hanging in there

After six days of interleague play, the CL maintained its lead on Sunday, splitting the day’s three games to improve to 17-14-3 in the way one would expect the CL to be leading that is by doing better in close games since the CL are now being outscored 157-146.

In 2009, the one year the CL lead the PL in wins, CL clubs went 70-67 while being outscored 613-588. The CL has never scored more runs than the PL. The PL’s current run edge projects a Pythagorean win percentage of .536. The PL’s historic Pyathagorean win percentage prior to this year is .547.

Hawks’ streak goes up in Smoak

Giants 4, Hawks 3

At Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome, Kazuma Okamoto stayed tied for the CL home run lead with his 14th, breaking a 2-2 fifth-inning tie and marking the first time in the series the Giants had led after the second inning. Justin Smoak drove in Yomiuri’s other three runs, with a first-inning single and an eighth-inning homer, his sixth.

Tsuyoshi Wada (3-3) allowed runs in the first inning for the first time this season, but he after one good start he was back to struggling again, dangerous when he could locate vulnerable when he couldn’t. Shosei Togo (5-2) pitched out of a couple of jams, retiring Yuya Hasegawa and Wladimir Balentien, with the bases loaded in the fifth to preserve his one-run lead.

Probably the most notable thing about this game was how weak the umpiring was, in particular a strikeout call on a 3-2 pitch to Zelous Wheeler that wasn’t called and a tag out on the runner moving that wasn’t called and took a while to sort out.

Rubby De La Rosa faced one batter in the ninth with the tying and go-ahead runners on base, but struck out Takuya Kai looking to end the game and earn his seventh save.

The Giants’ win against the Hawks was their first since June 22, 2019.

Dragons 4, Fighters 1

At Sapporo Dome, Dayan Viciedo was the big wheel for Chunichi, doubling and scoring the opening run in the second off Nippon Ham’s Robbie Erlin (1-1) and homering, his seventh, in the fourth to make it 2-0. Koji Fukutani (3-4), the Dragon’s Opening Day starter, worked six innings, allowing a run on a walk and five hits while striking out seven.

Eagles 5, BayStars 1

At Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park, Rakuten rookie Takahisa Hayakawa and DeNA ace Shota Imanaga locked up in a 1-1 pitchers’ duel in an impressive start for both. Takero Okajima broke the tie in the seventh with a two-run triple, and the Eagles added on two more in the ninth against new import Kevin Shackelford.

Tigers 9, Lions 8

At MetLife Dome, Yoshio Itoi got a start for Hanshin and is if to remind the team that he’s still there, he maintained his record of homering in all his starts. He hit his third, while scoring three and driving in three, and Tigers catcher Ryutaro Umeno homered, his first, drove in three and scored two.

Marines 7, Carp 1

At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, new Hiroshima import Dovydas Neverauskas (0-1) had a rough baptism to Japanese ball, walking five as he allowed three runs over 2-2/3 innings, while lefty Kazuya Ojima (2-2) held the Carp to a run over six innings.

Buffaloes 8, Swallows 7

At Osaka‘s Kyocera Dome, Taichi Ishiyama (0-4), who had been pushed down from closing to setup duties, allowed three runners in the eighth, leaving with two on and a run and handing Masataka Yoshida off to Scott McGough, who surrendered a two-run double to Orix’s pocket battleship, who had three RBIs in the game. Yutaro Sugimoto hit a two-run homer in the first off Yakult’s Albert Suarez, his 12th.

Jose Osuna and Munetaka Murakami each drove in two runs for the Swallows, Murakami with his 14th home run. Hirotoshi Masui turned in a credible start for the Buffaloes, allowing two runs over five innings while striking out six, hitting one and giving up three hits.

Active roster moves 5/30/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 6/9

Central League

Activated

TigersP41Shoki Murakami
CarpP99Dovydas Neverauskas

Dectivated

GiantsP92Shohei Numata
CarpP65Shogo Tamamura

Pacific League

Activated

EaglesIF24Fumiya Kurokawa
BuffaloesP16Yoshihisa Hirano
BuffaloesP17Hirotoshi Masui

Dectivated

EaglesIF9Brandon Dixon
BuffaloesP58Kazuyuki Kaneda