Tag Archives: Yoshihisa Hirano

NPB wrap 6-26-21

Races tighten in both leagues

This weekend presented a chance for the league leaders to make up some ground against their closest pursuers, but it hasn’t worked out that way.

The Hanshin Tigers lost for the second straight day to the DeNA BayStars on Saturday, while the Yomiuri Giants have won two straight to replace the Yakult Swallows in second place and are now 3-1/2 games back.

After a loss and a tie, the Orix Buffaloes find themselves in a flat-footed tie with the Rakuten Eagles for the Pacific League lead with 35-29-9 records. The SoftBank Hawks, who’ve dropped two straight to the Eagles, are two back in third place.

Eagles 3, Hawks 2

At Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park, SoftBank got two rookie Rakuten pitchers for the price of one. Koichi Takada, the Eagles’ second pick last autumn, made his pro debut but hit a batter in the head with two outs, triggering a “kikenkyu” – dangerous ball — automatic ejection. Less heralded rookie Naoto Nishiguchi (1-0), the Eagles’ 10th pick in 2016, stepped into the breach, stranded two runners, and allowed one run over 4-1/3 innings to earn his first pro win.

Hawks starter Nick Martinez (5-2) allowed a leadoff single, issued a one-out walk, and hit a batter with two outs to load the bases for Eigoro Mogi who cleared the bases with a triple.

Martinez escaped serious trouble in the third by starting this nifty double play, and got an assist from Hiroaki Shimauchi, who was thrown out by a mile at the plate to end the inning.

The visitors scored in the first after a Takada issued a one-out walk and allowed a Yuki Yangita single that Shimauchi fumbled in left field. Nishiguchi retired the first seven batters he faced, including a third inning in which he struck out the side, finishing with Yanagita. Ryoya Kurihara led off the fourth with his ninth home run, but the Hawks had no answer for the Eagles bullpen. Yuki Matsui finished up with his 20th save.

Buffaloes 3, Lions 3

At Osaka‘s Kyocera Dome, Kaima Taira was charged with no runs for a 36th straight game to seal the tie after his second walk put two on with one out in the ninth. Yoshihisa Hirano gave Orix a chance to walk off with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.

Takahiro Okada’s second RBI single tied the game in the Buffaloes’ two-run seventh after Lions starter Tatsuya Imai allowed a run over six innings. The Lions took a 2-1 lead in the third on a two-run homer by rookie Sena Tsuge, who got the start with No. 1 catcher Tomoya Mori out hurt and his backup, Masatoshi Okada, getting dinged on Friday.

Marines 3, Fighters 1

At Shizuoka’s Kusanagi Stadium, Daiki Iwashita (6-4) pitched out of a second-inning jam to hold Nippon Ham to a run over six innings, and Lotte came back against

Naoyuki Uwasawa (6-3), tying it when Brandon Laird doubled home Shogo Nakamura. Laird was gunned down trying to score the go-ahead run on a great throw from rookie Fighters center fielder Chusei Mannami.

Katsuya Kakunaka singled in the go-ahead run in the fifth, and a Nakamura sac fly made it 3-1. Three relievers, Frank Herrmann, Chihaya Sasaki and Naoya Masuda finished up for the Marines. Masuda recorded his 18th save.

Giants 10, Swallows 3 

At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, the Yomiuri Giants have sped through and over the Yakult Swallows for the second straight day. A day after a big two-run homer, Takumi Oshiro doubled in two runs to tie it 2-2 in the second against Yasuhiro Ogawa (6-3), who allowed six runs over 2-1/3 innings. Hayato Sakamoto broke the tie with a third-inning RBI single, and Takumi Kitamura capped the inning with a three-run homer, his second.

Shosei Togo (8-3) allowed three runs, two earned, over 6-2/3 innings.

BayStars 3, Tigers 1

At Koshien Stadium, DeNA rookie Kosuke Sakaguchi (2-1) allowed a run over six innings, and leadoff man Masayuki Kuwahara brought the BayStars from behind with his sixth homer, a two-run shot in the seventh off reliever Masayuki Oyokawa (1-1). Edwin Escobar, Yasuaki Yamasaki and Kazuki Mishima each worked a scoreless inning to seal the visitors’ second straight win at Koshien. Mishima’s save was his 13th.

Tigers starter Masashi Ito left after five-plus scoreless innings.

Carp 11, Dragons 5

At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, the Carp went to town against Chunichi lefty Shinnosuke Ogasawara (5-3), tagging him for six runs, five earned, over four innings, while right-hander Haruki Omichi (3-1) held the Dragons to a run through four innings before allowing four in the fifth.

Teams at home that have trouble scoring as the Carp have, often take batting practice after games. On Saturday, the Dragons bullpen alleviated that necessity by throwing batting practice over the final five innings.

Starting pitchers

Pacific League

Fighters vs Marines: Kusanagi Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Takayuki Kato (3-4, 3.34) vs Kazuya Ojima (3-2, 4.38)

Eagles vs Hawks: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Ryota Takinaka (5-3, 4.15) vs Tsuyoshi Wada (4-4, 4.41)

Buffaloes vs Lions: Kyocera Dome (Osaka) 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Hiroya Miyagi (7-1, 2.06) vs Zach Neal (1-1, 3.04)

Central League

Swallows vs Giants: Jingu Stadium 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Albert Suarez (2-2, 4.70) vs Yuki Takahashi (7-2, 2.62)

Tigers vs BayStars: Koshien Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Takumi Akiyama (6-3, 2.87) vs Shinichi Onuki (1-5, 7.40)

Carp vs Dragons: Mazda Stadium 1:30 pm, 0:30 am EDT

Masato Morishita (4-4, 2.50) vs Akiyoshi Katsuno (3-5, 3.79)

Active roster moves 6/26/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 7/6

Central League

Activated

BayStarsP12Kosuke Sakaguchi

Dectivated

BayStarsP26Haruhiro Hamaguchi

Pacific League

Activated

EaglesP29Koichi Takada
FightersIF9Takuya Nakashima
FightersIF53Ronny Rodriguez

Dectivated

None

NPB wrap 6-4-21

Interleague Day 10

The CL and PL split their games for the second straight day. The Yakult Swallows’ beatdown of the Seibu Lions behind 41-year-old Masanori Ishikawa allowed the CL to nearly pull even in runs scored with the PL, opening the possibility that the CL might lead in runs scored for the first time since interleague arrived in 2005. The CL now leads this year’s series 27-23-7.

Marines lose pitcher Ishikawa for season

Lotte Marines right-hander Ayumu Ishikawa, who ended last season looking at a move to the major leagues through the posting system, had season-ending elbow-cleaning surgery on June 3.

Buffaloes 2, Dragons 1

At Nagoya‘s Vantelin Dome, Orix ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-5) was only a little better than Sawamura Award winner Yudai Ono (2-4), thanks to some solid work from his infielders, but he was much more efficient, allowing one run over seven innings.

The Buffaloes made Ono throw 35 pitches to get out of the first inning and another 24 in the second before he found his rhythm. The first five Orix hitters reached, but only two scored, on a Yutaro Sugimoto single.

Tyler Higgins worked a scoreless eighth and former Diamondback reliever Yoshihisa Hirano pitched the ninth for his third save.

Giants 6, Fighters 0

At Tokyo Dome, Yomiuri’s C.C. Mercedes (1-0) allowed two hits and no walks over 5-2/3 innings in his season debut, while striking out five.

Zelous Wheeler sparked a two-run first inning with a one-out double off former Rakuten teammate Takahide Ikeda (2-5, 2.85). He scored on a Naoki Yoshikawa single and Justin Smoak capped the rally with a double.

Shinnosuke Shigenobu capped a three-run Giants seventh with a two-run home run and Smoak added an insurance run in the eighth with his seventh.

Giants-Fighters highlights.

Swallows 10, Lions 1, 5 innings, rain

At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, Yakult battered Seibu’s best pitcher, Kona Takahashi (5-1) for 10 runs, nine earned on four walks and 11 hits, including home runs by Tetsuto Yamada, his 12th, Norichika Aoki, his second, and Munetaka Murakami, his 16th. Cory Spangenberg got the Lions on the board against Masanori Ishikawa (1-1) in the third with his third home run. Ishikawa sacrificed in each of his first three trips to the plate, something that doesn’t happen a lot.

Ishikawa’s set a franchise record by posting at least one win in 20 consecutive seasons, and for being the team’s oldest winning pitcher at 41 years, 4 months.

Marines 11, BayStars 7

At Yokohama Stadium, Leonys Martin hit his Japan-leading 17th home run, and Brandon Laird his 13th in a three-run third inning. Martin, doubled in the first and then singled in with a man on in the Marines’ two-run fifth, when Laird doubled in Lotte’s go-ahead run.

Toshiya Sato doubled and homered twice for Lotte, scoring three runs and driving in three.

Tigers 6, Hawks 1

At Koshien Stadium, Hanshin side-armer Koyo Aoyagi (4-2) man-handled the SoftBank Hawks, allowing one run over eight innings, while Koji Chikamoto and Yusuke Oyama each drove in two runs. The Hawks loaded the bases in the second while trailing 2-0, but Hanshin got out of the inning against SoftBank starter Shuta Ishikawa (3-4), who surrendered five runs over six innings.

Eagles 12, Carp 5

At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Rakuten’s Hideaki Wakui (6-3) had another tough slog of it, allowing five runs over six innings, but had seven runs to work with. Fumiya Kurokawa capped a four-run first off Yuta Nakamura (0-3), whose ERA rose to 11.08 over three games after allowing five runs in four innings.

Kevin Cron went 2-for-4 for Hiroshima with his fifth home run.

Starting pitchers

Interleague

Giants vs Fighters: Tokyo Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Shosei Togo (5-2, 3.91) vs Kazuaki Tateno (-)

Swallows vs Lions: Jingu Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Yasuhiro Ogawa (5-1, 3.52) vs Tatsuya Imai (3-2, 2.34)

BayStars vs Marines: Yokohama Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Haruhiro Hamaguchi (2-4, 2.95) vs Manabu Mima (3-2, 3.45)

Dragons vs Buffaloes: Vantelin Dome (Nagoya) 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Kodai Umetsu (0-1, 1.93) vs Daiki Tajima (2-3, 4.38)

Tigers vs Hawks: Koshien Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Masashi Ito (3-2, 2.43) vs Nick Martinez (4-1, 1.97)

Carp vs Eagles: Mazda Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Masato Morishita (3-3, 1.84) vs Masahiro Tanaka (2-3, 2.54)

Active roster moves 6/4/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 6/14

Central League

Activated

GiantsP42Cristopher Crisostomo Mercedes
TigersP19Shintaro Fujinami
BayStarsP48Masaya Kyoyama
CarpP67Yuta Nakamura
SwallowsP19Masanori Ishikawa

Dectivated

GiantsC38Yukinori Kishida
TigersP13Suguru Iwazaki
BayStarsP49Kevin Shackelford
CarpP28Hiroki Tokoda

Pacific League

Activated

HawksIF68Masaki Mimori
MarinesP76Jose Flores
FightersIF6Sho Nakata
FightersIF24Yuki Nomura
BuffaloesIF36Tatsuya Yamaashi

Dectivated

HawksIF36Taisei Makihara
MarinesP42Frank Herrmann
FightersIF53Ronny Rodriguez
BuffaloesIF53Sho Gibo