Enter the Sands man
Jerry Sands’ 17th home run of the season overturned a one-run seventh-inning deficit and Robert Suarez recorded a four-out save as the Hanshin Tigers beat the DeNA BayStars 8-7 at Yokohama Stadium on Thursday.
Sands, who lead South Korea’s KBO in RBIs last season, had three for the game, with one out and a man on in the seventh, he drove the first pitch he saw from big right-hander Yuki Kuniyoshi (3-3) for his third home run in six games.
The Tigers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third against Michael Peoples, who surrendered a leadoff single to Tigers starting pitcher Yukiya Saito. Tigers captain Kento Itohara’s infield single brought one run in, and Sands’ sac fly made it 2-0.
The BayStars tied it in the home half when they loaded the bases with no outs following a leadoff single by the No. 9 hitter, catcher Yasutaka Tobashira. Saito struck out Neftali Soto, the two-time defending Central League home run king, with no outs and the bags juiced, but a flare single and a sac fly tied it.
Saito was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the third, and Naomasa Yokawa delivered a three-run homer, only for the hosts to get two back on solo homers in the home half. Tobashira, who homered in the fourth, singled with a man on in the sixth to set the table for a three-run outburst against Joe Gunkel (1-2).
Soto’s two-run single put the BayStars up for the first time, but Gunkel earned the win after Sands turned things around in the seventh.
With one on and two out in the eighth, Suarez was called in to face Soto, and retired all four batters he faced to earn his 14th save.
Morishita earns 6th win
Rookie right-hander Masato Morishita (6-2) allowed a run over seven innings and Ryosuke Kikuchi broke up a tie game with an RBI double in the Hiroshima Carp’s 2-1 win over the Yakult Swallows at Mazda Stadium.
Morishita allowed five hits and a walk while walking one and striking out seven. The Swallows’ run came on Tomotaka Sakaguchi’s game-tying leadoff homer in the sixth.
“He has a good variety of pitchers, allowing him to navigate through the opposing batting order,” Swallows manager Shingo Takatsu said. “It’s great for a first-year pitcher to see so many batters, because I got the sense he was reading swings as he pitched.”
Seiya Suzuki doubled and scored on a Hisayoshi Chono single against Swallows lefty Keiji Takahashi in the fourth. Kikuchi broke the tie against Scott McGough (3-1) after Minoru Omori opened the inning with a leadoff pinch-hit double.
Geronimo Franzua worked the ninth to record his eighth save.
Dragons tie Giants, put Hara on hold
Naoki Yoshikawa tripled in two runs to eighth-inning runs for the Yomiuri Giants, and reliever Kota Nakagawa surrendered just one run after the Chunichi Dragons loaded the bases with one out in the eighth in their 2-2 10-inning tie at Nagoya Dome.
The tie prevented Giants manager Tatsunori Hara from earning his 1,067th career win that would move him out of a tie for the most in franchise history with Tetsuharu Kawakami, who managed the Giants to nine-straight Japan Series titles from 1965 to 1973.
Hara had praise for the left-hander who issued two one-out walks to load the bases, but allowed only one run to score on a ground out.
“It was amazing he kept them from doing more, considering he walked two and must have been questioning his command. Holding them to one run was really something,” Hara said.
First-year Giants import Angel Sanchez allowed a run over seven innings. Rubby De La Rosa worked the ninth, while Yuhei Takanashi shut the Dragons down in the 10th, when the game was called a tie.
NOTE: The story originally said Hara was second in managing wins with the Giants. Former Giants manager Shigeru Mizuhara had nearly 500 more wins in his career, but only 881 of those came with the Giants.
Yanagita pours it on Eagles
Yuki Yanagita brought the SoftBank Hawks from behind with a three-run third-inning home run, and added another for good measure in a 4-2 win over the Rakuten Eagles that was twice delayed by rain at Sendai’s Raktuen Seimei Park Miyagi.
Trailing 2-0 to lefty Yuki Matsui in the third inning, a walk by Keizo Kawashima and an Akira Nakamura single brought Yanagita to the plate with one out and runners on the corners. Matsui missed in the heart of the zone with a decent 1-0 fastball and Yangita drove it out to left for an opposite field home run, his 21st of the season.
The game, which started 37 minutes late, was suspended again for 55 minutes with one out and two on in the bottom of the seventh.
Rookie Masami Iwami, who had opened the scoring with his first career home run faced lefty Livan Moinelo and grounded into a double play. The 26-year-old Iwami, the Eagles’ second pick in the 2017 draft, took SoftBank starter Nao Higashihama deep to lead off the second.
With two outs in the inning, rookie shortstop Hiroto Kobukata doubled and scored on a Daichi Suzuki single. Higashihama, who allowed four runners to reach in the first but no runs, left after five, having allowed six hits and four walks.
Former San Diego Padres right-hander Kazuhisa Makita took the mound for the Eagles in the eighth, and with two outs, surrendered Yanagita’s second home run.
Jones hits’ Japan’s magic milestone
Although he’s only played a few months here, the Orix Buffaloes happily celebrated Adam Jones’ reaching Japan’s iconic 2,000-hit milestone in their 12-4 win over the Seibu Lions at MetLife Dome outside Tokyo.
Jones entered the game with 1,939 career major league hits and 59 in the Pacific League for the Buffaloes. His second hit of the game, an RBI double was his 2,000th, which is in Japan — with it’s shorter seasons — what 3,000 is in the majors.
Only one imported player has ever had 2,000 hits in Japan, DeNA BayStars manager Alex Ramirez. Second on that list is Tuffy Rhodes with 1,792.
Two nights after they were one-hit, the Buffaloes cranked out 16 hits in the one-sided win. Corey Spangenberg hit his 10th home run for the Lions. The first-year import also hit his Japan-best 21st double. Spangenberg also leads both leagues with six triples.
Nakata hits 250th HR in Fighters’ win
Sho Nakata became the 64th player to reach 250 home runs in Japan when he capped a three-run first inning with his 24th of the season in the Nippon Ham Fighters’ 5-3 win over the Lotte Marines at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium.
Marines right-hander Daiki Iwashita (4-5) allowed four runs over six innings to take the loss. He gave up five hits and a walk while striking out eight.
Former Cleveland Indians farmhand Toru Murata (1-1) struck out two over two perfect innings of relief to earn his first win in two years. Nick Martinez struck out three and walked two in a scoreless ninth to earn his first save in Japan. His only other save came with the Single-A Hickory Crawdads in 2012.
Active roster moves 9/10/2020
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 9/20
Central League
Activated
| Tigers | P | 48 | Yukiya Saito |
| Carp | OF | 37 | Takayoshi Noma |
| Swallows | C | 32 | Naoki Matsumoto |
Dectivated
| Tigers | IF | 00 | Hiroki Uemoto |
| Carp | IF | 45 | Tatsuki Kuwahara |
| Swallows | P | 68 | Hirofumi Yamanaka |
| Swallows | C | 52 | Yuhei Nakamura |
Pacific League
Activated
| Hawks | P | 16 | Nao Higashihama |
| Hawks | P | 49 | Yuto Furuya |
| Marines | C | 53 | Naoya Emura |
| Buffaloes | P | 21 | Daichi Takeyasu |
Dectivated
| Hawks | P | 21 | Tsuyoshi Wada |
| Hawks | P | 48 | Yuta Watanabe |
| Marines | C | 22 | Tatsuhiro Tamura |
Starting pitchers for Sept. 11, 2020
Pacific League
Eagles vs Fighters: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Ryota Ishibashi (1-3, 7.71) vs Kosei Yoshida (-)
Marines vs Buffaloes: Zozo Marine Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Toshiya Nakamura (1-2, 4.50) vs Taisuke Yamaoka (0-2, 4.15)
Hawks vs Lions: PayPay Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Matt Moore (1-1, 2.61) vs Zach Neal (3-4, 4.76)
Central League
Giants vs Swallows: Tokyo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shosei Togo (7-3, 2.50) vs Albert Suarez (2-0, 0.53)
BayStars vs Dragons: Yokohama Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shoichi Ino (5-3, 3.08) vs Yuya Yanagi (2-4, 3.30)
Tigers vs Carp: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yuki Nishi (5-3, 2.57) vs Hiroki Tokoda (1-4, 6.04)
