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NPB Wrap 5-21-21

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Carp schedule gutted by COVID-19

The Hiroshima Carp’s three-game series at Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium starting Friday has been postponed due to the effects of the coronavirus, NPB announced.

The Central League team announced Friday night that five new players, including regular veterans Hisayoshi Chono and Seiya Suzuki, had tested positive as well as one coach and one other member of the team’s staff. Three players tested positive Sunday and did not travel with the club to Tokyo for the two-game series against the Yomiuri Giants.

Eagles 11, Marines 6

At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, the Pacific League-leading Rakuten Eagles blew open a close game with a five-run fifth inning, capped by Hiroaki Shimauchi’s sixth home run, a three-run shot off Lotte starter Ayumu Ishikawa (2-2), who gave up six runs over five innings.

With a six-run lead to work with, former Marine Hideaki Wakui (5-2) allowed four runs in the sixth, three coming on Brandon Laird’s ninth home run. Laird walked but also contributed to the Eagles’ fifth-inning rally.

With the leadoff man on and a 1-0 lead, the Eagles sacrificed to play for the next run, but Laird failed to charge on the bunt, turning it into an infield single and help power the big inning.

Takero Okajima opened the scoring in the fourth, when he tripled home Hideto Asamura in the wind and rain. Asamura singled in the first two runs in the fifth, while Okajima singled in the first of two runs in the seventh after Lotte made it a 6-4 game.

Former Marines captain Daichi Suzuki reached base five times, scored three runs and put an exclamation point on the win with a two-run homer, his first of the season.

Lions 7, Fighters 1

At MetLife Dome, Seibu’s Kona Takahashi (5-0) scattered six hits and three walks to allow one run over seven innings, and the Lions broke a 1-1 tie with a five-run fifth, when they chased rookie lefty Hiromi Ito (1-4), who got the kind of run support he’s become accustomed to.

Takeya Nakamura doubled in two runs to break the tie, while Wu Nien-ting singled in one more and Cory Spangenberg doubled in another. Hotaka Yamakawa hit his fourth home run for the Lions.

Two of the games’ big plays occurred in left field, where, according to one analyst, both Cory Spangenberg and Haruki Nishikawa, didn’t know where to play. — This article is paid content. If you are unable to see it, please consider subscribing to unlock more insight, news and all the other content on the site.

BayStars 5, Swallows 3

At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, DeNA’s Taiki Sekine, who as expected has been relegated to dish-washing or some other glorious duties but remains one of my favorite BayStars due to his superb track record on the farm, sparked a ninth-inning rally with a two-out pinch-hit single off Yakult closer Taichi Ishiyama (0-3).

Masayuki Kuwahara singled and both scored on a Yamato Maeda double. Former closer Yasuaki Yamasaki (3-1) earned the win after allowing the Swallows to tie it in the eighth, while incumbent closer Kazuki Mishima retired the meat of Yakult’s order in the ninth to earn his sixth save.

Rick van den Hurk made his Central League debut and had his first hit in Japan, while allowing three runs in four innings. New DeNA import Fernando Romero also had a rough go of it, allowing two runs, one earned, in three innings. Tyler Austin doubled twice, scoring DeNA’s first run and driving in the second, and Edwin Escobar pitched a scoreless seventh against the middle of the order to protect a 3-2 lead.

Dragons 1, Giants 1

At Nagoya‘s Vantelin Dome, Chunichi banged out eight hits and drew five walks but stranded 11 runners, twice leaving the bases loaded and allowing Yomiuri to walk away with a tie.

With captain Hayato Sakamoto out with a broken hand, Taishi Hirooka slid into his spot to start at shortstop – although not head-first one supposes. The infielder, acquired in the preseason trade from the Yakult Swallows that sent underappreciated lefty Kazuto Taguchi to Jingu Stadium, homered off Yudai Ono in the fifth. Seishu Hatake went 6-1/3 innings for Yomiuri, leaving after Akira Neo doubled and scored on a Yohei Oshima triple.

Carp vs Tigers, postponed, coronavirus

Starting pitchers

Pacific League

Lions vs Fighters: MetLife Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Wataru Matsumoto (3-3, 2.63) vs Drew VerHagen (1-3, 5.59)

Marines vs Eagles: Zozo Marine Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Manabu Mima (2-2, 3.86) vs Masahiro Tanaka (2-3, 3.19)

Hawks vs Buffaloes: PayPay Dome 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT

Nick Martinez (2-1, 2.00) vs Daiki Tajima (2-1, 2.61)

Central League

Swallows vs BayStars: Jingu Stadium 5:30 pm, 4:30 am EDT

Yasuhiro Ogawa (3-1, 4.19) vs Haruhiro Hamaguchi (2-3, 3.60)

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

Yariel Rodriguez (0-0, 1.35) vs Angel Sanchez (3-2, 4.26)

Active roster moves 5/21/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 5/31

Central League

Activated

GiantsP12Rubby De La Rosa
GiantsP35Toshiki Sakurai
GiantsP92Shohei Numata
DragonsP22Yudai Ono
SwallowsP15Rick van den Hurk
SwallowsOF49Daiki Watanabe

Dectivated

DragonsP46Hiroshi Suzuki
CarpIF69Ryutaro Hatsuki
CarpOF1Seiya Suzuki
CarpOF5Hisayoshi Chono
SwallowsC33Soma Uchiyama

Pacific League

Activated

FightersC60Takuya Kori

Dectivated

None

Baseball, Free, News

NPB wrap 5-9-21

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Okamoto goes boom

Giants 7, Swallows 5

At Tokyo Dome, Kazuma Okamoto, the Central League’s 2020 home run and RBI leader, made up for helping to kill a couple of early Yomiuri rallies by homering in the eighth to make it a one-run game and ending it with a three-run walk-off shot against Yakult closer Taichi Ishiyama (0-2).

New Swallows import Cy Sneed allowed three runs in four-plus innings in his Japan debut, while Giants lefty Nobutaka Imamura allowed a run in 5-2/3 innings.

Zelous Wheeler had two hits for the Giants, while Domingo Santana singled in a run in the eighth, when the Swallows scored four to take Sneed off the hook.

Giants-Swallows highlights

Tigers 3, BayStars 2

At Yokohama Stadium, 39-year-old former Japan international Yoshio Itoi got his second start of the season for Hanshin and did what he did in his first start on Friday, homer. His two-run shot capped a three-run Tigers fifth off Michael Peoples (1-1), who had retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced.

Rookie wunderkind Teruaki Sato opened the fifth with a walk, scored the tying run on a Jerry Sands double, and Itoi put the CL leaders in front. Joe Gunkel started for the Tigers and allowed a run in three innings, but after having runners on second and third with no outs in the BayStars’ scoreless third – following a leadoff double by Peoples,  the right-hander left the game.

Gunkel is set to be deactivated on Monday with what appears to be stiffness in his right shoulder.

Hanshin’s bullpen, allowed one run over the final five innings, a homer from leadoff man Masayuki Kuwahara, who doubled and scored the game’s opening run in the first, but that was it. Robert Suarez recorded his ninth save.

Neftali Soto doubled twice for DeNA but was stranded both times.

Dragons 2, Carp 0

At Nagoya’s Vantelin Dome, Chunichi’s Yuya Yanagi (3-1) allowed two hits and a walk – all with two outs in the third inning, but struck out 11. Dayan Viciedo broke up the scoreless game with his fifth home run, a two-run shot in the fourth, and Raidel Martinez pitched around a pair of one-out ninth-inning singles to record his fifth save.

Yanagi’s 1.72 ERA is .01 back of the league leader, Yuki Takahashi of the Giants, while the Dragons right-hander leads the CL in innings, 47, strikeouts, 58, and WHIP, 0.77.

Hawks 3, Lions 1

At Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome, Yuki Yanagita doubled and scored SoftBank’s first run in 21 innings to tie it in the sixth off Seibu’s Katsunori Hirai, and then singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh. SoftBank starter Yuki Matsumoto allowed the first two runners to reach in each of the first two innings but retired the next nine hitters and his bullpen colleagues maintained that pace with Livan Moinelo getting his third save.

Eagles 6, Fighters 3

At Sapporo Dome, Ryosuke Tatsumi hit a game-tying fifth-inning home run off former teammate Takahide Ikeda (2-4), and kick started Rakuten’s three-run sixth with a one-out infield single as Eagles’ rookie Takahisa Hayakawa (4-2) earned the win after allowing two runs over five innings.

Four walks lost it for Ikeda, traded to Nippon Ham in March, allowed three runs, two earned, in 4-2/3 innings. Fighters lefty Ryusei Kawano struck out Brandon Dixon to leave the bases loaded in the fifth, but first-year import Robbie Erlin let the game get away with three runs over two innings.

Taiwan’s Wang Po-jung doubled, singled and walked in the No. 3 spot for the Fighters, making the third straight game he’s looked like the guy they expected to see in 2019 after they signed him via the posting system.

Rakuten lefty Yuki Matsui worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his ninth save, making him the 16th player with 150 career saves.

Marines 7, Buffaloes 4

At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, Leonys Martin spearheaded the Lotte Marines counterattack after Kazuya Ojima (1-1) allowed three runs in the first. Ojima went five innings, and the Marines bullpen allowed a run over the final four, with closer Naoya Masuda notching his eighth save.

Orix starter Hirotoshi Masui (1-4) gave up five runs, four earned, in 3-2/3 innings. Back-to-back first-inning doubles by Takashi Ogino and Martin made it 3-1, and Brandon Laird’s two-out single plated Martin. Lotte tied it in the second on reserve catcher Tomoya Kakinuma’s first home run and scored with the help of an error in the third to take the lead.

Active roster moves 5/9/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 5/19

Central League

Activated

CarpC40Yoshitaka Isomura
SwallowsP28Daiki Yoshida
SwallowsP54Cy Sneed

Dectivated

DragonsP22Yudai Ono
CarpC22Shosei Nakamura

Pacific League

Activated

None

Dectivated

HawksIF27Yurisbel Gracial