How is it that one can hardly get through a season anymore without hearing about another Orix rookie with unhittable stuff? Well, we have another. On Tuesday, Buffaloes rookie Shumpeita Yamashita, Hiroshima’s Allen Kuri and Yomiuri’s Shosei Togo were all masterful, while Luis Okoye continues to make the most of his second chance, Marwin Gonzalez was marvelous for the Buffaloes.
And as if things couldn’t get worse in Nagoya, the Dragons who have been shut out five times this season and nearly were again on Tuesday, skipper Kazuyoshi Tatsunami explained after the game that ace lefty Yudai Ono, his scheduled starter for Tuesday, would undergo elbow cleaning surgery to remove detached cartilage and would not return until at least August.
Tuesday’s games
Carp 4, Dragons 1: At Nagoya Dome, Allen Kuri (1-0) struck out seven over eight scoreless innings while issuing a walk and giving up four hits. Shogo Akiyama had three hits and led off Hiroshima’s two-run fourth, scoring on a double by Ryan McBroom, who scored on a Ryoma Nishikawa single off emergency starter Yuya Yanagi (0-2).
Carp reliever Nik Turley allowed a single and a walk in the ninth, causing closer Ryoji Kuribayashi to be summoned from the bullpen. Kuribayashi allowed a single and an inherited runner to score on a double play before locking down his fourth save.
Dragons-Carp highlights
Giants 7, Tigers 1: At Tokyo Dome, Shosei Togo (2-0) struck out five without a walk while allowing three singles over seven innings and would have gone eight had he not been pulled for a pinch-hitter.
Corey Spangenberg and veteran Takumi Kuriyama powered the Seibu Lions as they from behind to beat the Nippon Ham Fighters 5-4 at MetLife Dome on a holiday Tuesday afternoon game to pull into a tie for second-place in the Pacific League with the Lotte Marines.
Spangenberg’s fourth-inning solo homer put the Lions up 3-2, and his sac fly tied it 4-4 in the sixth. Shuta Tonosaki plated Fumikazu Kimura in the seventh with the go-ahead run as the Seibu bullpen locked it down after a rough outing by Kona Takahashi.
The right-hander had trouble from the start but managed a 1-2-3 first thanks to a good play from two-time Golden Glove winning shortstop Sosuke Genda to retire the leadoff man. Takahashi needed all the help he could get as he allowed four runs on four walks and six hits over 4-1/3 innings. He left after Taishi Ota’s lucky RBI single tied it 3-3, but rookie Tetsu Miyagawa’s two walks forced in a run to give the Fighters the lead again.
Kuriyama homered to tie it in the third and led off the sixth and scored on Spangenberg’s sac fly.
Ryosuke Moriwaki (7-1), the Lions’ fourth pitcher, worked around two hits and a walk in a scoreless seventh to earn the win after Kaima Taira and closer Tatsushi Masuda each retired three straight hitters.
Hawks come back to sink Marines
Nobuhiro Matsuda’s two-out RBI single broke a 3-3 sixth-inning tie and capped a four-run rally as the SoftBank Hawks came from behind to beat the Lotte Marines 4-3 at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium. The win was the Hawks sixth straight against Lotte after starting the season 4-11-1 against them.
Ayumu Ishikawa (7-6) took a 3-0 lead into the sixth, when Akira Nakamura had the Hawks’ third one-out single of the game. Yuki Yanagita followed with another. With one out, Yurisbel Gracial beat a throw to first to avoid a double play before Kenji Akashi drilled a two-run double to the gap. Ryoya Kurihara’s smash single tied it. Takuya Kai worked a walk off new pitcher Yuki Karakawa and Matsuda singled in the go-ahead run.
Five Hawks relievers finished the job with Yuito Mori getting his 31st save.
The game was held up for 14 minutes in the bottom of the fifth when brilliant sunshine over the stadium rim blinded those at home plate.
Moya crushes Eagles’ hopes
Steven Moya homered twice scored three runs and drove in four to power the Orix Buffaloes to a 6-3 win at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome over the Rakuten Eagles, who fell 2-1/2 games out of second place with four games to play.
Moya closed the book on Eagles ace Takahiro Norimoto (5-7) with his second homer of the game, a two-run seventh-inning shot. D.J. Johnson and J.T. Chargois retired three batters apiece in a solid rear-guard effort for Rakuten.
Kyoda, Kinoshita boost Dragons past ‘Stars
Yota Kyoda snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-run fifth-inning triple in the Chunichi Dragons’ 7-5 win over the DeNA BayStars at Nagoya Dome. Chunichi catcher Takumi Kinoshita had three hits for the hosts. He singled to lead off the fifth, homered in the sixth and singled in an eighth-inning insurance run.
Kikuchi rescues Carp, spoils Togo shutout
Ryosuke Kikuchi homered with two outs and a man on in the bottom of the ninth to break up rookie Shosei Togo‘s shutout and take Hiroshima Carp starter Allen Kuri off the hook in a 10-inning 2-2 tie with the Yomiuri Giants at Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium.
Swallows come back
Taishi Hirooka hit a seventh-inning, game-tying homer and Naomichi Nishiura’s three-run 10th-inning shot off Yuta Iwasada (6-3) decided it as the Yakult Swallows came back to beat the Hanshin Tigers 4-1 at Koshien Stadium.
Hirooka tied it off Hanshin’s second pitcher, Suguru Iwazaki, but Jon Edwards and Robert Suarez each worked a scoreless inning, while the Swallows bullpen put up four scoreless innings to force extra innings. Nishimura homered in the 10th and Taichi Ishiyama recorded his 18th save.
Jones ends 1st season in Japan
The Pacific League’s Orix Buffaloes announced that first-year import Adam Jones returned to the United States on Tuesday.
Jones played in 87 games with a .331 on-base percentage with a .417 slugging average with 12 home runs and 43 RBIs. He had been deactivated due to “lack of fitness.”
In Japanese language comments released by the team, Jones called it an amazing year despite the difficulties imposed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
He said he had learned to alter his approach having learned about Japanese baseball and Japanese culture, and that he was looking forward to come back fit and compete next year for the entire season.
Active roster moves 11/3/2020
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 11/13
