No, not the official ones selected by someone nominated by the awards’ insurance company sponsors but the jballallen.com position players and pitchers of the month. I’ll give defense its due when NPB’s hitter award doesn’t, and put less emphasis on feel-good anecdotes the way they did in May — see “3 hits and a near miss.”
Central League
Tyler Austin of the DeNA BayStars was ignored by the insurance company guys in May, but in June, he gets a second straight jballallen.com CL position player of the month award. Unfortunately, no cash prizes are awarded.
In June, Austin tied for second in the CL in home runs with nine, was second in RBIs with 25, tied for second in runs scored, posted a CL-best .506 on-base percentage, led in slugging by a wide margin, and by batting .406, all but ensured the insurers will pay off on his claim.
Koyo Aoyagi of the Hanshin Tigers led the CL in ERA and innings pitched with 30 and was second in strikeouts with 24. He also went 4-0.
Pacific League
Yutaro Sugimoto of the Orix Buffaloes will probably also get the insurer’s stamp of approval. His 15 runs were second in the PL, while he led with 19 RBIs, and tied for third with five homers behind the six hit Hotaka Yamakawa and Yuki Yanagita. Sugimoto’s .438 OBP was third behind Buffaloes’ leadoff man Shuhei Fukuda’s .466 and Kensuke Kondo’s .456, and he led the league in slugging. So a complete package.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Orix Buffaloes, threw together a league-best 0.64 ERA over 28 innings while striking out 39 batters. The only real contender for the June award is 19-year-old rookie teammate Hiroya Miyagi, who had a monthly MVP-caliber season, but that happens sometimes.
NPB’s batter and pitcher of the month awards will be announced Wednesday, and if they get these ones wrong, I’ll be really surprised.
The Pacific League-leading Orix Buffaloes moved two games clear of the Rakuten Eagles on Friday, while the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers who were at one point looking to end the pennant race by August, saw their lead shrink to 1-1/2 games.
The power of youth
As a result of Friday’s games, the Yomiuri Giants’ Yuki Takahashi and Shosei Togo lead the CL with eight wins each, while Orix’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Hiroya Miyagi lead the PL with eight each. At 24-years-old, Takahashi is the old man of that group. Yamamoto is 22, Togo 21 and Miyagi 19.
Yamamoto fell to second in the PL ERA rankings after allowing two runs over seven innings, his ERA jumping to 1.94, behind his rookie teammate’s 1.93.
At MetLife Dome, Orix ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-5, 1.90) allowed two runs over seven innings, while Seibu starter Takeru Sasaki (0-0, 5.87) faced one batter, ejected automatically after hitting leadoff batter Shuhei Fukuda in the head with his third pitch.
His replacement, rookie Yutaro Watanabe, got a double play but walked Masataka Yoshida and surrendered Yutaro Sugimoto’s 18th home run. Sugimoto drove in four runs, and had three hits for the Buffaloes, while Yuma Mune reached base three times and scored twice.
Sugimoto’s homer tied him for the PL lead with SoftBank’s Yuki Yangita and Lotte’s Leonys Martin.
Tyler Higgins worked a scoreless eighth for the Pacific League leaders. Closer Yoshihisa Hirano closed it out, after surrendering Brandon Taiga Tysinger’s second homer, for his 10th save as the Buffaloes moved two games clear of the second-place Rakuten Eagles.
Marines vs Eagles
At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, rained out.
Swallows 9, Dragons 3
At Nagoya‘sVantelin Dome, the top two spots in Yakult’s order, Yasutaka Shiomi and Norichika Aoki combined for three doubles, two singles, a walk, five runs and four RBIs. Jose Osuna chipped in three singles and Domingo Santana singled and doubled as the Swallows bashed Yuya Yanagi (6-4) for five runs over four innings.
Dayan Viciedo hit his 12th home run for the Dragons, who scored three runs off Keiji Takahashi in 3-2/3 innings but couldn’t make a dent against the Yakult bullpen.
The Swallows moved to within 2-1/2 games of the idle second-place Giants, and four games of the Central League-leading Tigers.
Carp 7, Tigers 1
At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, if you missed Seiya Suzuki’s second inning, you missed this whole game.
Suzuki recorded two of the three outs in the top of the inning. He then opened the scoring in the home half with his 12th homer, a leadoff shot off Hanshin’s Yuki Nishi (4-5), capped the scoring in the rally with a three-run bases-loaded double, and ended the inning by being thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a triple
Rookie Carp lefty Shogo Tamamura (2-3) allowed a run over seven innings to earn the win.
BayStars vs Giants
At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, rained out.
Starting pitchers
Pacific League
Fighters vs Hawks: Okinawa Cellular Field 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
