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NPB 2020 8-14 GAMES AND NEWS

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Yanagita does it again

Sachiya Yamasaki (2-2) was pitching a heck of a game until he tried to get out of the eighth inning with a 2-2 inside fastball to Yuki Yanagita, who drilled it well back in the right-field stands for a three-run homer as the SoftBank Hawks beat the Orix Buffaloes 4-1 in the Pacific League on Saturday afternoon.

Yamasaki had allowed a run in the first on a Yanagita double and an Akira Nakamura single. But the lefty cruised through the next six innings before issuing his first walk to open the eighth. With two outs, he walked Seiji Uebayashi to bring up Yanagita. The lefty started him away to get to 2-2 before trying to surprise Yanagita inside.

The only surprise was in how far Yanagita’s 15th homer of the year traveled.

Yanagita said he was looking for something away, but he never even flinched in that direction and cranked the belt-high pitch on the inside edge well back into the right-field stands.

Hawks starter Nao Higashihama also allowed a run in the first, on doubles by Yuma Mune and Masataka Yoshida. He pitched out of a third-inning jam after Adam Jones lined out to short for the second out with two men on.

The right-hander appeared to have ruptured a blister since there were bloody smudges on his uniform pants when he walked off the mound for the last time. He allowed four hits and four walks while striking out six.

Takahiro Okada doubled off Yuki Tsumori to open the sixth, and the right-hander issued a one-out walk, but the Buffaloes ended the inning on the bases when Okada took off for home when catcher Takuya Kai faked a throw to second on a delayed double steal.

This play, and the incessant sacrifice bunting when trailing by a one or two on the road are two of the Buffaloes trademarks.

Rei Takahashi worked a scoreless seventh, and lefty Shinya Kayama did the same in the eighth to earn the win in relief. Closer Yuito Mori allowed two no-out singles in the ninth but retired the next three hitters to record his 13th save.

Marines rout Fighters

This game was over after a six-run third gave the Lotte Marines an 11-0 lead over the Nippon Ham Fighters in a game that finished 12-5 at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium.

With a huge lead, Lotte ace Ayumu Ishikawa pitched to the score, avoiding walks and giving up five runs on nine hits over six innings as he improved to 3-2.

Lions crush Eagles bullpen in slugfest

This game started from the fourth inning after both Opening Day starters were gone and the game was tied 6-6 as the Seibu Lions crushed the Rakuten Eagles bullpen for seven more runs in a 13-8 win at MetLife Dome outside Tokyo.

The Eagles’ Eigoro Mogi, who homered in each of his first two at-bats, fired the first shot in the fourth. Daichi Suzuki tripled off Tatsuya Imai (3-3) and Mogi plated him for the third time, this time with a single.

Corey Spangenberg tied it with the third of the Lions seven hits in a six-run fifth. Yuji Kaneko singled in the tie-breaking run, and Wataru Takagi drove in his second run of the game. The rookie leadoff man had three hits and scored three times for Seibu.

Rookie Morishita shuts out Tigers

Masato Morishita (4-2), the HIroshima Carp’s top pick in last autumn’s draft, struck out 12 without issuing a walk in a two-hit 6-0 win over the Hanshin Tigers at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome.

Hanshin right-hander Shintaro Fujinami (0-4) allowed six runs on eight hits and four walks over six innings while striking out six.

The Carp took a three-run first-inning lead after back-to-back singles by Ryoma Nishikawa and rookie Ryutaro Hatsuki. Seiya Suzuki singled in one run, and Ryuhei Matsuyama doubled in two more.

With Carp leading 4-0 in the sixth, the Tigers filled first base with an intentional walk to get out of the inning against Morishita, but the rookie hit a grounder past the third-base bag for a two-run double.

Nakajima ices Dragons with 200th career HR

Hiroyuki Nakajima homered for the second-straight day, his three-run shot putting the finishing touches on the Yomiuri Giants’ 6-1 win over the Chunichi Dragons at Tokyo Dome.

Singles by Hayato Sakamoto and Gerardo Parra set up the hosts’ score in the first off lefty Takahiro Matsuba (2-3). Sakamoto came home when Zelous Wheeler grounded out. Wheeler made it 3-0 in the third with his fifth homer.

Giants starter Shosei Togo (5-2) struck out seven over 5-2/3 scoreless innings, and Nakajima put the game out of reach with a three-run shot in the sixth off Luis Gonazalez. The home run was the 200th of his career.

Onuki outduels Swallows rookie

Shinichi Onuki (5-2) held the Yakult Swallows to a run over 5-2/3 innings in a close duel with Swallows rookie Daiki Yoshida before the DeNA BayStars blew this one open against the visitors’ bullpen in a 6-2 win at Yokohama Stadium.

Yoshida (1-2) allowed two runs over six innings, but Onuki only allowed three hits and a walk. Yakult’s run off him came from a mammoth blast from 20-year-old Munetaka Murakami, who hit it well up into the right-field wing seats that were installed before last season.

BayStars captain Keita Sano singled home leadoff man Kazuki Kamizato in the first, and Kamizato doubled in a run in the second. Kamizato reached base four times and scored twice.

Spencer Patton and Edwin Escobar each worked a scoreless inning of relief for the BayStars. The game got out of hand for the visitors in the seventh after right-hander Scott McGough walked two batters and hit one.

He surrendered a sac fly to Sano for the second out. Lefty Masato Nakazato came on and failed to retire any of the three batters he faced.

Active roster moves 8/14/2020

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 8/24

Central League

Activated

TigersP67Suguru Iwazaki
CarpP98Emailin Montilla
DragonsP29Daisuke Yamai
DragonsP98Yusuke Kinoshita
DragonsOF42Zoilo Almonte

Dectivated

SwallowsIF60Ryusei Takeoka

Pacific League

Activated

LionsP40Ichiro Tamura
LionsC37Sena Tsuge
LionsOF7Yuji Kaneko

Dectivated

LionsP36Sho Ito
LionsP44Kaito Yoza
LionsOF72Seiji Kawagoe

Starting pitchers for Friday, Aug. 14, 2020

Pacific League

Lions vs Eagles: MetLife Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Wataru Matsumoto (1-3, 6.11) vs Takahiro Shiomi (3-3, 3.67)

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

Kota Futaki (1-1, 7.71) vs Kohei Arihara (1-5, 4.82)

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

Akira Niho (3-3, 4.71) vs Kazumasa Yoshida (1-0, 4.19)

Central League

Giants vs Dragons: Tokyo Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT

Kazuto Taguchi (2-1, 3.60) vs Yariel Rodriguez (0-0, 2.84)

BayStars vs Swallows: Yokohama Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Shota Imanaga (5-2, 2.90) vs Yasuhiro Ogawa (4-2, 4.07)

Tigers vs Carp: Kyocera Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Yuki Nishi (2-3, 2.44) vs Daichi Osera (4-1, 2.66)

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NPB 2020 8-9 games and news

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Former Tiger VerHagen wins 3rd straight

Drew VerHagen struck out 10 over seven innings to win his third-straight start after Sho Nakata broke a 1-1 tie with a third-inning RBI single in the Nippon Ham Fighters’ 2-1 victory over the Seibu Lions at Sapporo Dome on Sunday.

With Ryo Watanabe on second after a leadoff double, Nakata singled on the second pitch he saw from Lions right-hander Keisuke Honda (0-4). It was the second run of the game for Watanabe, who singled with one out in the bottom of the first and scored the tying run after singles by Kensuke Kondo and Taishi Ota.

Shuta Tonosaki put the Lions in front in the first with a two-out solo homer in the first. The right-handed hitter barreled up a two-seamer on the inside edge and pulled it down the line for his second homer of the year.

After the Fighters tied it in the bottom of the first, center fielder Haruki Nishikawa helped ensure it stayed tied by robbing No. 9 hitter Shohei Suzuki of a leadoff double in the top of the third.

VerHagen (4-1) allowed five hits but did not issue a walk. Left-handed bullpen workhorse Naoki Miyanishi pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, and side-arm right-hander Ryo Akiyoshi did the same in the ninth to earn his 10th save.

Honda allowed two runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out one. Lions cleanup hitter Hotaka Yamakawa, hurt his right ankle when he stumbled out of an awkward swinging third strike to end the first inning. He was helped off the field and received treatment. He appeared to run without trouble in the field, but struck out in his next two at-bats and was pinch-hit for in the ninth.

Nakamura 3 relievers blank sluggish Buffaloes

Rookie lefty Toshiya Nakamura worked six scoreless innings to outduel Andrew Albers, who surrendered Leonys Martin’s third home run in three games in the Lotte Marines’ 4-0 win over the Orix Buffaloes at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome.

With Adam Jones out of the lineup for the first time this season due to discomfort in his right heal, Torai Fushimi took over the DH duties and went 0-4, ending three innings with one or more runners on.

Nakamura (1-0), the Marines’ fifth draft pick in 2018 scattered four walks and a hit, and faced only one serious challenge, when he got Fushimi to ground out to end the sixth with two men on.

Albers (2-4) looked sharp from the outset, but in the fourth inning, Martin launched a lazy 2-2 slider that missed over the plate and hit it over the center field wall for his 11th home run.

Yuki Karakawa worked a 1-2-3 seventh for the Marines, but Frank Herrmann tempted disaster in the eighth.

Kenya Wakatsuki put a perfect swing on a low first-pitch knuckle curve, looped it over short toward the gap in left and legged out a leadoff double. After failing to get a bunt down, Shuhei Fukuda avoided being rung out on a fastball that missed the outside edge by quite a bit – a location that has been a called strike on lots of batters this year – and walked on eight pitches.

Manager Norifumi Nishimura’s predictable sacrifice followed, but Lotte manager Tadahito Iguchi opted to fill the bases with one out by walking slugger Masataka Yoshida. It should have backfired, but third baseman Hisanori Yasuda made a good play to retire Takahiro Okada on a foul fly after he overran the ball. Herrmann fell behind 3-1 to Fushimi, who swung at two fastballs at the letters that umpire Tetsuya Shimada had been calling balls all day.

The Buffaloes tried the same intentional walk trick in the top of the ninth, walking Martin to load the bases with one out, but Yasuda, the Marines cleanup hitter, delivered a two-run double, and Ikuhiro Kiyota “singled” in another run on a pop fly over second that put the “blooper” in blooper reel.

Hawks bullpen finally holds off Eagles

A bullpen day is nothing to cheer for against the SoftBank Hawks, as the Rakuten Eagles found out in a 5-0 loss at Sendai’s Raktuen Seimei Park Miyagi as four pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout that left the two teams tied for the Pacific League lead.

Lefty Shunsuke Kasaya started and went three innings, while Yugo Bando (2-1) worked four innings to earn the win. Setup man Livan Moinelo and closer Yuito Mori finished up.

Eagles starter Yuya Fukui (0-1), the No. 1 draft pick of the Hiroshima Carp in 2010, took the tough loss after allowing a run on two hits and a walk over 5-2/3 innings while striking out six.

Hawks catcher Takuya Kai doubled in the in the sixth and scored on a wild pitch. Yuki Yanagita hit a fat pitch nearly as far as one can in the eighth to drive in an insurance run, and Kai hit a three-run home run in the ninth.

Giants comeback to salvage tie

On the back foot against first-team debutant Yariel Rodriguez and some good defensive plays by the Chunichi Dragons, the Yomiuri Giants tied it in a two-run seventh in their 2-2 10-inning tie at Nagoya Dome.

Toshiki Abe homered with one out and one on in the first off right-hander Ryosuke MIyaguni, who was making the start on a bullpen day. The Giants relievers, however, shut down the hosts for the rest of the game, allowing the hitters to finally score off Rodriguez.

Making good use of a good fastball and slider, the 23-year-old Cuban allowed three runs to reach through the first six innings, all on walks. He didn’t allow a hit until back-to-back one-out doubles by Takumi Oshiro and Zelous Wheeler. Lefty Toshiya Okada walked the only batter he faced.

Setup man Daisuke Sobue allowed Wheeler to score after a single loaded the bases and veteran left-handed hitter Yoshiyuki Kamei delivered a sacrifice fly on a pitch headed for the dirt.

Rodriguez allowed two hits and three walks while striking out eight over 6-1/3 innings.

The tie ended a run of three-straight losses by the Giants.

Kuramoto slam powers DeNA shutout

Toshihiko Kuramoto hit a first-inning grand slam, his first home run in two years, and Kentaro Taira (3-2) worked seven innings as the DeNA BayStars beat the Yakult Swallows 4-0 at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium.

Kuramoto capped a first-inning rally off submarine right-hander Hirofumi Yamanaka (0-1), who lasted four innings.

Taira allowed four hits and a walk while striking out six. Spencer Patton and Edwin Escobar each supplied one perfect inning of relief to close it out.

Oyama, Akiyama lead Tigers over Carp

Cleanup hitter Yusuke Oyama doubled, tripled, homered, scored two runs and drove in two, while Takumi Aoyama (4-1) allowed a run over six innings in the Hanshin Tigers’ 5-1 win over the Hiroshima Carp at Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium.

Oyama broke the ice in the second, when he doubled to open the inning against 21-year-old right-hander Atsushi Endo (2-2) and scored on a bases-loaded groundout.

After the Carp tied it, the Tigers took the lead for good in the third. Seiya Kinami doubled and Oyama tripled him home. Oyama homered in the eighth to make it 3-1.

Endo allowed two runs over five innings on three hits and four walks, while Akiyama gave up one hit and walked three.

The Carp loaded the bases in the ninth with one out against closer Robert Suarez, but could not score.

Buffs’ Jones out of lineup for 1st time

Adam Jones sat out the Orix Buffaloes’ game against the Lotte Marines on Sunday, marking the first time this season was not in the lineup. According to the Nikkan Sports, Jones came out of Saturday’s game after the fifth inning due to discomfort in his right heel.

He was not examined at a hospital and is expected to play against the Hawks in Fukuoka from Tuesday.

Active roster moves 8/9/2020

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 8/19

Central League

Activated

TigersP46Takumi Akiyama
DragonsP67Yariel Rodriguez
SwallowsP13Hikaru Nakao
SwallowsP69Ryuta Konno

Dectivated

SwallowsP61Takuma Kubo

Pacific League

Activated

BuffaloesP22Ryota Muranishi
BuffaloesP27Andrew Albers

Dectivated

FightersP27Nick Martinez
BuffaloesP30Kohei ”K” Suzuki

Starting pitchers for Monday, Aug. 10, 2020

Central League

BayStars vs Tigers: Yokohama Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Yuta Muto (0-0, 6.75) vs Yuta Iwasada (2-1, 3.41)

Carp vs Dragons: Mazda Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Allen Kuri (1-2, 4.91) vs Shinnosuke Ogasawara (-)