On the run on Saturday
To be honest, today I ran my first half-marathon since 2005 and didn’t see much baseball Saturday or Sunday.
All I know is Shun Tono of the Yomiuri Giants had mysterious leg injury and left a no-hitter after six innings and 99 pitches in a 4-0 interleague win over the Lions at Seibu Dome on Saturday.
Tightness in his left leg was the reason Tono (8-1) left the mound, but without an evaluation, the team said he isn’t expected to miss his next start.
The Giants came out on Sunday and shut down the Lions again, Ken Nishimura (4-2) and four relievers held the Pacific League leaders to a run on seven hits in a 5-1 victory over the Pacific League’s top team.
Yomiuri finally beat nemisis Takayuki Kishi (7-3), who had won four decisions in five career games, including Japan Series action, against the Giants. He allowed five runs before departing in the seventh inning.
Michihiro Ogasawara, who had missed time recently after getting hit by a pitch, became the 24th player to reach the 350-homer plateau when he took one out with the bases empty in the first inning.
Alex Ramirez also hit his CL-best 18th longball and drove in four.
MARINES 1, BAYSTARS 0
Tomoya Satozaki hit Lotte’s first walk-off homer in a 1-0 win since 2000 to beat Yokohama in 11 innings at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Yokohama hasn’t scored in 27 consecutive innings.
EAGLES 4, CARP 2
Masahiro Tanaka (7-3) worked his third complete game this season, the 15th of his career, pitching around 12 hits and two walks to frustrate Hiroshima at the Kleenex Box.
Teppei Tsuchiya had two hits and an RBI.
Buffaloes 3, SWALLOWS 1
Shogo Yamamoto (4-2) allowed two hits, two walks and hit a batter over 6.1 one-run innings, and Takahiro T.O. Okada’s scoring flyball in the eighth proved to be the difference as Orix downed Yakult at Skymark Stadium.
HAWKS 6, DRAGONS 5
Munenori Kawasaki hit a walk-off single to left in the 11th inning as SoftBank edged Chunichi at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
TIGERS 3, FIGHTERS 2
Takahiro Arai’s sac fly in the 11th inning gave Hanshin a win over Nippon Ham at Sapporo Dome.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Nothing to show for it ...
Junji Ogawa took over on the bench for the Yakult Swallows and at least they didn’t lose.
The Rakuten Eagles’ Ryo Hijirisawa’s RBI single evened the score at 3-3, and it stayed that way for 12 innings on Thursday at Jingu Stadium. Yakult had lost nine straight coming in and have yet to win in interleague action.
Daisuke Kusano followed with a double, but Hijirisawa didn’t score, and neither team could put up a run in extra innings. The Eagles loaded the bases in the 12th inning, but Takeshi Yamasaki grounded out to end the inning.
The Swallows put two on in the bottom of the frame, but Masakazu Fukukawa grounded out to end the game.
Ogawa didn’t make wholesale changes to the lineup, and it only produced a three-run seventh inning, with the help of three walks. Ryuji Aikawa’s bases-loaded double was all the offense the Swallows could muster.
The Eagles outhit the Swallows 9-6, last year’s batting champ Teppei Tsuchiya leading the way with three hits.
Before the game, Swallows closer Lim Chong Yang was deactivated because of bad knee, and Takehiko Oshimoto gave up the tying run in the ninth.
GIANTS 5, HAWKS 2
Yoshinobu Takahashi blasted a pair of solo homers and Shugo Fujii (4-1) worked seven quiet innings, allowing just three hits and a walk, as Yomiuri stopped a three-game interleague skid to SoftBank.
Hisayoshi Chono chipped in with a two-run single in a three-run first that proved to be enough scoring for Fujii.
BUFFALOES 4, BAYSTARS 1
Tomotaka Sakaguchi had two hits and two RBIs from the No. 9 hole, and righty Chihiro Kaneko (4-4), who batted eighth, allowed one run -- none earned -- over 6.2 innings as Orix won at Yokohama.
T.O. (Takahiro Okada) put the B’s on top in the sixth with an RBI double after Mitsutaka Goto doubled in the tying run.
CARP 3, MARINES 0
Kenta Maeda (8-2) scattered four hits and four walks over eight innings, and Akihiro Higashide had three hits and an RBI as Hiroshima blanked Lotte at the Zoom.
Maeda is already one win from his career best -- in 19 games in 2008 -- in victories in a season.
LIONS 6, TIGERS 1
Hideaki Wakui (6-3) pitched out of trouble over eight innings, holding Hanshin to a run on five hits and four walks, and Hiroyuki Nakajima had two hits and two RBIs as Seibu swept its two-game set at Koshien Stadium.
Nakajima is tied for the PL lead in batting with a .360 average.
FIGHTERS 9, DRAGONS 5
Rookie right-hander Hirotoshi Masui (3-2) held the Dragons to six hits, and a walk while hitting a batter over six innings as Nippon Ham downed Chunichi in Kanazawa.
Yoshio Itoi had three hits and two RBIs to lead Nippon Ham’s 16-hit attack.
The Rakuten Eagles’ Ryo Hijirisawa’s RBI single evened the score at 3-3, and it stayed that way for 12 innings on Thursday at Jingu Stadium. Yakult had lost nine straight coming in and have yet to win in interleague action.
Daisuke Kusano followed with a double, but Hijirisawa didn’t score, and neither team could put up a run in extra innings. The Eagles loaded the bases in the 12th inning, but Takeshi Yamasaki grounded out to end the inning.
The Swallows put two on in the bottom of the frame, but Masakazu Fukukawa grounded out to end the game.
Ogawa didn’t make wholesale changes to the lineup, and it only produced a three-run seventh inning, with the help of three walks. Ryuji Aikawa’s bases-loaded double was all the offense the Swallows could muster.
The Eagles outhit the Swallows 9-6, last year’s batting champ Teppei Tsuchiya leading the way with three hits.
Before the game, Swallows closer Lim Chong Yang was deactivated because of bad knee, and Takehiko Oshimoto gave up the tying run in the ninth.
GIANTS 5, HAWKS 2
Yoshinobu Takahashi blasted a pair of solo homers and Shugo Fujii (4-1) worked seven quiet innings, allowing just three hits and a walk, as Yomiuri stopped a three-game interleague skid to SoftBank.
Hisayoshi Chono chipped in with a two-run single in a three-run first that proved to be enough scoring for Fujii.
BUFFALOES 4, BAYSTARS 1
Tomotaka Sakaguchi had two hits and two RBIs from the No. 9 hole, and righty Chihiro Kaneko (4-4), who batted eighth, allowed one run -- none earned -- over 6.2 innings as Orix won at Yokohama.
T.O. (Takahiro Okada) put the B’s on top in the sixth with an RBI double after Mitsutaka Goto doubled in the tying run.
CARP 3, MARINES 0
Kenta Maeda (8-2) scattered four hits and four walks over eight innings, and Akihiro Higashide had three hits and an RBI as Hiroshima blanked Lotte at the Zoom.
Maeda is already one win from his career best -- in 19 games in 2008 -- in victories in a season.
LIONS 6, TIGERS 1
Hideaki Wakui (6-3) pitched out of trouble over eight innings, holding Hanshin to a run on five hits and four walks, and Hiroyuki Nakajima had two hits and two RBIs as Seibu swept its two-game set at Koshien Stadium.
Nakajima is tied for the PL lead in batting with a .360 average.
FIGHTERS 9, DRAGONS 5
Rookie right-hander Hirotoshi Masui (3-2) held the Dragons to six hits, and a walk while hitting a batter over six innings as Nippon Ham downed Chunichi in Kanazawa.
Yoshio Itoi had three hits and two RBIs to lead Nippon Ham’s 16-hit attack.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Leaving the flock …
Takada leaves the lowly Swallows
The Rakuten Eagles knocked Yakult Swallows skipper Shigeru Takada right out of his perch with a 3-2 interleague win on Wednesday at Jingu.
Actually, the 64-year-old Takada, who took over the team in 2008, hadn’t won much of anything this season. The last-place Swallows are 19 games under .500 and have lost nine straight.
“I was going to see how we did in interleague play, and then assess things,” Takada said. “But the way we’ve been playing, I couldn’t continue this way,” Takada said about 30 minutes after the game.
“I’m going to hang up the uniform,” said the skipper, who had a three-year contract and led the Swallows to their first playoff spot last season.
Head coach Junji Ogawa will take over as interim manager.
Veterans took the spotlight for the Eagles with longballs from Norihiro Nakamura and Takeshi Yamasaki.
Nakamura got the Eagles on the board in the fourth with a solo blast, and Yamasaki’s bases-empty shot in the sixth proved to be the difference for the Pacific League’s fifth-place team.
Yamasaki’s longball was his Japan-leading seventh this year in interleague play.
The Eagles got six scoreless frames of relief from four hurlers, with Takashi Kawai (1-0) earing his first win since June 18, 2006 by tossing two innings.
HAWKS 10, GIANTS 2
Jose Ortiz and Nobuhiko Matsunaka each had RBI hits in a five-run fifth inning that lifted SoftBank past Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome.
The rally sent Dicky Gonzalez (3-6) to his third straight loss.
MARINES 9, CARP 1
Tadahito Iguchi slugged a pair of homers, and Lotte used a 14-hit attack to punish Hiroshima at the Zoom.
Bill Murphy (3-0) struck out 11 and allowed three hits while fanning three over seven shutout innings.
BUFFALOES 8, BAYSTARS 1
Takahiro T.O. Okada had three hits and two RBIs, and So Taguchi hit his first pinch-hit homer since Aug. 25, 1998, as Orix won going away at Yokohama.
Yokohama starter Tomokazu Oka (1-1) suffered his first loss in Japan since Aug. 8, 1996.
LIONS 3, TIGERS 1
Kazuhisa Ishii (6-2) scattered five his and a walk over six innings for his second straight win, and Dee Brown’s RBI hit in the sixth was the difference as PL-leading Seibu won at Koshien.
The Dragons and Fighters were rained out in Toyama.
The Rakuten Eagles knocked Yakult Swallows skipper Shigeru Takada right out of his perch with a 3-2 interleague win on Wednesday at Jingu.
Actually, the 64-year-old Takada, who took over the team in 2008, hadn’t won much of anything this season. The last-place Swallows are 19 games under .500 and have lost nine straight.
“I was going to see how we did in interleague play, and then assess things,” Takada said. “But the way we’ve been playing, I couldn’t continue this way,” Takada said about 30 minutes after the game.
“I’m going to hang up the uniform,” said the skipper, who had a three-year contract and led the Swallows to their first playoff spot last season.
Head coach Junji Ogawa will take over as interim manager.
Veterans took the spotlight for the Eagles with longballs from Norihiro Nakamura and Takeshi Yamasaki.
Nakamura got the Eagles on the board in the fourth with a solo blast, and Yamasaki’s bases-empty shot in the sixth proved to be the difference for the Pacific League’s fifth-place team.
Yamasaki’s longball was his Japan-leading seventh this year in interleague play.
The Eagles got six scoreless frames of relief from four hurlers, with Takashi Kawai (1-0) earing his first win since June 18, 2006 by tossing two innings.
HAWKS 10, GIANTS 2
Jose Ortiz and Nobuhiko Matsunaka each had RBI hits in a five-run fifth inning that lifted SoftBank past Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome.
The rally sent Dicky Gonzalez (3-6) to his third straight loss.
MARINES 9, CARP 1
Tadahito Iguchi slugged a pair of homers, and Lotte used a 14-hit attack to punish Hiroshima at the Zoom.
Bill Murphy (3-0) struck out 11 and allowed three hits while fanning three over seven shutout innings.
BUFFALOES 8, BAYSTARS 1
Takahiro T.O. Okada had three hits and two RBIs, and So Taguchi hit his first pinch-hit homer since Aug. 25, 1998, as Orix won going away at Yokohama.
Yokohama starter Tomokazu Oka (1-1) suffered his first loss in Japan since Aug. 8, 1996.
LIONS 3, TIGERS 1
Kazuhisa Ishii (6-2) scattered five his and a walk over six innings for his second straight win, and Dee Brown’s RBI hit in the sixth was the difference as PL-leading Seibu won at Koshien.
The Dragons and Fighters were rained out in Toyama.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Smells like rotten fish ...
Carp drowning
The Hiroshima Carp are making the Central League’s last-place Yakult Swallows look watchable.
An ugly error-aided inning was bad enough, but the subsequent poor pitching, and all-around general fan-repelling play ended in a 10-7 Seibu Lions win in interleague action in the pouring rain at the Zoom.
Fifth-place Hiroshima, which allowed a runner to advance to third on the catcher’s toss back to the pitche and gave up two hits to Lions starter Hsu Ming-chie among their miscues, fell behind 8-1. The Carp put together a five-run rally in the eighth inning, but coulnd’t come up with the key hit to put them on top.
Hsu (3-4), getting a spot start, held the Carp to two runs on six hits and no walks with two strikeouts. He also had two hits and an RBI for the Pacific League’s second-place Lions.
“I was able to locate and keep the ball downn and that worked for me tonight,” Hsu said. “I did my job and the batters came through.”
About his hits, Hsu said: “I don’t know what to say about them. I’m happy -- the first one was my first career hit and my first career RBI.”
Takeya “Okawari” Nakamura bopped a grand slam, and Hiroyuki Nakajima homered and drove in four runs.
But the Carp battled back to within a run at 8-7 when Tomonori Maeda singled in a pair with the bases loaded in the eighth inning.
Brian Sikorski, though, came on to escape the eight-inning jam, and finished off the Carp in the ninth for his Japan career-best 16th save.
TIGERS 8, MARINES 0
The Tigers scored six runs in the first two innings, led by Takahiro Arai’s two hits and three RBIs, and blew out Lotte at Koshien Stadium.
Lotte righty starter Shingo Ono (3-1) fired just 16 pitches before being forced out of the game after a Craig Brazell liner struck him on the pitching shoulder.
He left the game as a precaution.
BAYSTARS 8, HAWKS 0
Naoyuki Shimizu (5-3) fired Yokohama’s first complete game of the season, scattering six hits and two walks to blank visiting SoftBank.
It was the first interleague win for Yokohama over the Hawks in three years.
The Hiroshima Carp are making the Central League’s last-place Yakult Swallows look watchable.
An ugly error-aided inning was bad enough, but the subsequent poor pitching, and all-around general fan-repelling play ended in a 10-7 Seibu Lions win in interleague action in the pouring rain at the Zoom.
Fifth-place Hiroshima, which allowed a runner to advance to third on the catcher’s toss back to the pitche and gave up two hits to Lions starter Hsu Ming-chie among their miscues, fell behind 8-1. The Carp put together a five-run rally in the eighth inning, but coulnd’t come up with the key hit to put them on top.
Hsu (3-4), getting a spot start, held the Carp to two runs on six hits and no walks with two strikeouts. He also had two hits and an RBI for the Pacific League’s second-place Lions.
“I was able to locate and keep the ball downn and that worked for me tonight,” Hsu said. “I did my job and the batters came through.”
About his hits, Hsu said: “I don’t know what to say about them. I’m happy -- the first one was my first career hit and my first career RBI.”
Takeya “Okawari” Nakamura bopped a grand slam, and Hiroyuki Nakajima homered and drove in four runs.
But the Carp battled back to within a run at 8-7 when Tomonori Maeda singled in a pair with the bases loaded in the eighth inning.
Brian Sikorski, though, came on to escape the eight-inning jam, and finished off the Carp in the ninth for his Japan career-best 16th save.
TIGERS 8, MARINES 0
The Tigers scored six runs in the first two innings, led by Takahiro Arai’s two hits and three RBIs, and blew out Lotte at Koshien Stadium.
Lotte righty starter Shingo Ono (3-1) fired just 16 pitches before being forced out of the game after a Craig Brazell liner struck him on the pitching shoulder.
He left the game as a precaution.
BAYSTARS 8, HAWKS 0
Naoyuki Shimizu (5-3) fired Yokohama’s first complete game of the season, scattering six hits and two walks to blank visiting SoftBank.
It was the first interleague win for Yokohama over the Hawks in three years.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Big bats give Giants big boost …
The Yomiuri Giants seem to have that unbeatable quality, even when momentum seems to be going away from them.
Right after the Orix Buffaloes rallied to even the score in the eighth inning, rookie Hisayoshi Chono and Yoshiyuki Kamei cracked back-to-back homers as the three-time defending Central League champs downed the Buffaloes in interleague action 6-4 at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
Marc Kroon shut the Buffaloes down in order in the ninth for his ninth save.
“That home run was very timely,” said skipper Tatsunori Hara. “The game itself was tough for us. But Chono and Kamei had some big hits in the game and Kroon held them and that makes it a good win.
The Giants are four games in front of the Chunichi Dragons and Hanshin Tigers, and Hara wanted to slow the bandwagon -- since it’s still only May.
“Overall -- and I’m not sure how to word this -- but I don’t think we’re doing all that great right now.”
Tetsuya Utsumi got the start and an early 2-0 lead. But he served up a homer to Aarom Baldiris in the second that tied it and lefty ace reliever Tetsuya Yamaguchi (2-2) surrendered a game-tying two-run homer to Takahiro T.O. Okada in the eighth but walked away with the victory.
The homer was Chono’s sixth of the season, but his first at the Big Egg. It was the second homer for Kamei, who has been sidelined much of the first half.
DRAGONS 3, EALGES 0
Yudai Kawai, who was a first-half fixture in the rotation last season, finally made his first-team debut and worked six messy-but-scoreless innings, and Tony Blanco singled in a run in the first inning and later homered in a win over Rakuten at Nagoya Dome.
Kawai allowed five hits and two walks, and uncorked a pair of wild pitches in winning his first decision since July 30.
CARP 3, LIONS 0
Eric Stultz (2-3) scattered four hits and three walks over 6.1 innings, and Eiishin Soyogi belted his fifth homer, a two-run shot in the third inning, as Hiroshima blanked Seibu at the Zoom.
The Carp beat Takayuki Kishi (7-2), who had won seven straight decisions after dropping his first start.
TIGERS 5, MARINES 4
Matt Murton scored from third on Kenji Jojima’s flyout to center as Hanshin, which blew a 4-1 lead, recorded a walk-off win over Lotte at Koshien.
The win gave the CL a sweep of Monday’s games.
Rainouts
The Hawks and BayStars game in Kanagawa, and the Swallows and Fighters game at Jingu Stadium were rained out, as were four games on Sunday.
Right after the Orix Buffaloes rallied to even the score in the eighth inning, rookie Hisayoshi Chono and Yoshiyuki Kamei cracked back-to-back homers as the three-time defending Central League champs downed the Buffaloes in interleague action 6-4 at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
Marc Kroon shut the Buffaloes down in order in the ninth for his ninth save.
“That home run was very timely,” said skipper Tatsunori Hara. “The game itself was tough for us. But Chono and Kamei had some big hits in the game and Kroon held them and that makes it a good win.
The Giants are four games in front of the Chunichi Dragons and Hanshin Tigers, and Hara wanted to slow the bandwagon -- since it’s still only May.
“Overall -- and I’m not sure how to word this -- but I don’t think we’re doing all that great right now.”
Tetsuya Utsumi got the start and an early 2-0 lead. But he served up a homer to Aarom Baldiris in the second that tied it and lefty ace reliever Tetsuya Yamaguchi (2-2) surrendered a game-tying two-run homer to Takahiro T.O. Okada in the eighth but walked away with the victory.
The homer was Chono’s sixth of the season, but his first at the Big Egg. It was the second homer for Kamei, who has been sidelined much of the first half.
DRAGONS 3, EALGES 0
Yudai Kawai, who was a first-half fixture in the rotation last season, finally made his first-team debut and worked six messy-but-scoreless innings, and Tony Blanco singled in a run in the first inning and later homered in a win over Rakuten at Nagoya Dome.
Kawai allowed five hits and two walks, and uncorked a pair of wild pitches in winning his first decision since July 30.
CARP 3, LIONS 0
Eric Stultz (2-3) scattered four hits and three walks over 6.1 innings, and Eiishin Soyogi belted his fifth homer, a two-run shot in the third inning, as Hiroshima blanked Seibu at the Zoom.
The Carp beat Takayuki Kishi (7-2), who had won seven straight decisions after dropping his first start.
TIGERS 5, MARINES 4
Matt Murton scored from third on Kenji Jojima’s flyout to center as Hanshin, which blew a 4-1 lead, recorded a walk-off win over Lotte at Koshien.
The win gave the CL a sweep of Monday’s games.
Rainouts
The Hawks and BayStars game in Kanagawa, and the Swallows and Fighters game at Jingu Stadium were rained out, as were four games on Sunday.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Giants lose Guts, game ...
Guts goes down, Giants follow
Takahiro Okada (T.O.) had an RBI single in a three-run first inning and smacked a three-run homer in the second inning to stake Orix to a big lead, and the Buffaloes hung on to down the Yomiuri Giants 7-3 on Sunday at Tokyo Dome.
The Giants had to go without No. 3 man Michihiro Ogasawara, who left the game holding his right arm after getting plunked in the third inning. Nicknamed Guts in part for his toughness, the 14-year veteran was taken to a Tokyo hospital for X-rays.
Yomiuri hadn’t lost a game in which Alex Ramirez had homered since Sept. 11 -- a string of 20 games. Ramirez cracked his Central League-high-tying 15th shot, but it was too late and far too little.
It was a career-high in RBIs for T.O.
Tenth-year southpaw Shogo Yamamoto (3-2), who allowed a run on seven hits, no walks and a hit batter, earned his first career win over the Giants.
EAGLES 8, DRAGONS 2
Former Chunichi slugger Takeshi Yamasaki went deep twice to become the 19th player to hit longballs against every team (except Rakuten) as the Eagles ripped the Dragons at Nagoya Dome.
Yamasaki hit a solo shot in the second and added a bases-empty blast (his 10th) in the ninth, while Teppei Tsuchiya hit a solo homer in the fifth.
The offense helped Masahiro Tanaka (6-3) earn the win, Rakuten’s fourth straight vs. Chunichi in interleague action.
Tanaka went seven innings, allowing six hits and two walks with four punchouts.
Takahiro Okada (T.O.) had an RBI single in a three-run first inning and smacked a three-run homer in the second inning to stake Orix to a big lead, and the Buffaloes hung on to down the Yomiuri Giants 7-3 on Sunday at Tokyo Dome.
The Giants had to go without No. 3 man Michihiro Ogasawara, who left the game holding his right arm after getting plunked in the third inning. Nicknamed Guts in part for his toughness, the 14-year veteran was taken to a Tokyo hospital for X-rays.
Yomiuri hadn’t lost a game in which Alex Ramirez had homered since Sept. 11 -- a string of 20 games. Ramirez cracked his Central League-high-tying 15th shot, but it was too late and far too little.
It was a career-high in RBIs for T.O.
Tenth-year southpaw Shogo Yamamoto (3-2), who allowed a run on seven hits, no walks and a hit batter, earned his first career win over the Giants.
EAGLES 8, DRAGONS 2
Former Chunichi slugger Takeshi Yamasaki went deep twice to become the 19th player to hit longballs against every team (except Rakuten) as the Eagles ripped the Dragons at Nagoya Dome.
Yamasaki hit a solo shot in the second and added a bases-empty blast (his 10th) in the ninth, while Teppei Tsuchiya hit a solo homer in the fifth.
The offense helped Masahiro Tanaka (6-3) earn the win, Rakuten’s fourth straight vs. Chunichi in interleague action.
Tanaka went seven innings, allowing six hits and two walks with four punchouts.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Tough to Swallow ...
Three days ago club officials gave Yakult Swallows skipper Shigeru Takada a vote of confidence. The Lotte Marines gave his team a beating.
The Marines jolted Yakult’s confidence, slapping the Swallows around in a 20-4 win on Saturday at Chiba Marine Stadium and sending the Swallows to their eighth straight loss. They are 18 games under .500 for the first time in three seasons.
Tsuyoshi Nishioka led Lotte’s onslaught against the Central League’s last place team, going 5-for-5 with three RBIs. Toshiaki Imae went 4-for-5 and just missed hitting for the cycle when his seventh-inning drive hit high off the fence and bounced onto the field for his second double.
The Marines pounded out 22 hits, and the 20 runs were the most the Swallows have allowed since Yokohama put up the same number July, 1999.
Jamie D’Antona had three hits, including a two-run homer for Yakult.
Lefty Yuji Yoshimi (1-0), who was purchased from the Yokohama BayStars this season, earned his first Pacific League win in his debut with the Marines.
LIONS 8, DRAGONS 0
Japan ERA leader Kazuyuki Hoashi (6-2) blanked Chunichi over 7.2 innings, scattering five hits and three walks while fanning a season-high nine to win at Seibu Dome.
Dee Brown slugged a pair of homers, a three-run shot in the third and a solo blast in the eighth as Seibu cruised.
GIANTS 5, EAGLES 3
Hisayoshi Chono had his first two-homer game, his second breaking a 3-3 tie in the ninth inning, as Yomiuri took down Rakuten at the Kleenex Box.
Chono smacked a solo shot in the second and took Tsuyoshi Kawagishi deep with one on in the top of the ninth for the game-winner.
FIGHTERS 3, BAYSTARS 1
Tomohiro Nioka and Eiichi Koyano each drove in sixth-inning runs to break a 1-1 tie, and Masaru Takeda (3-4) held Yokohama to a run over eight innings as Nippon Ham won at Sapporo Dome.
The Fighters won for the ninth time in 13 games since shortstop Makoto Kaneko returned from a ribcage injury.
BUFFALOES 5, TIGERS 3
Aarom Baldiris haunted his former team with a tie-breaking solo shot in the sixth that proved to be the difference as Orix topped Hanshin at Skymark Stadium in Kobe.
HAWKS 7, CARP 4
Jose Ortiz homered in a six-run third inning that propelled SoftBank past Hiroshima at Yahoo! Japan Dome.
The Marines jolted Yakult’s confidence, slapping the Swallows around in a 20-4 win on Saturday at Chiba Marine Stadium and sending the Swallows to their eighth straight loss. They are 18 games under .500 for the first time in three seasons.
Tsuyoshi Nishioka led Lotte’s onslaught against the Central League’s last place team, going 5-for-5 with three RBIs. Toshiaki Imae went 4-for-5 and just missed hitting for the cycle when his seventh-inning drive hit high off the fence and bounced onto the field for his second double.
The Marines pounded out 22 hits, and the 20 runs were the most the Swallows have allowed since Yokohama put up the same number July, 1999.
Jamie D’Antona had three hits, including a two-run homer for Yakult.
Lefty Yuji Yoshimi (1-0), who was purchased from the Yokohama BayStars this season, earned his first Pacific League win in his debut with the Marines.
LIONS 8, DRAGONS 0
Japan ERA leader Kazuyuki Hoashi (6-2) blanked Chunichi over 7.2 innings, scattering five hits and three walks while fanning a season-high nine to win at Seibu Dome.
Dee Brown slugged a pair of homers, a three-run shot in the third and a solo blast in the eighth as Seibu cruised.
GIANTS 5, EAGLES 3
Hisayoshi Chono had his first two-homer game, his second breaking a 3-3 tie in the ninth inning, as Yomiuri took down Rakuten at the Kleenex Box.
Chono smacked a solo shot in the second and took Tsuyoshi Kawagishi deep with one on in the top of the ninth for the game-winner.
FIGHTERS 3, BAYSTARS 1
Tomohiro Nioka and Eiichi Koyano each drove in sixth-inning runs to break a 1-1 tie, and Masaru Takeda (3-4) held Yokohama to a run over eight innings as Nippon Ham won at Sapporo Dome.
The Fighters won for the ninth time in 13 games since shortstop Makoto Kaneko returned from a ribcage injury.
BUFFALOES 5, TIGERS 3
Aarom Baldiris haunted his former team with a tie-breaking solo shot in the sixth that proved to be the difference as Orix topped Hanshin at Skymark Stadium in Kobe.
HAWKS 7, CARP 4
Jose Ortiz homered in a six-run third inning that propelled SoftBank past Hiroshima at Yahoo! Japan Dome.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Mid-week milestone ...
Ochiai reaches 500 wins
After another meaningless mid-week off day, the Chunichi Dragons got a big hit at Seibu Dome and strong mound work to present their skipper with his 500th victory.
The Dragons topped the Seibu Lions 3-1 in interleague action, snapping a four-game winning streak for the Pacific League’s top team and recovering after dropping a pair to Lotte in Chiba.
Manager Hiromitsu Ochiai, the taciturn, temperamental skipper reached the milestone in his seventh season on the bench. Yomiuri Giants skipper Tatsunori Hara also reached 500 a little more than a week ago.
“I didn’t know why they brought me the game ball,” Ochiai said. “I guess you can reach this number if you do this for a long time.”
The big blow came from a former Lion, a 37-year-old player who is tied for the Central League lead in longballs with 14.
“It’s an honor to be on the podium for an accomplishment like this,” said Kazuhiro Wada, whose two-run homer in the fourth inning broke a scoreless tie and turned out to be the enough for starter Chen Wei-yin.
“I finally hit one hear in my third year [with the Dragons].
“This is the stadium where I’ve hit most of my homers, so it’s nice,” said Wada, who was with the Lions from 1997-2007. It was his first longball as a Dragon at Seibu Dome.
Chen (3-4), last year’s CL ERA leader, wobbled through 6.1 innings, allowing eight hits and two walks, but just one run. Takuya Asao worked 1.2 innings for the hold, and Hitoki Iwase, a staple in many of Ochiai’s wins, nailed it down with a scoreless ninth for his 12th save.
Lions ace Hideaki Wakui (5-3) suffered the loss, but went the distance.
BAYSTARS 4, FIGHTERS 1
Daisuke Miura outdueled Yu Darvish (4-3) in a matchup of present-day-Japan ace vs. yesterday’s Yokohama ace at Sapporo Dome.
Miura (3-2) scattered five hits and a walk, allowing an unearned run over eight innings to top Darvish, who surrendered three runs, two earned, in seven innings. Seiichi Uchikawa’s RBI groundout in the seventh broke a 1-1 tie, and Shuichi Murata followed with an RBI single for an insurance run.
BUFFALOES 10, TIGERS 6
Mitsutaka Goto went 4-for-4 with an RBI walk and four RBIs as host Orix wiped out Hanshin in the Kansai derby.
Tomotaka Sakaguchi was 3-for-4 with an RBI double for Orix.
MARINES 6, SWALLOWS 3
Saburo Omura had a bases-loaded double in a five-run first inning -- that came with two outs -- as Lotte sent visiting Yakult to its seventh straight interleague loss.
Yakult skipper Shigeru Takada was given a vote of confidence on Thursday’s off day.
EAGLES 5, GIANTS 4
Teppei Tsuchiya’s RBI single off Satoshi Fukuda (0-1) gave Rakuten a dramatic come-from-behind walk-off win over CL-leading Yomiuri at the Kleenex box.
Yomiuri closer Marc Kroon got one out before walking the next two and getting the hook. Kenshi Kawaguchi’s two-run single tied it and Teppei stroke a ball over a drawn-in infield. Fukuda didn’t record an out, facing four batters.
CARP 7, HAWKS 1
Kenta Maeda (7-2) scattered six hits and fanned 10, and Tetsuya Kokubo had two hits and four RBIs as Hiroshima downed SoftBank and Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
Maeda has a league-best 68 punchouts and is tops in ERA at 1.59.
After another meaningless mid-week off day, the Chunichi Dragons got a big hit at Seibu Dome and strong mound work to present their skipper with his 500th victory.
The Dragons topped the Seibu Lions 3-1 in interleague action, snapping a four-game winning streak for the Pacific League’s top team and recovering after dropping a pair to Lotte in Chiba.
Manager Hiromitsu Ochiai, the taciturn, temperamental skipper reached the milestone in his seventh season on the bench. Yomiuri Giants skipper Tatsunori Hara also reached 500 a little more than a week ago.
“I didn’t know why they brought me the game ball,” Ochiai said. “I guess you can reach this number if you do this for a long time.”
The big blow came from a former Lion, a 37-year-old player who is tied for the Central League lead in longballs with 14.
“It’s an honor to be on the podium for an accomplishment like this,” said Kazuhiro Wada, whose two-run homer in the fourth inning broke a scoreless tie and turned out to be the enough for starter Chen Wei-yin.
“I finally hit one hear in my third year [with the Dragons].
“This is the stadium where I’ve hit most of my homers, so it’s nice,” said Wada, who was with the Lions from 1997-2007. It was his first longball as a Dragon at Seibu Dome.
Chen (3-4), last year’s CL ERA leader, wobbled through 6.1 innings, allowing eight hits and two walks, but just one run. Takuya Asao worked 1.2 innings for the hold, and Hitoki Iwase, a staple in many of Ochiai’s wins, nailed it down with a scoreless ninth for his 12th save.
Lions ace Hideaki Wakui (5-3) suffered the loss, but went the distance.
BAYSTARS 4, FIGHTERS 1
Daisuke Miura outdueled Yu Darvish (4-3) in a matchup of present-day-Japan ace vs. yesterday’s Yokohama ace at Sapporo Dome.
Miura (3-2) scattered five hits and a walk, allowing an unearned run over eight innings to top Darvish, who surrendered three runs, two earned, in seven innings. Seiichi Uchikawa’s RBI groundout in the seventh broke a 1-1 tie, and Shuichi Murata followed with an RBI single for an insurance run.
BUFFALOES 10, TIGERS 6
Mitsutaka Goto went 4-for-4 with an RBI walk and four RBIs as host Orix wiped out Hanshin in the Kansai derby.
Tomotaka Sakaguchi was 3-for-4 with an RBI double for Orix.
MARINES 6, SWALLOWS 3
Saburo Omura had a bases-loaded double in a five-run first inning -- that came with two outs -- as Lotte sent visiting Yakult to its seventh straight interleague loss.
Yakult skipper Shigeru Takada was given a vote of confidence on Thursday’s off day.
EAGLES 5, GIANTS 4
Teppei Tsuchiya’s RBI single off Satoshi Fukuda (0-1) gave Rakuten a dramatic come-from-behind walk-off win over CL-leading Yomiuri at the Kleenex box.
Yomiuri closer Marc Kroon got one out before walking the next two and getting the hook. Kenshi Kawaguchi’s two-run single tied it and Teppei stroke a ball over a drawn-in infield. Fukuda didn’t record an out, facing four batters.
CARP 7, HAWKS 1
Kenta Maeda (7-2) scattered six hits and fanned 10, and Tetsuya Kokubo had two hits and four RBIs as Hiroshima downed SoftBank and Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
Maeda has a league-best 68 punchouts and is tops in ERA at 1.59.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Seems like old times ...
Ishii goes the distance to beat former team
TOKOROZAWA, Saitama -- Kazuhisa Ishii had a “Hot Tub Time Machine” moment on Wednesday, taking down his former team with his first complete game in two years, giving him victories over all 12 Japan Pro Baseball teams.
Ishii (5-2) scattered five hits and three walks, while firing 136 pitches in the 3-2 walk-off win. He’s the ninth pitcher to have post wins against every team, and he fanned 11 to record double digits in strikeouts for the 40th time in his career, tying him for seventh all-time.
He earned the win thanks to some clutch hitting from Yasuyuki Kataoka, who doubled to tie the score in the seventh inning and doubled home the game-winner with one out in the ninth.
“I felt like if I could keep it to two runs, something good would happen and I worked hard to do that,” said Ishii, who allowed two runs in the third inning but kept the Central League’s last-place team off the scoreboard the rest of the way.
It was the sixth career walk-off hit for Kataoka, who ripped a drive deep to left off Swallows closer Lim Chang Yong.
The South Korean right-hander started the ninth by walking the first man he faced, and after a sacrifice Kataoka hit a drive that nearly left the park.
The Lions, the Pacific League’s top team, won the fourth straight and are 13 games above .500.
FIGHTERS 3, GIANTS 1
Former Yomiuri infielder Tomohiro Nioka cracked a two-run homer to break a 1-1 tie in sixth inning to give him homers against all 12 teams --the 18th player to do that—as Nippon Ham swept its two-game set against Yomiuri at Sapporo Dome.
Third-year lefty Naoki Miyanishi notched his first pro save with a scoreless ninth.
Nioka, who spent 10 years with the Giants before being traded to the Fighters, followed Atsunori Inaba’s double with his fourth longball of the season.
CARP 8, BUFFALOES 2
Eric Stultz notched his first win in Japan six strong innings as Hiroshima topped Orix at Kyocera Dome and was the only Central League team to beat the PL on Wednesday.
Yoshiyuki Ishihara homered and had a two-run single to back Stultz, who scattered five hits with no walks and eight punchouts.
MARINES 3, DRAGONS 1
Bill Murphy (2-0) went six-plus innings and only surrendered one hit. Unfortunately, he had a whopping seven walks, but pitched around them as Lotte downed Chunichi at Chiba Marine Stadium.
BAYSTARS 3, EAGLES 2
Kazuya Fujita failed to get a squeeze down that cost Yokohama a runner, then singled home the go-ahead run in the fifth, and the BayStars held on to down Rakuten at the Kleenex box in Miyagi.
HAWKS 9, TIGERS 3
Hitoshi Tamura doubled, homered and drove in three, and Jose Ortiz had an RBI single and a solo blast as SoftBank cruised past Hanshin at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
TOKOROZAWA, Saitama -- Kazuhisa Ishii had a “Hot Tub Time Machine” moment on Wednesday, taking down his former team with his first complete game in two years, giving him victories over all 12 Japan Pro Baseball teams.
Ishii (5-2) scattered five hits and three walks, while firing 136 pitches in the 3-2 walk-off win. He’s the ninth pitcher to have post wins against every team, and he fanned 11 to record double digits in strikeouts for the 40th time in his career, tying him for seventh all-time.
He earned the win thanks to some clutch hitting from Yasuyuki Kataoka, who doubled to tie the score in the seventh inning and doubled home the game-winner with one out in the ninth.
“I felt like if I could keep it to two runs, something good would happen and I worked hard to do that,” said Ishii, who allowed two runs in the third inning but kept the Central League’s last-place team off the scoreboard the rest of the way.
It was the sixth career walk-off hit for Kataoka, who ripped a drive deep to left off Swallows closer Lim Chang Yong.
The South Korean right-hander started the ninth by walking the first man he faced, and after a sacrifice Kataoka hit a drive that nearly left the park.
The Lions, the Pacific League’s top team, won the fourth straight and are 13 games above .500.
FIGHTERS 3, GIANTS 1
Former Yomiuri infielder Tomohiro Nioka cracked a two-run homer to break a 1-1 tie in sixth inning to give him homers against all 12 teams --the 18th player to do that—as Nippon Ham swept its two-game set against Yomiuri at Sapporo Dome.
Third-year lefty Naoki Miyanishi notched his first pro save with a scoreless ninth.
Nioka, who spent 10 years with the Giants before being traded to the Fighters, followed Atsunori Inaba’s double with his fourth longball of the season.
CARP 8, BUFFALOES 2
Eric Stultz notched his first win in Japan six strong innings as Hiroshima topped Orix at Kyocera Dome and was the only Central League team to beat the PL on Wednesday.
Yoshiyuki Ishihara homered and had a two-run single to back Stultz, who scattered five hits with no walks and eight punchouts.
MARINES 3, DRAGONS 1
Bill Murphy (2-0) went six-plus innings and only surrendered one hit. Unfortunately, he had a whopping seven walks, but pitched around them as Lotte downed Chunichi at Chiba Marine Stadium.
BAYSTARS 3, EAGLES 2
Kazuya Fujita failed to get a squeeze down that cost Yokohama a runner, then singled home the go-ahead run in the fifth, and the BayStars held on to down Rakuten at the Kleenex box in Miyagi.
HAWKS 9, TIGERS 3
Hitoshi Tamura doubled, homered and drove in three, and Jose Ortiz had an RBI single and a solo blast as SoftBank cruised past Hanshin at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Hamming it up …
It’s up to interpretation
Hichori Morimoto has been injured, ineffective and infrequently on the postgame on-field interview podium since the Nippon Ham Fighters won the championship in 2006.
But Morimoto was in top form on Tuesday night Sapporo Dome after helping the Fighters top Yomiuri 7-1 in interleague action. Morimoto grabbed the mic during the on-field postgame interview and pretended to interpret right-hander Bobby Keppel’s comments to the fans.
Keppel (6-1) was dialed in for seven innings, limiting the Giants to a run on three hits and two walks, but Morimoto was way off target.
When asked about the importance of catcher Shinya Tsuruoka, Keppel said it was great to work with the backstop.
Morimoto’s interpretation: “He’s just some guy [behind the plate].”
The win was certainly important. It gave the Fighters their longest winning streak of the season at four games.
Morimoto had a two-run triple in the sixth to put the game out of reach for the Fighters, who had put up four in the third to get the lead from the Central League’s top team.
LIONS 1, SWALLOWS 0
Things are getting worse for the CL’s last-place Swallows. Takayuki Kishi(7-1) held Yakult to three hits over eight innings, and Dee Brown delivered an RBI single in the sixth inning as Seibu blanked the Swallows at Omiya.
Kishi, who didn’t allow a runner past second, has won seven straight after losing in his season debut, and Brian Sikorski fanned two in the ninth to convert his 15th save with the Lions.
The Swallows lost their fifth straight.
BAYSTARS 7, EAGLES 5
Seiichi Uchikawa’s two-run single ignited a five-run sixth inning brought Yokohama back from five runs down, and Shuichi Murata’s RBI single in the seventh was the difference in a comeback win over Rakuten at the Kleenex box.
The victory snapped Yokohama’s six-game skid.
TIGERS 4, HAWKS 2 (10 innings)
Takahiro Arai hit a scoring flyball to break a 2-2 tie in the top of the 10th and Tomoaki Kanemoto, in his first career appearance as DH, added an RBI single as Hanshin rallied late win at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
BUFFALOES 11, CARP 2
Seibu castoff Shogo Akada became the 40th player to homer from both sides of the plate as Orix hammered Hiroshima at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
He was the 13th PL player to homer from both sides, going the opposite way in the fourth inning with a two-run shot, and pulling a two-run blast in the seventh.
MARINES 4, DRAGONS 2
Tsuyoshi Nishioka had three hits, including a pair of RBI doubles, and Lotte rode a three-run third inning to defeat Chunichi to snap its seven-game interleague winning streak that dates back to last season.
Hichori Morimoto has been injured, ineffective and infrequently on the postgame on-field interview podium since the Nippon Ham Fighters won the championship in 2006.
But Morimoto was in top form on Tuesday night Sapporo Dome after helping the Fighters top Yomiuri 7-1 in interleague action. Morimoto grabbed the mic during the on-field postgame interview and pretended to interpret right-hander Bobby Keppel’s comments to the fans.
Keppel (6-1) was dialed in for seven innings, limiting the Giants to a run on three hits and two walks, but Morimoto was way off target.
When asked about the importance of catcher Shinya Tsuruoka, Keppel said it was great to work with the backstop.
Morimoto’s interpretation: “He’s just some guy [behind the plate].”
The win was certainly important. It gave the Fighters their longest winning streak of the season at four games.
Morimoto had a two-run triple in the sixth to put the game out of reach for the Fighters, who had put up four in the third to get the lead from the Central League’s top team.
LIONS 1, SWALLOWS 0
Things are getting worse for the CL’s last-place Swallows. Takayuki Kishi(7-1) held Yakult to three hits over eight innings, and Dee Brown delivered an RBI single in the sixth inning as Seibu blanked the Swallows at Omiya.
Kishi, who didn’t allow a runner past second, has won seven straight after losing in his season debut, and Brian Sikorski fanned two in the ninth to convert his 15th save with the Lions.
The Swallows lost their fifth straight.
BAYSTARS 7, EAGLES 5
Seiichi Uchikawa’s two-run single ignited a five-run sixth inning brought Yokohama back from five runs down, and Shuichi Murata’s RBI single in the seventh was the difference in a comeback win over Rakuten at the Kleenex box.
The victory snapped Yokohama’s six-game skid.
TIGERS 4, HAWKS 2 (10 innings)
Takahiro Arai hit a scoring flyball to break a 2-2 tie in the top of the 10th and Tomoaki Kanemoto, in his first career appearance as DH, added an RBI single as Hanshin rallied late win at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
BUFFALOES 11, CARP 2
Seibu castoff Shogo Akada became the 40th player to homer from both sides of the plate as Orix hammered Hiroshima at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
He was the 13th PL player to homer from both sides, going the opposite way in the fourth inning with a two-run shot, and pulling a two-run blast in the seventh.
MARINES 4, DRAGONS 2
Tsuyoshi Nishioka had three hits, including a pair of RBI doubles, and Lotte rode a three-run third inning to defeat Chunichi to snap its seven-game interleague winning streak that dates back to last season.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Giants’ use big bats at Big Egg ...
Sakamoto, Ogasawara lead homer binge in slugfest
Hayato Sakamoto, who hit 18 longballs last season, had four hits including his third homer in four games, and Michihiro Ogasawara reached base five times and also went deep as the Yomiuri Giants outslugged the Lotte Marines 10-8 at Tokyo Dome on Sunday.
Sakamoto cracked his 10th longball, and the Giants hit five over the fence to tie a club record for interleague longballs in a game.
Shinnosuke Abe hit his ninth, Alex Ramirez his 14th and Yoshinobu Takahashi his second to offset Kim Tae Kyun, who homered twice and drove in four as the Marines battled back with four runs in the ninth inning.
The late Lotte rally forced Giants skipper Tatsunori Hara to call upon Marc Kroon for a second straight day for the save. Kroon allowed a hit before getting a groundout and a punchout to end the game and push the Giants a season-high 14 games over .500.
DRAGONS 4, BUFFALOES 1
Rookie Yohei Oshima sparked a four-run fourth with a bases-loaded RBI single, and starter Soma Yamauchi (2-0) followed with a two-run single to help his own cause as Chunichi swept Orix at Nagoya Dome.
Yamauchi’s hit came on a check-swing on a pitch that bounced a foot in front of the plate.
The Dragons, notorious for stumbling in interleague action, have won four straight to start play against the Pacific League and moved into second place in the Central League.
HAWKS 6, SWALLOWS 5
Struggling Yakult scored three runs in the eighth inning on Aaron Guiel’s homer, but Yuichi Honda’s RBI single in the 10th inning gave SoftBank a win at Jingu Stadium.
Hiroki Kokubo homered twice and drove in five for the Hawks, who gave second-year skipper Koji Akiyama his 100th managerial win. The Swallows have lost four straight.
LIONS 6, BAYSTARS 5
Hisashi Takayama’s RBI single in the ninth pushed Seibu past host Yokohama and made the Lions’ lead in the PL 1.5 games.
EAGLES 7, TIGERS 3
Daisuke Kusano’s three-run homer in the third inning backed Masahiro Tanaka (5-3), whose quality start helped Rakuten down Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.
FIGHTERS 6, CARP 2
Makoto Kaneko hit a two-run homer, his first since March 21 and second of the season, added a two-run double as Nippon Ham downed Hiroshima at the Zoom.
Hayato Sakamoto, who hit 18 longballs last season, had four hits including his third homer in four games, and Michihiro Ogasawara reached base five times and also went deep as the Yomiuri Giants outslugged the Lotte Marines 10-8 at Tokyo Dome on Sunday.
Sakamoto cracked his 10th longball, and the Giants hit five over the fence to tie a club record for interleague longballs in a game.
Shinnosuke Abe hit his ninth, Alex Ramirez his 14th and Yoshinobu Takahashi his second to offset Kim Tae Kyun, who homered twice and drove in four as the Marines battled back with four runs in the ninth inning.
The late Lotte rally forced Giants skipper Tatsunori Hara to call upon Marc Kroon for a second straight day for the save. Kroon allowed a hit before getting a groundout and a punchout to end the game and push the Giants a season-high 14 games over .500.
DRAGONS 4, BUFFALOES 1
Rookie Yohei Oshima sparked a four-run fourth with a bases-loaded RBI single, and starter Soma Yamauchi (2-0) followed with a two-run single to help his own cause as Chunichi swept Orix at Nagoya Dome.
Yamauchi’s hit came on a check-swing on a pitch that bounced a foot in front of the plate.
The Dragons, notorious for stumbling in interleague action, have won four straight to start play against the Pacific League and moved into second place in the Central League.
HAWKS 6, SWALLOWS 5
Struggling Yakult scored three runs in the eighth inning on Aaron Guiel’s homer, but Yuichi Honda’s RBI single in the 10th inning gave SoftBank a win at Jingu Stadium.
Hiroki Kokubo homered twice and drove in five for the Hawks, who gave second-year skipper Koji Akiyama his 100th managerial win. The Swallows have lost four straight.
LIONS 6, BAYSTARS 5
Hisashi Takayama’s RBI single in the ninth pushed Seibu past host Yokohama and made the Lions’ lead in the PL 1.5 games.
EAGLES 7, TIGERS 3
Daisuke Kusano’s three-run homer in the third inning backed Masahiro Tanaka (5-3), whose quality start helped Rakuten down Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.
FIGHTERS 6, CARP 2
Makoto Kaneko hit a two-run homer, his first since March 21 and second of the season, added a two-run double as Nippon Ham downed Hiroshima at the Zoom.
Big Al joins select company
Ramirez hits 300th longball as Giants win
Alex Ramirez said his plan was to come to Japan and play for a season. That was in 2001 when he became a Yakult Swallow.
He has swallowed up a lot of pitches since then, and Saturday he became just the third foreign player to reach the 300-homer plateau, belting a solo shot in the ffith inning of Yomiuiri’s 4-2 win over the Lotte Marines in interleague play at Tokyo Dome.
Ramirez calls himself a line-drive hitter who has been helped by the ballparks where the ball carries.
But only Tuffy Rhodes, who hit 464 longballs, and Orix slugger Alex Cabrera, who has 330, have at least 300 round-trippers.
Hayato Sakamoto and Michihiro Ogasawara also hit solo blasts, and Shun Tono (7-1) worked 8.1 innings before leaving Marc Kroon a mess to clean up for his Central League-leading seventh win. Kroon earned his sixth save after allowing a walk and a hit.
DRAGONS 5, BUFFALOES 4
Tony Blanco homered, and doubled in the tying run in the ninth -- his fourth RBI -- and Masaaki Koike ripped a walk-off single up the middle as host Chunichi rallied to beat Orix at Nagoya Dome.
It was Koike’s second career walk-off hit, and came on his 30th birthday.
TIGERS 3, EAGLES 2
Craig Brazell’s 13th homer, a solo shot, was the difference as Hanshin sacked Rakuten at Koshien Stadium.
CARP 1, FIGHTERS 0
Masato Akamatsu’s ninth-inning sayonara single to beat Nippon Ham was the first of his six-plus-year career and gave Hiroshima its fifth walk-off win this season.
LIONS 12, BAYSTARS 3
Last year’s Sawamura Award winner Hideaki Wakui (5-2) had two singles and a bases-clearing double for four RBIs, and also limited Yokohama to three runs over seven innings as Seibu cruised and moved back into first place in the Pacific League.
HAWKS 2, SWALLOWS 0
Munenori Kawasaki’s two-run second-inning single were all the runs Tsuyoshi Wada (5-3) needed as SoftBank topped Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Alex Ramirez said his plan was to come to Japan and play for a season. That was in 2001 when he became a Yakult Swallow.
He has swallowed up a lot of pitches since then, and Saturday he became just the third foreign player to reach the 300-homer plateau, belting a solo shot in the ffith inning of Yomiuiri’s 4-2 win over the Lotte Marines in interleague play at Tokyo Dome.
Ramirez calls himself a line-drive hitter who has been helped by the ballparks where the ball carries.
But only Tuffy Rhodes, who hit 464 longballs, and Orix slugger Alex Cabrera, who has 330, have at least 300 round-trippers.
Hayato Sakamoto and Michihiro Ogasawara also hit solo blasts, and Shun Tono (7-1) worked 8.1 innings before leaving Marc Kroon a mess to clean up for his Central League-leading seventh win. Kroon earned his sixth save after allowing a walk and a hit.
DRAGONS 5, BUFFALOES 4
Tony Blanco homered, and doubled in the tying run in the ninth -- his fourth RBI -- and Masaaki Koike ripped a walk-off single up the middle as host Chunichi rallied to beat Orix at Nagoya Dome.
It was Koike’s second career walk-off hit, and came on his 30th birthday.
TIGERS 3, EAGLES 2
Craig Brazell’s 13th homer, a solo shot, was the difference as Hanshin sacked Rakuten at Koshien Stadium.
CARP 1, FIGHTERS 0
Masato Akamatsu’s ninth-inning sayonara single to beat Nippon Ham was the first of his six-plus-year career and gave Hiroshima its fifth walk-off win this season.
LIONS 12, BAYSTARS 3
Last year’s Sawamura Award winner Hideaki Wakui (5-2) had two singles and a bases-clearing double for four RBIs, and also limited Yokohama to three runs over seven innings as Seibu cruised and moved back into first place in the Pacific League.
HAWKS 2, SWALLOWS 0
Munenori Kawasaki’s two-run second-inning single were all the runs Tsuyoshi Wada (5-3) needed as SoftBank topped Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Straight to the heart ...
Brown paints town Eagles red
Marty Brown has a special place in his heart for the Hiroshima Carp, the team he played for and managed. He was let go after last season, his fourth on the bench with the fish, but he painted Zoom-Zoom Stadium Eagles red with two straight interleague wins.
Andy Phillips broke a tie with an RBI single in the 10th inning as Rakuten outlasted the scrappy Carp 8-7 in Friday’s only game, the second of a pair in Hiroshima.
Phillips slugged a solo homer to give the Eagles the lead in the second inning, and pinch-hitter Takeshi Yamasaki socked a grand slam in the sixth inning to stake Darrell Rasner a 7-2 cushion. It was the veteran’s first pinch-hit slam, but Rasner coulnd’t make it out of the sixth inning, and the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead, allowing the Carp to even the score at 7-7 on Tsubasa Aizawa’s two-out RBI single in the eighth inning.
Phillips then singled home Teppei Tsuchiya with two outs in the 10th, and Yusuke Inoue (1-0) picked up his first pro win in his second outing, tossing a scoreless ninth.
Marty Brown has a special place in his heart for the Hiroshima Carp, the team he played for and managed. He was let go after last season, his fourth on the bench with the fish, but he painted Zoom-Zoom Stadium Eagles red with two straight interleague wins.
Andy Phillips broke a tie with an RBI single in the 10th inning as Rakuten outlasted the scrappy Carp 8-7 in Friday’s only game, the second of a pair in Hiroshima.
Phillips slugged a solo homer to give the Eagles the lead in the second inning, and pinch-hitter Takeshi Yamasaki socked a grand slam in the sixth inning to stake Darrell Rasner a 7-2 cushion. It was the veteran’s first pinch-hit slam, but Rasner coulnd’t make it out of the sixth inning, and the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead, allowing the Carp to even the score at 7-7 on Tsubasa Aizawa’s two-out RBI single in the eighth inning.
Phillips then singled home Teppei Tsuchiya with two outs in the 10th, and Yusuke Inoue (1-0) picked up his first pro win in his second outing, tossing a scoreless ninth.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Hara celebrates in style ...
Giants rout Lions to give skipper 500th victory
What a roll. The Yomiuri Giants rolled past the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions 9-1 on Thursday at Tokyo Dome and skipper Tatsunori Hara has now rolled up 500 wins.
It has taken the former Yomiuri star less than seven full seasons, and the milestone victory came in typical Giants fashion: a gaudy 13-hit game that featured four homers from the home team.
Hara, though, took the interleague game ball and hurled it into the stands, saying his number of wins is “because of everyone.”
Hara joins Tetsuharu Kawakami (1,066), Shigeo Nagashima (1,034) Shigeru Mizuhara (881) and Motoshi Fujita (516) as the only Yomiuri managers with at least 500 victories.
Alex Ramirez, one big fly away from 300 in his career, didn’t go deep on Thursday, but he had two hits and an RBI, while Edgar Gonzalez added two hits, including his first homer in Japan.
Hayato Sakamoto went deep twice and had three RBIs.
DRAGONS 3, HAWKS 1
Chen Wei-yin (2-4) allowed one run over seven innings and drove in the go-ahead run as host Chunichi opened the sixth year of interleague play by winning their first two against the PL for the first time.
FIGHTERS 8, TIGERS 4
Atsunori Inaba got Nippon Ham going with a two-run homer in the first inning, and added a two-run double in the seventh as the Fighters pulled away to top Hanshin at Koshien Stadium for its fifth straight win.
Kensuke Tanaka had four hits and two RBIs for the Fighters, who have won five straight.
EAGLES 6, CARP 4
Marty Brown returned to his old stomping ground as player and -- the last four years -- as manager and got a win behind three hits and four RBIs by Andy Phillips (who was with Hiroshima last season).
The Eagles put up six runs in two innings and held off the Carp at the Zoom.
MARINES 14, BAYSTARS 6
Tomokazu Oka left the mound with a one-run lead after five innings, but pinch-hitter Kazuya Fukuura’s grand slam -- overturned using video replay -- in the sixth inning to help lift Lotte past host Yokohama.
The Marines, who moved back into first place in the PL, slugged four longballs to send the BayStars to their fourth straight loss.
BUFFALOES 9, SWALLOWS 2
Alex Cabrera hit a grand slam and drove in a Japan-career-best seven to lead Orix over Yakult at Jingu Stadium for its third straight win.
Cabrera upped his average to .408.
What a roll. The Yomiuri Giants rolled past the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions 9-1 on Thursday at Tokyo Dome and skipper Tatsunori Hara has now rolled up 500 wins.
It has taken the former Yomiuri star less than seven full seasons, and the milestone victory came in typical Giants fashion: a gaudy 13-hit game that featured four homers from the home team.
Hara, though, took the interleague game ball and hurled it into the stands, saying his number of wins is “because of everyone.”
Hara joins Tetsuharu Kawakami (1,066), Shigeo Nagashima (1,034) Shigeru Mizuhara (881) and Motoshi Fujita (516) as the only Yomiuri managers with at least 500 victories.
Alex Ramirez, one big fly away from 300 in his career, didn’t go deep on Thursday, but he had two hits and an RBI, while Edgar Gonzalez added two hits, including his first homer in Japan.
Hayato Sakamoto went deep twice and had three RBIs.
DRAGONS 3, HAWKS 1
Chen Wei-yin (2-4) allowed one run over seven innings and drove in the go-ahead run as host Chunichi opened the sixth year of interleague play by winning their first two against the PL for the first time.
FIGHTERS 8, TIGERS 4
Atsunori Inaba got Nippon Ham going with a two-run homer in the first inning, and added a two-run double in the seventh as the Fighters pulled away to top Hanshin at Koshien Stadium for its fifth straight win.
Kensuke Tanaka had four hits and two RBIs for the Fighters, who have won five straight.
EAGLES 6, CARP 4
Marty Brown returned to his old stomping ground as player and -- the last four years -- as manager and got a win behind three hits and four RBIs by Andy Phillips (who was with Hiroshima last season).
The Eagles put up six runs in two innings and held off the Carp at the Zoom.
MARINES 14, BAYSTARS 6
Tomokazu Oka left the mound with a one-run lead after five innings, but pinch-hitter Kazuya Fukuura’s grand slam -- overturned using video replay -- in the sixth inning to help lift Lotte past host Yokohama.
The Marines, who moved back into first place in the PL, slugged four longballs to send the BayStars to their fourth straight loss.
BUFFALOES 9, SWALLOWS 2
Alex Cabrera hit a grand slam and drove in a Japan-career-best seven to lead Orix over Yakult at Jingu Stadium for its third straight win.
Cabrera upped his average to .408.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Intertwined ...
First things first as interleague play begins
The refreshing break from the team-limited leagues in Japan kicked off on Wednesday as interleague started with a night of great games. The defending Japan Series champion Yomiuri Giants, leaders of the Central League, fell to nemesis Takayuki Kishi and the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions.
Kishi (6-1), who tormented the Giants in helping the Lions beat Yomiuri in seven games in the 2008 Japan Series, tossed his second complete game this season and won his sixth straight decision in a 3-1 win at Tokyo Dome.
The right-hander scattered four hits, fanning nine and walking one, and retired the last 18 batters. Including Japan Series play, Kishi improved to 4-0 lifetime vs. the Giants.
The Giants wasted perhaps Dicky Gonzalez’s best performance of the season. The right-hander fell to 3-4, but scattered five hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks. He was hurt by a pair of solo homers, Dee Brown’s shot putting the Lions ahead in the fourth and Hiroyuki Nakajima’s shot adding insurance in the seventh. Nakajima’s scoring flyball in the fourth gave Seibu its first run.
Alex Ramirez, looking for his 300th homer, and Giants skipper Tatsunori Hara, a win away from 500, both got shut out of potential celebrations. The teams meet again tonight at the dome.
DRAGONS 5, HAWKS 1
Kazuhiro Wada hit his CL-high 13th longball and Kazuki Yoshimi (6-1) fired seven innings of one-run ball for his sixth straight win as Chunichi topped Fukuoka SoftBank at Nagoya Dome.
The Dragons, who had just seven stolen bases coming into the game, swiped five in eight innings vs. the Hawks, all with former Chunichi farm catcher Hidenori Tanoue behind the plate. Masahiko Morino had three hits for the Dragons, raising his CL-high average to .416.
FIGHTERS 4, TIGERS 2
Atsunori Inaba had three RBIs, including two on a ninth-inning homer that proved to be the difference as Nippon Ham topped Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.
Inaba’s fifth homer helped give Bobby Keppel (5-1) his fifth win on a team that’s 10 games under .500. Keppel threw a 127-pitch complete game, scattering eight hits and two walks with four punchouts.
BUFFALOES 2, SWALLOWS 1
Tomotaka Sakaguchi’s RBI triple in the top of the 10 th inning helped Orix get past CL cellar-dwelling Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Jon Leicester nailed it down with a perfect ninth, fanning two in the process. Kazuki Kondo held the Swallows to one run over seven innings but go a no-decision.
MARINES 2, BAYSTARS 1
Saburo Omura’s homer in the fourth inning -- his seventh -- broke a 1-1 tie and Shunsuke Watanabe (3-3) and three relievers kept Yokohama scoreless the rest of the way to beat former teammate Naoyuki Shimizu (4-3).
Shimizu allowed five hits and four walks over eight innings as the hard-luck loser.
The Rakuten Eagles and Hiroshima Carp were idle.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Career day ...
B’s take out M’s behind Baldiris
Aarom Baldiris had a career day, going 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs as the Orix Buffaloes avoided a sweep by routing the Lotte Marines 11-7 at Kyocera Dome Osaka on Sunday. Baldiris has a great gig, but it was a career day nonetheless.
Baldiris, batting in the No. 7 slot, cracked a two-run homer in a five-run fifth inning that boosted the B’s to an 11-4 lead, and Orix needed Jon Leicester to record a four-out save, escaping two bases-loaded jams along the way, to close out the victory for the Pacific League’s fourth-place Buffalos.
Baldiris, a Venezuelan whose English isn’t exactly the most quotable, said he felt good at the plate in the on-field postgame interview. The infielder had never had a three-hit game in two-seasons with the Hanshin Tigers. He homered for the second time in as many days, and his four knocks upped his average to .378.
Leicester picked up his sixth save, his first since April 18, closing it out for Hiroshi Kisanuki (3-4). The starter worked five-plus innings, allowing four runs on six hits, three walks and a hit batter.
LIONS 4, HAWKS 1
Kazuyuki Hoashi (5-2) held SoftBank to one run over eight innings as Seibu moved into first place in the PL with a win at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
FIGHTERS 7, EAGLES 3
Shinji Takahashi’s seventh-innning, two-out grand slam, his third hit against Rakuten, broke a tie and powered host Nippon Ham.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 7, BAYSTARS 5
Stephen Randolph can’t win and Tetsuya Utsumi has yet to lose. Randolph (0-6) gave up five runs before recording an out and the front-running Giants won their fifth straight and moved 12 games above .500 with a win in Niigata.
Utusmi (5-0) allowed three runs in five innings, and four releivers protected the lead.
SWALLOWS 9, DRAGONS 0
Kyohei Muranaka (3-4) tossed seven scoreless innnigs, and Jamie D’Antona had three hits -- including a two-run homer -- as Yakult blanked Chunichi to salvage the finale of their three-game series at Nagoya Dome.
TIGERS 4, CARP 3
Craig Brazell went deep twice and Matt Murton drove in what proved to be the difference with a two-run double in the seventh as Hanshin held off Hiroshima at Koshien Stadium.
Aarom Baldiris had a career day, going 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs as the Orix Buffaloes avoided a sweep by routing the Lotte Marines 11-7 at Kyocera Dome Osaka on Sunday. Baldiris has a great gig, but it was a career day nonetheless.
Baldiris, batting in the No. 7 slot, cracked a two-run homer in a five-run fifth inning that boosted the B’s to an 11-4 lead, and Orix needed Jon Leicester to record a four-out save, escaping two bases-loaded jams along the way, to close out the victory for the Pacific League’s fourth-place Buffalos.
Baldiris, a Venezuelan whose English isn’t exactly the most quotable, said he felt good at the plate in the on-field postgame interview. The infielder had never had a three-hit game in two-seasons with the Hanshin Tigers. He homered for the second time in as many days, and his four knocks upped his average to .378.
Leicester picked up his sixth save, his first since April 18, closing it out for Hiroshi Kisanuki (3-4). The starter worked five-plus innings, allowing four runs on six hits, three walks and a hit batter.
LIONS 4, HAWKS 1
Kazuyuki Hoashi (5-2) held SoftBank to one run over eight innings as Seibu moved into first place in the PL with a win at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
FIGHTERS 7, EAGLES 3
Shinji Takahashi’s seventh-innning, two-out grand slam, his third hit against Rakuten, broke a tie and powered host Nippon Ham.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 7, BAYSTARS 5
Stephen Randolph can’t win and Tetsuya Utsumi has yet to lose. Randolph (0-6) gave up five runs before recording an out and the front-running Giants won their fifth straight and moved 12 games above .500 with a win in Niigata.
Utusmi (5-0) allowed three runs in five innings, and four releivers protected the lead.
SWALLOWS 9, DRAGONS 0
Kyohei Muranaka (3-4) tossed seven scoreless innnigs, and Jamie D’Antona had three hits -- including a two-run homer -- as Yakult blanked Chunichi to salvage the finale of their three-game series at Nagoya Dome.
TIGERS 4, CARP 3
Craig Brazell went deep twice and Matt Murton drove in what proved to be the difference with a two-run double in the seventh as Hanshin held off Hiroshima at Koshien Stadium.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Hurlers put on show
Hokkaido Nippon Ham ace Yu Darvish and Rakuten No. 1 hurler Hisashi Iwakuma fired blanks for the teams for nine innings at Sappor Dome on Saturday.
The moment they left the mound, the game was decided. Atsunori Inaba’s RBI single to center in the 10th inning gave the Fighters a 1-0 walk-off win in a pitchers’ duel that saw Darvish throw 156 pitches while Iwakuma tossed 127.
Dravish scattered six hits and a pair of walks and Iwakuma allowed seven hits with no walks. Darvish fanned 11 and Ikakuma seven as both got a no-decision.
The win did little to help the struggling Fighters, who are in the Pacific League cellar at 13-25 after winning the league pennant last season.
HAWKS 3, LIONS 1
Jose Ortiz continued his hot start to the season, slugging his PL-best 13 th homer in the first inning, and Hitoshi Tamura had an RBI double and a homer as Fukuoka got past Seibu at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
Toshiya Sugiuchi (7-1) won his fifth straight decision, allowing a run on eight hits and three walks while fanning five over six innings.
MARINES 9, BUFFALOES 3
Tomoya Satozaki stroked a pair of homers and drove in four, and South Korean Kim Tae Kyun added a three-run blast as front-running Lotte pounded Orix at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Lotte ace Yoshihisa Naruse (5-3) allowed three runs over 6.2 innings to earn the win.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
DRAGONS 1, SWALLOWS 0
Yakult rookie right-hander Masato Nakazawa (3-1) allowed two just hits, but the second one was a two-out ninth-inning solo blast to Kazuhiro Wada as Chunihi downed the Swallows at Nagoya Dome.
Chunichi starter Soma Yamauchi didn’t get the win, but surrendered just three hits over eight inning to send the Swallows to their sixth straight loss.
CARP 11, TIGERS 8
Jeff Fiorentino was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and Kenta Kurihara doubled, homered and drove in two as Hiroshima topped Hanshin at Koshien.
GIANTS 4, BAYSTARS 3
Ryota Wakiya capped a three-run fifth inning that proved to be the difference as Yomiuri held off host Yokohama.
The moment they left the mound, the game was decided. Atsunori Inaba’s RBI single to center in the 10th inning gave the Fighters a 1-0 walk-off win in a pitchers’ duel that saw Darvish throw 156 pitches while Iwakuma tossed 127.
Dravish scattered six hits and a pair of walks and Iwakuma allowed seven hits with no walks. Darvish fanned 11 and Ikakuma seven as both got a no-decision.
The win did little to help the struggling Fighters, who are in the Pacific League cellar at 13-25 after winning the league pennant last season.
HAWKS 3, LIONS 1
Jose Ortiz continued his hot start to the season, slugging his PL-best 13 th homer in the first inning, and Hitoshi Tamura had an RBI double and a homer as Fukuoka got past Seibu at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
Toshiya Sugiuchi (7-1) won his fifth straight decision, allowing a run on eight hits and three walks while fanning five over six innings.
MARINES 9, BUFFALOES 3
Tomoya Satozaki stroked a pair of homers and drove in four, and South Korean Kim Tae Kyun added a three-run blast as front-running Lotte pounded Orix at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Lotte ace Yoshihisa Naruse (5-3) allowed three runs over 6.2 innings to earn the win.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
DRAGONS 1, SWALLOWS 0
Yakult rookie right-hander Masato Nakazawa (3-1) allowed two just hits, but the second one was a two-out ninth-inning solo blast to Kazuhiro Wada as Chunihi downed the Swallows at Nagoya Dome.
Chunichi starter Soma Yamauchi didn’t get the win, but surrendered just three hits over eight inning to send the Swallows to their sixth straight loss.
CARP 11, TIGERS 8
Jeff Fiorentino was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and Kenta Kurihara doubled, homered and drove in two as Hiroshima topped Hanshin at Koshien.
GIANTS 4, BAYSTARS 3
Ryota Wakiya capped a three-run fifth inning that proved to be the difference as Yomiuri held off host Yokohama.
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