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NPB wrap 8-18-21

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The SoftBank Hawks’ push to defend their Pacific League title continued on Wednesday with their fourth straight shutout as Kodai Senga, who has been hurt most of the season, worked six innings to earn his first win since April 6, and the team established a record by hurling 42 consecutive scoreless innings.

Hawks 3, Eagles 0

At Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi, Kodai Senga (2-1, 6.28) worked six innings. He allowed two hits, issued a walk and hit a batter while striking out six. Four relievers finished up allowing one base runner the rest of the way with Sho Iwasaki earning his sixth save.

SoftBank opened the scoring in the first after Rakuten rookie Takahisa Hayakawa (7-4, 3.47) retired the first two batters. Ryoya Kurihara doubled in Yuya Yanagita and scored on an Alfredo Despaigne single. Yanagita singled in a run in the second.

Marines 5, Lions 3

At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, Kazuya Ojima (6-3, 4.57) scattered five hits, three walks and a hit batsman to allow two runs over six innings. Yudai Fujioka singled in a run in Lotte’s two-run second off Zach Neal (1-4, 4.37) and tripled with one out in the fifth and scored to break a 2-2 tie. Adeiny Hechevarria’s two-out two-run single in the sixth made it 5-2. Lotte’s Naoya Masuda worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 24th save.

Buffaloes 5, Fighters 2

At Hotto Motto Field Kobe, right-hander Glenn Sparkman allowed two runs over four innings in his Japan debut, and six relievers kept the Fighters off the board after that with Yoshihisa Hirano earning his 14th save.

Fighters lefty Ryusei Kawano (2-2, 1.85) allowed three runs in 4-2/3 innings to take the loss. Takahiro Okada’s two-out two-run single in the first opened the scoring. Wang Po-jung, however, singled in two with one out in the third. Ryoichi Adachi’s second double of the game plated leadoff man Shuhei Fukuda with the tie-breaking run in the fifth.

Fukuda went 4-for-5 and also scored on Masataka Yoshida’s eighth-inning two-run homer, his 19th.

Giants 3, Swallows 2

At Matsuyama Botchan Stadium, Takumi Oshiro set up two runs by singling and scoring in the fifth and doubling with one on to set up Hiroyuki Nakajima’s two-run single that brought Yomiuri back from a run down against former closer Taishi Ishiyama (0-5).

Forty-one-year-old wallows lefty Masanori Ishikawa allowed a run over six innings. After Munetaka Murakami opened the second against Daisuke Naoe with his 28th home run, Yuhei Nakamura doubled and scored on Ishikawa’s RBI single.

Brazilian flame thrower Thyago Vieira walked Nakamura to open the ninth, but recorded his 12th save.

Tigers 5, BayStars 2

At Tokyo Dome, rookie Masashi Ito (6-5, 2.70) allowed two runs over eight innings and earned the win when Hanshin came from behind in an eighth-inning meltdown by lefty reliever Edwin Escobar (2-2).

Mel Rojas Jr. hit his second home run in Japan to put the Tigers up 1-0 in the second, but DeNA tied it on Keita Sano’s fourth-inning RBI single. Tyler Austin put the hosts ahead 2-1 in the seventh with his 20th home run.

Kento Itohara doubled to open the eighth against Escobar, and the Tigers tied it after singles by Jerry Sands and Yusuke Oyama. A walk loaded the bases, and Escobar hit Rojas to force in the go-ahead run. Hanshin right-hander Robert Suarez earned his 26th save.

DeNA starter Shinichi Onuki allowed a run over five innings.

Dragons 3, Carp 0

At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, good things continued to not come in threes for the Hiroshima Carp who were one-hit in a 2-hour, 27-minute loss. The Carp returned to action after the break with a 9-3 win over the Tigers followed by a 9-3 loss, followed by three straight 3-0 losses.

Takahiro Matsuba (2-2, 4.02) allowed a hit, walked two and hit one over 5-2/3 innings, and things got worse from there. Shinji Tajima ended the sixth by retiring Seiya Suzuki with the bases loaded. Hiroto Fuku hit a batter in the seventh, the last runner allowed by Chunichi. Raidel Martinez recorded his 11th save.

Ariel Martinez singled in the second and scored on Naomichi Donoue’s fourth home run. Dayan Viciedo closed the book on Shogo Tamamura (2-4, 3.40) with an RBI single in the sixth.

Starting pitchers

Marines vs Lions: Zozo Marine Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Shota Suzuki (1-4, 4.13) vs Keisuke Honda (0-1, 3.12)

Buffaloes vs Fighters: Hotto Motto Field 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Soichiro Yamazaki (0-0, 0.00) vs Hiromi Itoh (7-4, 2.42)

BayStars vs Tigers: Tokyo Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Yuya Sakamoto (3-2, 4.20) vs Shintaro Fujinami (3-2, 4.35)

Dragons vs Carp: Vantelin Dome (Nagoya) 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Yudai Ono (3-7, 3.59) vs Daichi Osera (4-3, 3.51)

Active roster moves 8/18/2021

Central League

Activated

GiantsP54Daisuke Naoe
TigersP27Masashi Ito
DragonsP38Takahiro Matsuba
CarpP65Shogo Tamamura
SwallowsP19Masanori Ishikawa

Dectivated

None

Pacific League

Activated

MarinesP43Kazuya Ojima
LionsP54Zach Neal
EaglesP21Takahisa Hayakawa
EaglesP52Taisei Tsurusaki
FightersP28Ryusei Kawano
BuffaloesP56Glenn Sparkman

Dectivated

None

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Baseball, Free, News

Olympic tourney Day 6

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Wednesday saw the first of three Olympic tournament quarterfinals: the group winners quarterfinal between Japan and the U.S., and the second- and third-place finishers’ quarterfinal between South Korea and Israel.

South Korea’s game was a lot closer than it looked, while Japan’s win could not have been any tighter.

Japan 7, United States 6, 10 innings

At Yokohama Stadium: Samurai Japan overcame a poor start from Masahiro Tanaka and another bad relief outing from Koyo Aoyagi, to beat the United States in a roller coaster of a game and advance to a semifinal game against arch-rival South Korea.

Since pros were allowed into the Olympic baseball tourney, Japan is 0-4 against South Korea in two group-stage losses, the 2000 bronze medal game, and a 2008 semifinal.

Takuya Kai, whose squeeze bunt tied Japan’s game in the ninth in Wednesday’s opener, won this one with a drive to the wall after Japan came from a run down in the ninth to tie it against Yakult Swallows closer Scott McGough thanks to a leadoff Seiya Suzuki walk and a Hideto Asamura single.

https://twitter.com/tom_mussa/status/1422195295383924737

The U.S. now goes into the next quarterfinal, on Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s elimination game between Israel and the Dominican Republic.

Tanaka, who pitched in the last Olympic tournament in 2008 in Beijing, struck out six, but allowed three fourth-inning runs. With two on and two outs, he hung a 3-2 slider to Nick Allen.

Allen, who’d already missed five sliders from Tanaka smashed it to right to put the U.S. ahead. Brandon Dickson, who’d pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the third to prevent a rout, allowed a tying run in the home half of the fourth.

Aoyagi, who’d surrendered two runs in relief of Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the tournament opener, came on in the fifth and surrendered three runs on Tristan Casas’ second homer, a three-run shot.

https://twitter.com/tom_mussa/status/1422163376399167488

Japan answered again in the home half, Seiya Suzuki blasting his first homer, nearly out of Yokohama Stadium off Anthony Carter. Hideto Asamura doubled and scored on a Ryosuke Kikuchi infield single.

https://twitter.com/tom_mussa/status/1422166866102038530

But after that, both bullpens got it done. Kodai Senga delivered the lone bright spot in his bizarre 2021 season, striking out five over two scoreless innings. Yudai Ono worked an inning as did Yasuaki Yamasaki (1-2-3!) before Ryoji Kuribayashi stranded both of the Americans’ tie-break runners in a scoreless 10th.

Japan tied it in the

Hayato Sakamoto had three hits, including two big two-out doubles. Masataka Yoshida and Yuki Yanagita each had a pair of singles, while Asamura reached base four times and was only retired on a hard-hit fly out.

Love Rollercoaster…

South Korea 11, Israel 1

At Yokohama Stadium: Kiwoom Heroes closer Cho Sang Woo got South Korea out of a fifth-inning bases-loaded jam, and the defending 2008 Beijing Olympic champs advanced to Wednesday’s semifinal at the Tokyo Olympics with a win over Israel.

Choi Won Joon, who has fully transitioned to the Doosan Bears’ starting rotation this season, entered in relief with one on and one out and struck out the first batter he faced. With the rain coming down, he hit one batter and then walked the next two.

Catcher Ryan Lavarnway, with two homers so far at the Tokyo Olympics, flied out to Choi to end the inning with South Korea leading 3-1.

The Koreans then clinched it, scoring seven runs in the home half, starting when Israel failed to record the first out at the plate on a bases-loaded grounder to first as Lavarnway was unable to handle a bounced throw.

Israel will now play its second elimination game of the tournament, against the Dominican Republic on Tuesday night. Despite their losses, both teams remain in the mix for a possible gold medal.

Cho retired all three batters he faced and earned the win.

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