Wednesday brought another day in Japanese baseball, and another gem from a rookie pitcher. Two veterans, however, did not get off easy in their league games against Japan WBC teammates. In other surprises, the Chunichi Dragons scored a bunch of runs, the Swallows’ bullpen, unscored upon through 10 games, gave up a bunch, and Lotte’s hefty first baseman Seiya Inoue had a vision of himself that included speed.
Wednesday’s games
Dragons 5, Carp 2: At Nagoya Dome, Dragons right-hander Koji Fukutani retired the first nine batters before Ryoma Nishikawa singled in two with one out and the bases loaded.
Second-chance draft acquisition Seiya Hosoya singled and scored in the bottom of the fourth on Ryuku Tsuchida sac fly off Atsushi Endo (1-1).
Zoilo Almonte, back in Japan for the first time since he played for the Dragons from 2018 to 2020, homered to lead off the Dragons’ sixth to tie it. Hosoya doubled and scored on a Takumi Kinoshita single, and new import Aristedes Aquino made it 5-2 with a two-run pinch-hit home run. Raidel Martinez earned his third save.
Dragons-Carp highlights
Tigers 2, Giants 1, 10-innings: At Tokyo Dome, rookie right-hander Shoki Murakami retired all 21 batters he faced, but failed to earn his first win as a pro. He was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, and his replacement, Daichi Ishii surrendered the lead on Kazuma Okamoto’s first home run.
Continue reading NPB news: April 12, 2023
