Bour, Sands slam Swallows in Tigers’ rout

Justin Bour and Jerry Sands each hit a grand slam for the Hanshin Tigers in a 20-5 blood-letting against the Yakult Swallows at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium.

With the Swallows trailing 3-0 in the second, Gabriel Ynoa (0-2) fell behind Bour 3-0. The left-handed hitter socked Ynoa’s 3-1 pitch so hard Yakult left fielder Norichika Aoki was shown staring across the field at the foul pole, perhaps looking for signs of jet exhaust lingering in the rainy Tokyo evening.

今季2本目のボーア満塁弾！#JustinBour #GrandSlam#Hanshin #Tigers pic.twitter.com/jakpnt6xPK

— Max (@MAX200_G) July 28, 2020

With Yakult star Tetsuto Yamada sidelined, ostensibly due to upper body fitness issues, 25-year-old Takeshi Miyamoto did a good impression of his slugging teammate. Miyamoto filled in at second and cracked his first career home run, a three-run shot in the second.

Sands singled in a run in the Tigers’ two-run third, before cranking his sixth home run of the season to the opposite field in right. Bour got his fifth RBI in a sixth-inning single, and Tigers shortstop Seiya Kinami capped a six-run rally with a three-run home run.

Kinami, who went 4-for-4 with two walks, doubled to lead off the ninth, when he scored his third run.

Tigers right-hander Takumi Akiyama (3-1) earned the complete-game victory.

Sugano stops BayStars, earns 5th win

Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano (5-0) allowed two runs, one earned, over seven innings while striking out seven in a 4-2 win over the DeNA BayStars at Tokyo Dome.

The Giants defense helped Sugano give away a run in the first at Tokyo Dome. Takayuki Kajitani reached on an Infield single, went to third on a two-base throwing error on second baseman Naoki Yoshikawa and scored on Neftali Soto’s sacrifice fly.

Hayato Sakamoto tied it with solo home run in the home half, and the Giants took their first lead off right-hander Shoichi Ino (2-2) in the fourth, when with one out and none on, Kazuma Okamoto hit his 12^th home run. Takumi Oshiro walked and scored after a Zelous Wheeler double and a groundout.

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BayStars cleanup hitter Keita Sano, the club’s unheralded 25-year-old captain, homered to open the sixth. Jose Lopez followed with a hard-hit single, but Sugano worked around that and a two-out Tatsuhiro Shibata double to preserve the lead.

Giants lefty Kota Nakagawa entered with one out and a man on in the ninth, and worked around a Kajitani infield single to record his third save.

Viciedo to rescue as Dragons top Carp

Dayan Viciedo doubled in the tying run in the top of the eighth inning, and bailed the Chunichi Dragons out in the bottom of the inning with his glove as the Chunichi Dragons edged the Hiroshima Carp 3-2 at Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium.

Moments after the Carp upended the Dragons 1-0 lead, Yohei Oshima singled with one out against lefty Atsuya Horie (1-1), who surrendered Viciedo’s game-tying two-out double. A walk and a wild pitch put runners on the corners. Right-hander Yasunori Kikuchi came on, and Ariel Martinez, the Dragons Cuban catching phenom, singled in the go-ahead run.

Carp starter Allen Kuri pitched his way out of trouble in the fourth and fifth innings, only for the game’s first run to come with no one on from Toshiki Abe’s second home run of the year.

https://twitter.com/tom_mussa/status/1288059022881558528

The Dragons went with right-hander Koji Fukutani. After 218 games in relief, Chunichi’s top draft pick in 2012 was making his season debut and his second career start. The 29-year-old allowed four singles and no walks while striking out 10. Last year, he appeared in one game, also a start, and allowed one run over six innings.

Fukutani was pulled for a pinch-hitter with one out and two on in the seventh, and lead runner Yota Kyoda was tagged off third following a force at second to complete a double play.

The base-running goof proved costly in the bottom of the inning after the Carp tied it on a walk and two no-out singles against reliever Yu Sato. With that, Fukutani finished the day with a 0.75 ERA as a starter and no decisions.

Tsubasa Aizawa, who hit two late home runs in Sunday’s epic comeback win in Yokohama, singled in the go-ahead run. Lefty Toshiya Okada (1-2), who saved 13 games last season, however, put out the fire, and the Dragons regained the lead against in the eighth against Hiroshima’s patchwork quilt of a bullpen.

Trailing again, Hiroshima’s Seiya Suzuki singled and took second on a wild pitch that barely got away from Martinez. Viciedo then made a sliding catch on a ball down the line from pinch-hitter Shogo Sakakura and threw to first for the final out.

Dragons right-hander worked around a two-out double to record his fourth save.

Inoue, Nakamura decide see-saw game

Seiya Inoue belted three home runs, and Shogo Nakamura hit one and then was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the ninth as the Lotte Marines walked-off 13-12 winners over the Rakuten Eagles at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium.

The hosts built a 6-1 lead centered around Inoue’s two-run second-inning home run and his third-inning solo shot off Ryota Ishibashi. But the Eagles came back in the fourth.

With one out and the bases loaded against Lotte starter and former Eagle Manabu Mima, first-year skipper Hajime Miki pulled his catcher for a pinch-hitter, and Stefen Romero made it a one-run game with his eighth home run.

The Marines counterattacked in the home half, with Yasuda capping a three-run inning with a two-run homer.

Mima allowed six runs over 4-1/3 innings, but the Marines’ third pitcher, Tsuyoshi Ishizaki retired only one of the six batters he faced in Rakuten’s five-run sixth.

Trailing 12-9 in the eighth, Nakamura homered with one out, and Inoue’s two-run shot tied it. J.T. Chargois (0-2) retired the final Marines hitter in the eighth, but surrendered a leadoff single to Brandon Laird in the ninth.

After a hit batsman and a sacrifice, Miki ordered the bases loaded, and Chargoi hit Nakamura with his third pitch to end it.

Hawks’ Nakamura batters Lions

Akira Nakamura had four hits and five RBIs, allowing the SoftBank Hawks to crush the Seibu Lions 9-4 at Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome despite Kodai Senga (3-1) surrendering four runs over six innings.

The Hawks’ ace established his fastball in classic fashion in the first, striking out the first two batters, the first on three fastballs, but surrendered the game’s first runs in the second inning.

Senga, whose ability to locate is typically his main concern, issued a leadoff walk to Shuta Tonosaki that sparked Seibu’s two-run second. A Takumi Kuriyama single and a rocket-powered Corey Spangenberg double brought in one run, and Kuriyama scored on a groundout.

The Hawks got a runin the second against Tatsuya Imai on a Nakamura leadoff single, a two-out walk and Nobuhiro Matsuda’s flare single.

A one-out Tomoya Mori walk and Hotaka Yamakawa’s 11^th home run made it 4-1 Lions in the third, but the Hawks wasted no time keeping the scoreboard ticking over. Four-straight one-out singles by Kenta Imamiya, Yuki Yanagita, Nakamura and Ryoya Kurihara made it a one-run game. With the tying run on third, Imai struck out Wladimir Balentien on five pitches away to assist in his getaway.

The Hawks tied it in the fifth on a Yanagita double and a Nakamura single and beat up on Lions relief workhorse, right-hander Katsunori Hirai (3-2), to take the lead in the sixth. With two outs and the bases loaded, Nakamura cleared the bags with a double.

Balentien and Imamiya each hit a late solo homer to complete the rout for the Hawks.

Nakata blasts off as Uwasawa earns 1st win

Denied a three-run home run when a runner was picked off base ahead of his third-inning homer, Sho Nakata blasted a three-run shot in the seventh as the Nippon Ham Fighters left an 5-1 mark on the Orix Buffaloes at Sapporo Dome.

Buffaloes lefty Andrew Albers walked the first two batters he faced in the third. Albers picked off Kenshi Sugiya, but Sho Nakata’s 11^th home run, and his second in three games, made it a 2-0 game.

The Buffaloes got a run back in the fourth on three no-out singles off Naoyuki Uwasawa (1-1) by Yuma Mune, Masataka Yoshida and Andrew Jones.

The visitors had a chance to tie it in the sixth, but Fighters right fielder Taishi Ota threw a strike to the plate to cut down Mune trying to score from second on a Takahiro Okada single. With two on and two outs in the top of the seventh, Ota made a good catch on Mune near the right field corner that could have spelled trouble.

Uwasawa’s win was his first since his left knee cap was broken in June 2019 by a drive off the bat of DeNA BayStars slugger Neftali Soto.

Albers left with two out and two on the seventh, and right-hander Ryo Yoshida served up Nakata’s second home run.

Takatsu explains Yamada deactivation

Swallows manager Shingo Takatsu filled in some background information on second baseman Tetsuto Yamada’s deactivation on Tuesday according to Sports Nippon Annex.

Takatsu said Yamada’s upper body was not sufficiently fit, and that Yamada himself was going to keep playing if left to his own devices.

“He said, ‘I can keep going as I am’, but I don’t want him playing if he’s not fit,” Takatsu said. “He’ll never say, ‘I’ll take a break for myself.’ But what I really want is to see Tetsuto Yamada really swinging. It was a difficult decision.”

Yamada apparently said he’d be back in 10 days–the minimum time needed for reactivation–but Takatsu said there was no need for him to rush.

Active roster moves 7/28/2020

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 8/7

Central League

Activated

BayStars	P	15	Shoichi Ino
Dragons	P	24	Koji Fukutani
Swallows	P	26	Koshiro Sakamoto
Swallows	IF	66	Taisei Yoshida
Swallows	OF	9	Yasutaka Shiomi

Dectivated

Dragons

P

54

Kento Fujishima

Pacific League

Activated

Lions	P	34	Yasuo Sano
Lions	C	78	Masato Saito
Eagles	P	12	Hiroki Kondo
Fighters	P	15	Naoyuki Uwasawa
Buffaloes	P	26	Daiki Tomei
Buffaloes	IF	67	Keita Nakagawa

Dectivated

Buffaloes

IF

2

Hiroyuki Shirasaki