The Yomiuri Giants are showing signs that the second half of the Central League season will not be as dull as it looked a few days earlier, while Koji Chikamoto put his 29-game hit streak on the line Thursday against the Hiroshima Carp.
The results from the fans all-star votes were announced.
Let’s get started.
Giants 4, Swallows 3, 10 innings: At Tokyo Dome, the Giants became the first team since the Chunichi Dragons from May 10-12 to take a series from the Swallows, and had to overcome an eighth-inning hiccup to do it.
Ryan McBroom went boom again, but this time the Yomiuri Giants had an answer, while the Yakult Swallows gave a side-arm novice a ton of run support, the SoftBank Hawks got a huge start from the inconsistent Shuta Ishikawa, and the Rakuten Eagles pretty much crushed the life out of the Lotte Marines.
On another note, Koji Chikamoto extended his hitting streak for the Hanshin Tigers, which led to one of those fiery arguments on the Japan Baseball Weekly Podcast that John E. Gibson and I were once known for, not about the hitting streak but about something we see so differently, the value of player contributions to wins. So if you get a chance, listen in when that drops Monday morning. This week’s show also includes a super interview with McBroom, and is packed.
So let’s get to Sunday’s games and the details of the trouble and strife between podcast partners.
