Tag Archives: Taylor Hearn

NPB news: March 30, 2025

Our first weekend’s worth of games wrapped up Sunday, when the Nippon Ham Fighters, Lotte Marines and Yomiuri Giants each completed series sweeps. Naoyuki Uwasawa made his Hawks debut only for his nemesis, Neftali Soto, to turn the game Lotte’s way, with Lotte’s go-ahead run scoring on a fluke play. But first, a word from our sponsor.

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Sunday’s games

Fighters 7, Lions 5: At the roofed stadium formerly known as Prince, one long streak ended and another kept rolling.

Nippon Ham opened the season with three straight wins, something no team in the franchise had accomplished since 1962, when the Toei Flyers went on to win the franchise’s first Japan Series. Yuki James Nomura was a wrecking ball, doubling in a first-inning run, hitting a three-run third-inning homer and a two-run shot in the fifth.

Franmil Reyes went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a walk, three runs and an eighth-inning leadoff single that led to the Fighters’ final run after he was pulled for a pinch-runner.

New Lion Tyler Nevin tied the game 1-1 in the first with a sac fly to deep right that Chusei Manami nearly made interesting with a picture-perfect throw to the plate. Shuta Tonosaki homered in the fourth for Seibu, whose starter, Kona Takahashi, suffered his 12th straight losing decision. Leandro Cedeno, who joined Seibu over the winter from Orix, went 2-for-4 with a two-run eighth-inning double.

The Fighters’ Drew VerHagen allowed two runs over five innings to earn the win.

Continue reading NPB news: March 30, 2025

NPB news-plus: July 19, 2024

On Friday in Japan, another pitcher came within spitting distance of a no-hitter until home runs left him a two-hit complete-game loser, Tyler Austin went off at Jingu Stadium, Seiya Hosokawa and Hiroto Takahashi stopped Yomiuri, and Carter Stewart Jr. continued to roll, and at a park that has really given him trouble, although it should be illegal to call Seibu’s summer sweat box a “park.”

Far from the field, we had some huge news, largely because of how Japan handled it.

Friday’s games:

Fighters 2, Marines 1: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Takuya Kato (4-6) struck out six without a walk over 7-1/3 innings to outduel fellow lefty Kazuya Ojima (7-7), who went the distance in a two-hitter complete-game loss.

Kazunari Ishii broke up the scoreless game, and Ojima’s no-hit bid, by leading off Nippon Ham’s eighth inning by drilling his third home run well back into the right-field stands. Yuya Gunji made it 2-0 off the Marines lefty in the ninth with his eighth home run before the Marines got a run in the ninth off Fighters closer Seigi Tanaka, who earned his 15th save.

Continue reading NPB news-plus: July 19, 2024