Nakajima uses arm, bat to down Hawks
Seibu showed the heart of a Lion on Sunday night, coming back from three runs down to beat the SoftBank Hawks and move back into first place, thanks to Hiroyuki Nakajima.
The All-Star shortstop made a key relay throw to nail the potential go-ahead run at the plate in the plate in the eighth inning and put the Lions ahead in the bottom of the frame with an RBI double that keyed a three-run rally giving the Lions a 7-4 win and a sweep of three at Seibu Dome.
The Lions are a half-game ahead of the Hawks in the Pacific League.
Takumi Kuriyama led off the eighth with a double off Brian Falkenborg (3-2), who had only allowed two runs in his previous 42 games, and Nakajima doubled him home. Jose Fernandez doubled in Nakajima and Dee Brown’s single capped the rally.
With the score tied in eighth and a runner on second, more often than not hitters are asked to lay one down. Not the Lions' No. 3 hitter.
“The skipper didn’t ask me to bunt, so I really wanted to take advantage of a situation in which he let me swing away,” said Nakajima, who also had an RBI single in the fifth.
“This was a big game, so I’m just really very happy.”
Brian Sikorski extended his career-best save total by retiring the side in order for his 27th.
EAGLES 7, FIGHTERS 1
Sho Nakata stayed hot, homering for the fourth straight game, but that was the only run off Masahiro Tanaka (10-6), who scattered seven hits, walked none and fanned 11 as Rakuten knocked off Nippon Ham at Sapporo Dome.
Takeshi Yamasaki had three hits and drove in three, and Teppei Tsuchiya also had three hits and an RBI.
The red-hot Nakata has eight homers in 11 games.
MARINES 8, BUFFALOES 6
Kazuya Fukuura homered, doubled and drove in three to help Lotte, which saw its 6-1 lead shrink to one in the seventh, held off Orix at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 7, CARP
Rakuten castoff Hideki Asai tossed seven scoreless innings in his season debut, and Alex Ramirez stroked his lead-high 36th homer as the Giants extended their CL lead to 1.5 games by avoiding a sweep by lowly Hiroshima.
SWALLOWS 11, BAYSTARS 4
Ryoji Aikawa had a two three-run homers and an RBI single for a career-best seven RBIs as Yakult swept host Yokohama.
The BayStars dropped to 30 games under .500, allowing 55 hits in a series in which they gave up double digits in runs over three games for the first time since June 1984.
DRAGONS 10, TIGERS 0
Kenichi Nakata (4-2) fired his second shutout, a four-hitter, and Hidenori Kuramoto tripled and drove in three as Chunichi swept Hanshin at Nagoya Dome.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Seems like older times ...
44-year-old Yamamoto shuts down Tigers
Mired in a pitching slump last season Masahiro Yamamoto was banished to the farm team last September.
He resurfaced to make his season debut on Saturday at Nagoya Dome, tossing six innings of one-run ball and leading the Chunichi Dragons to a 4-1 win over the Central League’s second-place Hanshin Tigers. With the victory, he tied 47-year-old Seibu Lions lefty Kimiyasu Kudo’s record of posting a victory over 23 consecutive seasons.
Yamamoto didn’t allow a hit until a one-out single in the fourth inning by Takashi Toritani. The southpaw allowed a run in the sixth before departing, and the bullpen retired nine of 10 to close it out, with Hitoki Iwase collecting his CL-best 30th save. It was the sixth straight season Iwase has record at least 30 saves.
Yamamoto, a 25-year vet, posted his 45th victory over the Tigers and became the player with the longest career after Kudo [in his 29th season] and Katsuya Nomura [who played 26 years].
The second-place Tigers remained a half-game back in the standings.
CARP 8, GIANTS 2
Hiroshima beat up Yomiuri starter Satoshi Fukuda (2-3) for seven straight hits in the second inning to take the first two of a three-game set at Tokyo Dome.
Kenta Kurihara, back after being out injured for two months, returned with a bang, cracking his eighth homer to go with a single to power the Carp past the front-running Giants.
SWALLOWS 10, BAYSTARS 7
Josh Whitesell had a homer, a double and three RBIs to power host Yakult past lowly Yokohama.
Shinichi Takeuchi had three hits and two RBIs, and Kazuhiro Hatakeyama added a pair of hits and drove in two for Yakult.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
FIGHTERS 8, EAGLES 3
Sho Nakata blasted his seventh homer in 10 games, and Shota Ono led a trio of others with three hits by doubling twice and singling in a run.
Masaru Takeda (9-6) surrendered 10 hits over eight innings, but walked none and fanned 10 to earn the win.
MARINES 4, BUFFALES 0
Yuji Yoshimi (4-5) fired a six-hitter, walking two and fanning eight, for his first shutout (the fourth of his career) since June 19, 2007, as Lotte blanked Orix at Skymark Stadium.
Tadahito Iguchi and Kim Tae Kyun both homered and drove in two runs each for the Marines, who clinched their first series win in three matchups.
LIONS 5, HAWKS 4
Takumi Kuriyama had three hits and two RBIs, and Hiroyuki Nakajima also had three hits and drove in a run to lead Seibu past SoftBank for the second straight night at Seibu Dome.
It was the fifth straight loss for SoftBank.
Mired in a pitching slump last season Masahiro Yamamoto was banished to the farm team last September.
He resurfaced to make his season debut on Saturday at Nagoya Dome, tossing six innings of one-run ball and leading the Chunichi Dragons to a 4-1 win over the Central League’s second-place Hanshin Tigers. With the victory, he tied 47-year-old Seibu Lions lefty Kimiyasu Kudo’s record of posting a victory over 23 consecutive seasons.
Yamamoto didn’t allow a hit until a one-out single in the fourth inning by Takashi Toritani. The southpaw allowed a run in the sixth before departing, and the bullpen retired nine of 10 to close it out, with Hitoki Iwase collecting his CL-best 30th save. It was the sixth straight season Iwase has record at least 30 saves.
Yamamoto, a 25-year vet, posted his 45th victory over the Tigers and became the player with the longest career after Kudo [in his 29th season] and Katsuya Nomura [who played 26 years].
The second-place Tigers remained a half-game back in the standings.
CARP 8, GIANTS 2
Hiroshima beat up Yomiuri starter Satoshi Fukuda (2-3) for seven straight hits in the second inning to take the first two of a three-game set at Tokyo Dome.
Kenta Kurihara, back after being out injured for two months, returned with a bang, cracking his eighth homer to go with a single to power the Carp past the front-running Giants.
SWALLOWS 10, BAYSTARS 7
Josh Whitesell had a homer, a double and three RBIs to power host Yakult past lowly Yokohama.
Shinichi Takeuchi had three hits and two RBIs, and Kazuhiro Hatakeyama added a pair of hits and drove in two for Yakult.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
FIGHTERS 8, EAGLES 3
Sho Nakata blasted his seventh homer in 10 games, and Shota Ono led a trio of others with three hits by doubling twice and singling in a run.
Masaru Takeda (9-6) surrendered 10 hits over eight innings, but walked none and fanned 10 to earn the win.
MARINES 4, BUFFALES 0
Yuji Yoshimi (4-5) fired a six-hitter, walking two and fanning eight, for his first shutout (the fourth of his career) since June 19, 2007, as Lotte blanked Orix at Skymark Stadium.
Tadahito Iguchi and Kim Tae Kyun both homered and drove in two runs each for the Marines, who clinched their first series win in three matchups.
LIONS 5, HAWKS 4
Takumi Kuriyama had three hits and two RBIs, and Hiroyuki Nakajima also had three hits and drove in a run to lead Seibu past SoftBank for the second straight night at Seibu Dome.
It was the fifth straight loss for SoftBank.
Friday, August 6, 2010
The ‘Sho’ is finally on ...
Nataka’s 2 blasts power Fighters past Eagles
Third-year Nippon Ham slugger Sho Nakata was the talk of the town before he ever took a swing in Japan pro baseball. Unfortunately for him it was all talk.
But he’s being talked about now for all the right reasons. The 21-year-old had his first two-homer game, cracking a pair of longballs in back-to-back at-bats Friday and driving in four to help the Fighters come back to top the Rakuten Eagles 10-4 at Sapporo Dome.
Nakata’s sixth homer over his past 10 games backed Yu Darvish, who went eight innings to earn double digits in victories for the fifth straight season.
“Up to now, he [Darvish] has just gotten mad at me all the time. So I thought he was going to say something nice to me after the game, but he just said, ‘Don’t be satisfied with two homers,’” said Nakata, who fanned in his first two trips to the plate.
“I struck out easily my first two at-bats, so I just wanted to get on base and I wanted to take a good swing,” he said of his third at-bat.
Darvish (10-5) needed the support. He wasn’t sharp, allowing seven hits, two walks and hitting two. The righty fanned 12 and is five behind PL leader Toshiya Sugiuchi of SoftBank with 155.
The only negative for the Fighters came when Kensuke Tanaka had to leave the game in the eighth after being hit in the head by a throw while running the bases. He was removed for precautionary reasons. Tanaka had played every inning of every game since 2007, but that string was snapped.
LIONS 10, HAWKS 4
Hiroyuki Nakajima homered, doubled and drove in five runs as Seibu beat up SoftBank at Seibu Dome.
Ace Hideaki Wakui (12-6), coming off his worst beating as a pro, wasn’t his usual dominant self but worked around nine hits and a walk with a half-dozen Ks to earn the win.
MARINES 3, BUFFALOES 2
Rookie Ikuhiro Kiyota’s three-run double in the ninth -- after Hiroshi Kisanuki (9-7) walked the bases loaded -- broke a scoreless tie and lifted Lotte over Orix at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Yoshihisa Naruse (9-9) went the distance, allowing Alex Cabrera’s two-run homer in the ninth before closing out the Buffaloes to snap a seven^game skid.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
CARP 4, GIANTS 1
Kenta Maeda (12-5) battled through eight innings and Soichiro Amaya belted a two-run homer to break a 1-1 tie in the fifth as Hiroshima downed Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome.
Maeda, tied for the league lead in victories, has all three of the Carp’s wins over the Giants this season. He allowed seven hits and a walk, while punching out three.
The Giants, who remained in first place, left four runners at third base.
DRAGONS 4, TIGERS 1
Kazuhiro Wada, the CL’s leading hitter at .364, doubled in the tie-breaking run in the fifth and brothers Naomichi and Takehiro Donoue each had RBIs as third-place Chunichi topped second-place Hanshin to stop a five-game slide.
Kazuki Yoshimi (9-6) went 7.2 innings, allowing a run on four hits and two walks, while fanning five.
SWALLOWS 16, BAYSTARS 4
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama had a homer among his three hits, and even starter Shohei Tateyama (5-5) went deep as visiting Yakult embarrassed Yokohama.
Third-year Nippon Ham slugger Sho Nakata was the talk of the town before he ever took a swing in Japan pro baseball. Unfortunately for him it was all talk.
But he’s being talked about now for all the right reasons. The 21-year-old had his first two-homer game, cracking a pair of longballs in back-to-back at-bats Friday and driving in four to help the Fighters come back to top the Rakuten Eagles 10-4 at Sapporo Dome.
Nakata’s sixth homer over his past 10 games backed Yu Darvish, who went eight innings to earn double digits in victories for the fifth straight season.
“Up to now, he [Darvish] has just gotten mad at me all the time. So I thought he was going to say something nice to me after the game, but he just said, ‘Don’t be satisfied with two homers,’” said Nakata, who fanned in his first two trips to the plate.
“I struck out easily my first two at-bats, so I just wanted to get on base and I wanted to take a good swing,” he said of his third at-bat.
Darvish (10-5) needed the support. He wasn’t sharp, allowing seven hits, two walks and hitting two. The righty fanned 12 and is five behind PL leader Toshiya Sugiuchi of SoftBank with 155.
The only negative for the Fighters came when Kensuke Tanaka had to leave the game in the eighth after being hit in the head by a throw while running the bases. He was removed for precautionary reasons. Tanaka had played every inning of every game since 2007, but that string was snapped.
LIONS 10, HAWKS 4
Hiroyuki Nakajima homered, doubled and drove in five runs as Seibu beat up SoftBank at Seibu Dome.
Ace Hideaki Wakui (12-6), coming off his worst beating as a pro, wasn’t his usual dominant self but worked around nine hits and a walk with a half-dozen Ks to earn the win.
MARINES 3, BUFFALOES 2
Rookie Ikuhiro Kiyota’s three-run double in the ninth -- after Hiroshi Kisanuki (9-7) walked the bases loaded -- broke a scoreless tie and lifted Lotte over Orix at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Yoshihisa Naruse (9-9) went the distance, allowing Alex Cabrera’s two-run homer in the ninth before closing out the Buffaloes to snap a seven^game skid.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
CARP 4, GIANTS 1
Kenta Maeda (12-5) battled through eight innings and Soichiro Amaya belted a two-run homer to break a 1-1 tie in the fifth as Hiroshima downed Yomiuri at Tokyo Dome.
Maeda, tied for the league lead in victories, has all three of the Carp’s wins over the Giants this season. He allowed seven hits and a walk, while punching out three.
The Giants, who remained in first place, left four runners at third base.
DRAGONS 4, TIGERS 1
Kazuhiro Wada, the CL’s leading hitter at .364, doubled in the tie-breaking run in the fifth and brothers Naomichi and Takehiro Donoue each had RBIs as third-place Chunichi topped second-place Hanshin to stop a five-game slide.
Kazuki Yoshimi (9-6) went 7.2 innings, allowing a run on four hits and two walks, while fanning five.
SWALLOWS 16, BAYSTARS 4
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama had a homer among his three hits, and even starter Shohei Tateyama (5-5) went deep as visiting Yakult embarrassed Yokohama.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Knock-down, drag-out ...
Giants pull out series finale, move back atop CL
The Giants got a much-needed quality start from Shun Tono and production from Yoshinobu Takahashi, who hit a three-run homer, to take the series finale over the Hanshin Tigers 9-1 Thursday at Tokyo Dome.
Tono limited the Tigers to one run over 6.2 innings for his Central League-leading 12th win as the Giants took the rubber game in a three-game set to move a half-game ahead of Hanshin atop the standings.
Tono (12-3), Yomiuri skipper Tatsunori Hara’s whipping boy at times last season, allowed five hits and four walks, while fanning 11. He hasn’t lost in seven career appearances against Hanshin.
Yomiuri’s Ryota Wakiya broke the CL record for consecutive games with a run, scoring in his 15th straight. Wakiya singled in the second inning and came home on Tetsuya Matsumoto’s double just inside the left-field line.
Wakiya broke Takao Sato's record of 14 set in 1952 with the Kokutetsu Swallows.
“This is the kind of record you can’t set on your own, so I want to take the time to thank my teammates for this,” Wakiya said.
SWALLOWS 5, DRAGONS 0
A week after tossing his first career complete game, third-year righty Yoshinori Sato hurled a five-hitter in his first shutout as Yakult blanked third-place Chunichi at Jingu Stadium.
The 20-year-old Sato (7-6), who fanned eight and walked one, was helped by four double plays and Shinichi Takeuchi’s three-run homer in the first to send the Dragons to their fifth straight loss.
CARP 4, BAYSTARS 0
Former Los Angeles Dodger Eric Stults (4-7) had his best performance in Japan, firing eight scoreless innings as Hiroshima topped Yokohama at The Zoom.
Stults allowed one hit, walked two and fanned nine, and got support from Jun Hirose and Akihiro Higashide each had two hits and an RBI.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
EAGLES 9, MARINES 3
Daisuke Kusano and Suguru Ino each three hits, and Satoshi Nagai (7-7) tossed his first complete game of the season as Rakuten topped Lotte again at The Kleenex Box.
The Marines, who saw skipper rookie Norifumi Nishimura get his first ejection for grabbing an umpire while arguing a call, lost their 13th consecutive game at The Kleenex Box and their season-worst seventh straight overall.
The Marines fell into fourth place.
BUFFALOES 9, LIONS 4
Takahiro “T.O.” Okada slugged a pair of homers, his 27th and 28th, and drove in four to take over the PL lead in RBIs to power Orix past Seibu for their fourth straight win, lifting it into third place.
Francisco Caraballo also slugged a two-run homer for the Buffaloes, who are five games over .500.
The Giants got a much-needed quality start from Shun Tono and production from Yoshinobu Takahashi, who hit a three-run homer, to take the series finale over the Hanshin Tigers 9-1 Thursday at Tokyo Dome.
Tono limited the Tigers to one run over 6.2 innings for his Central League-leading 12th win as the Giants took the rubber game in a three-game set to move a half-game ahead of Hanshin atop the standings.
Tono (12-3), Yomiuri skipper Tatsunori Hara’s whipping boy at times last season, allowed five hits and four walks, while fanning 11. He hasn’t lost in seven career appearances against Hanshin.
Yomiuri’s Ryota Wakiya broke the CL record for consecutive games with a run, scoring in his 15th straight. Wakiya singled in the second inning and came home on Tetsuya Matsumoto’s double just inside the left-field line.
Wakiya broke Takao Sato's record of 14 set in 1952 with the Kokutetsu Swallows.
“This is the kind of record you can’t set on your own, so I want to take the time to thank my teammates for this,” Wakiya said.
SWALLOWS 5, DRAGONS 0
A week after tossing his first career complete game, third-year righty Yoshinori Sato hurled a five-hitter in his first shutout as Yakult blanked third-place Chunichi at Jingu Stadium.
The 20-year-old Sato (7-6), who fanned eight and walked one, was helped by four double plays and Shinichi Takeuchi’s three-run homer in the first to send the Dragons to their fifth straight loss.
CARP 4, BAYSTARS 0
Former Los Angeles Dodger Eric Stults (4-7) had his best performance in Japan, firing eight scoreless innings as Hiroshima topped Yokohama at The Zoom.
Stults allowed one hit, walked two and fanned nine, and got support from Jun Hirose and Akihiro Higashide each had two hits and an RBI.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
EAGLES 9, MARINES 3
Daisuke Kusano and Suguru Ino each three hits, and Satoshi Nagai (7-7) tossed his first complete game of the season as Rakuten topped Lotte again at The Kleenex Box.
The Marines, who saw skipper rookie Norifumi Nishimura get his first ejection for grabbing an umpire while arguing a call, lost their 13th consecutive game at The Kleenex Box and their season-worst seventh straight overall.
The Marines fell into fourth place.
BUFFALOES 9, LIONS 4
Takahiro “T.O.” Okada slugged a pair of homers, his 27th and 28th, and drove in four to take over the PL lead in RBIs to power Orix past Seibu for their fourth straight win, lifting it into third place.
Francisco Caraballo also slugged a two-run homer for the Buffaloes, who are five games over .500.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Back in the saddle ...
Tigers trounce Giants to regain CL’s top spot
The three-time defending Central League champion Yomiuri Giants were the runaway favorites to repeat this year. Now they’re running into trouble.
The Tigers banged out five hits in a four-run second inning, and first-year import Randy Messenger went seven innings in his longest outing as Hanshin retook first place by a half-game, pounding the Giants 8-4 on Wednesday at Tokyo Dome.
Keiichi Hirano had three hits, including a three-run bomb -- his first of the season -- and had four RBIs to back Messenger (3-1).
Alex Ramirez drilled his league-high 35 th homer, a solo shot in the fourth.
Messenger hit a drive to left in the second inning that was initially ruled a homer but umpires used video review to change the call to a double. Messenger eventually scored Takashi Toritani’s clutch single to make it 3-0 Tigers.
Yomiuri’s Ryota Wakiya blasted a two-run homer in the ninth inning to give him 14 consecutive games with a run scored, tying the CL record.
SWALLOWS 4, DRAGONS 2
Masanori Ishikawa (7-8) shut down Chunichi over 6.2 innings as host Yakult sent the Dragons to their fourth straight loss.
BAYSTARS 6, CARP 5
Tatsuhiko Kinjo’s fly to right was just deep enough to score Shingo Nonaka from third in the ninth inning of a four-hour, 23-minute struggle with Hiroshima that Yokohama won at The Zoom.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
EAGLES 5, MARINES 3
Takeshi Yamasaki broke a 3-3 tie with his 20th homer, a two-run shot, in the eighth inning as Rakuten downed visiting Lotte, which lost its season-worst sixth straight.
The Eagles had just seen the potential go-ahead run called out at the plate when Teppei Tsuchiya doubled into the right-field corner with runners on first and second. Shunsuke Uchimura was ruled to have slid past the plate and Lotte catcher Tomoya Satozaki applied the late tag to keep the score tied.
Yamasaki made up for that, taking Yasuhiko Yabuta (1-4) deep to left for a clutch game-winning homer, making it four straight years -- his 10th time overall -- he has hit at least 20 longballs. He is the third player in NPB history to hit at least 20 at 42 years old.
FIGHTERS 6, HAWKS 4
Eiichi Koyano took over the PL RBI lead by slugging his career-best 11th homer, and three others went deep to beat SoftBank at Asahikawa, Hokkaido.
SoftBank’s Tsuyoshi Wada (13-5) saw his personal four-game winning streak snapped after getting battered for a career-worst four long balls.
Nippon Ham’s 42-year-old righty Masao Kida (5-1) won his third straight start with five solid innings.
BUFFALOES 6, LIONS 5, 11 INNINGS
Orix slugger Takahiro “T.O.” Okada drove in the winning run with the fourth straight single off 47-year-old Seibu hurler Kimiyasu Kudo, who didn’t retire a batter in the 11th at Kyocera Dome.
The three-time defending Central League champion Yomiuri Giants were the runaway favorites to repeat this year. Now they’re running into trouble.
The Tigers banged out five hits in a four-run second inning, and first-year import Randy Messenger went seven innings in his longest outing as Hanshin retook first place by a half-game, pounding the Giants 8-4 on Wednesday at Tokyo Dome.
Keiichi Hirano had three hits, including a three-run bomb -- his first of the season -- and had four RBIs to back Messenger (3-1).
Alex Ramirez drilled his league-high 35 th homer, a solo shot in the fourth.
Messenger hit a drive to left in the second inning that was initially ruled a homer but umpires used video review to change the call to a double. Messenger eventually scored Takashi Toritani’s clutch single to make it 3-0 Tigers.
Yomiuri’s Ryota Wakiya blasted a two-run homer in the ninth inning to give him 14 consecutive games with a run scored, tying the CL record.
SWALLOWS 4, DRAGONS 2
Masanori Ishikawa (7-8) shut down Chunichi over 6.2 innings as host Yakult sent the Dragons to their fourth straight loss.
BAYSTARS 6, CARP 5
Tatsuhiko Kinjo’s fly to right was just deep enough to score Shingo Nonaka from third in the ninth inning of a four-hour, 23-minute struggle with Hiroshima that Yokohama won at The Zoom.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
EAGLES 5, MARINES 3
Takeshi Yamasaki broke a 3-3 tie with his 20th homer, a two-run shot, in the eighth inning as Rakuten downed visiting Lotte, which lost its season-worst sixth straight.
The Eagles had just seen the potential go-ahead run called out at the plate when Teppei Tsuchiya doubled into the right-field corner with runners on first and second. Shunsuke Uchimura was ruled to have slid past the plate and Lotte catcher Tomoya Satozaki applied the late tag to keep the score tied.
Yamasaki made up for that, taking Yasuhiko Yabuta (1-4) deep to left for a clutch game-winning homer, making it four straight years -- his 10th time overall -- he has hit at least 20 longballs. He is the third player in NPB history to hit at least 20 at 42 years old.
FIGHTERS 6, HAWKS 4
Eiichi Koyano took over the PL RBI lead by slugging his career-best 11th homer, and three others went deep to beat SoftBank at Asahikawa, Hokkaido.
SoftBank’s Tsuyoshi Wada (13-5) saw his personal four-game winning streak snapped after getting battered for a career-worst four long balls.
Nippon Ham’s 42-year-old righty Masao Kida (5-1) won his third straight start with five solid innings.
BUFFALOES 6, LIONS 5, 11 INNINGS
Orix slugger Takahiro “T.O.” Okada drove in the winning run with the fourth straight single off 47-year-old Seibu hurler Kimiyasu Kudo, who didn’t retire a batter in the 11th at Kyocera Dome.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Yomiuri finishes with a kick …
Giants win despite having starter KO’d by comebacker
The Yomiuri Giant lost starter Seth Greisinger in the second inning, but hit back to jump back into first place.
Michihiro Ogasawara homered and had an RBI single, and recently activated Takahiko Nomaguchi (1-0) fired four scoreless innings in relief as the Giants downed the Hanshin Tigers 6-2 on Tuesday at Tokyo Dome.
Greisinger was forced to leave the game after a one-hopper off the bat of Hanshin’s Craig Brazell nailed him in the leg. Nomaguchi held the Tigers to three hits, while walking two for his first win in two years.
The Giants edged ahead of the Tigers into first place in the Central League by a half-game for the first time since the All-Star break.
Shinnosuke Abe, who came on late in the game to catch, clubbed a three-run shot in the eighth -- his career-best-tying 32nd -- to put the game out of reach.
Tetsuya Yamaguchi, the fourth reliever, worked 1.2 innings, but needed help from Daisuke Ochi to close it out.
Ryota Wakiya scored in a Yomiuri club-record 13th straight game.
SWALLOWS 3, DRAGONS 2
Josh Whitesell, hitting .311 since being picked up on June 18, hit a two-run homer -- his seventh -- to cap a three-run first inning that carried Yakult past visiting Chunichi.
Kyohei Muranaka (8-7) held the Dragons to a run over 6.2 innings to earn the win.
CARP 5, BAYSTARS 1
Jun Hirose and Akihiro Higashide each homered and Junpei Shinoda (5-4) pitched six innings of one-run ball as Hiroshima topped Yokohama to halt a six-game skid at The Zoom.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
ORIX 6, LIONS 5
Takahiro “T.O.” Okada ripped a pair of homers and drove in three, and Chihiro Kaneko (10-7) went six strong innings as Orix outlasted visiting Seibu.
Aarom Baldiris and Mitsutaka Goto also homered to offset two longballs and four RBIs from Seibu’s Dee Brown.
FIGHTERS 13, HAWKS 4
Hichori Morimoto had four hits and two RBIs, and Atsunori Inaba had two hits and two RBIs on his 38th birthday as Nippon Ham topped SoftBank at Asahikawa, Hokkaido.
EAGLES 5, MARINES 3
Norihiro Nakamura’s clutch three-run homer in the fourth helped Rakuten top Lotte at The Kleenex Box.
The Yomiuri Giant lost starter Seth Greisinger in the second inning, but hit back to jump back into first place.
Michihiro Ogasawara homered and had an RBI single, and recently activated Takahiko Nomaguchi (1-0) fired four scoreless innings in relief as the Giants downed the Hanshin Tigers 6-2 on Tuesday at Tokyo Dome.
Greisinger was forced to leave the game after a one-hopper off the bat of Hanshin’s Craig Brazell nailed him in the leg. Nomaguchi held the Tigers to three hits, while walking two for his first win in two years.
The Giants edged ahead of the Tigers into first place in the Central League by a half-game for the first time since the All-Star break.
Shinnosuke Abe, who came on late in the game to catch, clubbed a three-run shot in the eighth -- his career-best-tying 32nd -- to put the game out of reach.
Tetsuya Yamaguchi, the fourth reliever, worked 1.2 innings, but needed help from Daisuke Ochi to close it out.
Ryota Wakiya scored in a Yomiuri club-record 13th straight game.
SWALLOWS 3, DRAGONS 2
Josh Whitesell, hitting .311 since being picked up on June 18, hit a two-run homer -- his seventh -- to cap a three-run first inning that carried Yakult past visiting Chunichi.
Kyohei Muranaka (8-7) held the Dragons to a run over 6.2 innings to earn the win.
CARP 5, BAYSTARS 1
Jun Hirose and Akihiro Higashide each homered and Junpei Shinoda (5-4) pitched six innings of one-run ball as Hiroshima topped Yokohama to halt a six-game skid at The Zoom.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
ORIX 6, LIONS 5
Takahiro “T.O.” Okada ripped a pair of homers and drove in three, and Chihiro Kaneko (10-7) went six strong innings as Orix outlasted visiting Seibu.
Aarom Baldiris and Mitsutaka Goto also homered to offset two longballs and four RBIs from Seibu’s Dee Brown.
FIGHTERS 13, HAWKS 4
Hichori Morimoto had four hits and two RBIs, and Atsunori Inaba had two hits and two RBIs on his 38th birthday as Nippon Ham topped SoftBank at Asahikawa, Hokkaido.
EAGLES 5, MARINES 3
Norihiro Nakamura’s clutch three-run homer in the fourth helped Rakuten top Lotte at The Kleenex Box.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Part-time player, big-time contributor ...
Sato takes advantage of rare start to KO Fighters
Tomoaki Sato doesn’t get much playing time, but he had four hits and played a big-time role in Sunday’s 7-6 stress-filled victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters at Obihiro Forest Stadium in Hokkaido.
The Lions took a 6-0 lead only to have the Fighters come back to even things up with two in the seventh inning.
Sato took a fastball from Kazumasa Kikuchi (1-0) and shot it to the wall in left to score the winning run with two outs in the top of the ninth inning.
“I felt like if we hadn’t have scored then, we weren’t going to get another chance,” said Sato, who only had 84 at-bats going into the game.
It was the first time in six years that the 10th-year veteran had four hits in a game.
Toru Hosokawa had a two-run homer, his seventh, and Dee Brown slugged his 19th to stake the Lions to a six-run lead early.
EAGLES 3, BUFFALOES 2
Masahiro Tanaka (9-6), making his first start in start in a month, held Orix to two runs over six-plus innings as last-place Rakuten won the finale of a three-game set at The Kleenex Box.
Randy Ruiz hit a solo blast in the second and Ryo Hijirisawa knocked in a run in a two-run third to back Tanaka.
HAWKS 12, MARINES 9
Hitoki Tamura had three hits, including his 16th homer, six others each had two hits as SoftBank came up with a 20-hit attack for a comeback win at Chiba Marine Stadium.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
TIGERS 8, DRAGONS 7
Takashi Toritani’s two-run single in the sixth inning turned out to be the winning runs as Hanshin held off Chunichi at Koshien Stadium.
Masahiko Morino had three of Chunichi’s six solo homers, and Kazuhiro Wada stroked his 28th longball -- the 250th of his career -- but the Dragons couldn’t get baserunners. Every hit was a homer until the ninth inning, when two singles put the go-ahead runners on base but they were stranded.
GIANTS 13, CARP 2
Alex Ramirez blasted his league-best 34th homer and Edgar Gonzalez continued his recent hot streak with three hits, including his eighth longball, as Yomiuri cruised past Hiroshima at The Zoom.
Michihiro Ogasawara had two hits, including his 21st homer.
BAYSTARS 3, SWALLOWS 1
Shuichi Murata drove in an eighth-inning run after the go-ahead run scored on a wild pitch as visiting Yokohama beat Yakult.
Tomoaki Sato doesn’t get much playing time, but he had four hits and played a big-time role in Sunday’s 7-6 stress-filled victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters at Obihiro Forest Stadium in Hokkaido.
The Lions took a 6-0 lead only to have the Fighters come back to even things up with two in the seventh inning.
Sato took a fastball from Kazumasa Kikuchi (1-0) and shot it to the wall in left to score the winning run with two outs in the top of the ninth inning.
“I felt like if we hadn’t have scored then, we weren’t going to get another chance,” said Sato, who only had 84 at-bats going into the game.
It was the first time in six years that the 10th-year veteran had four hits in a game.
Toru Hosokawa had a two-run homer, his seventh, and Dee Brown slugged his 19th to stake the Lions to a six-run lead early.
EAGLES 3, BUFFALOES 2
Masahiro Tanaka (9-6), making his first start in start in a month, held Orix to two runs over six-plus innings as last-place Rakuten won the finale of a three-game set at The Kleenex Box.
Randy Ruiz hit a solo blast in the second and Ryo Hijirisawa knocked in a run in a two-run third to back Tanaka.
HAWKS 12, MARINES 9
Hitoki Tamura had three hits, including his 16th homer, six others each had two hits as SoftBank came up with a 20-hit attack for a comeback win at Chiba Marine Stadium.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
TIGERS 8, DRAGONS 7
Takashi Toritani’s two-run single in the sixth inning turned out to be the winning runs as Hanshin held off Chunichi at Koshien Stadium.
Masahiko Morino had three of Chunichi’s six solo homers, and Kazuhiro Wada stroked his 28th longball -- the 250th of his career -- but the Dragons couldn’t get baserunners. Every hit was a homer until the ninth inning, when two singles put the go-ahead runners on base but they were stranded.
GIANTS 13, CARP 2
Alex Ramirez blasted his league-best 34th homer and Edgar Gonzalez continued his recent hot streak with three hits, including his eighth longball, as Yomiuri cruised past Hiroshima at The Zoom.
Michihiro Ogasawara had two hits, including his 21st homer.
BAYSTARS 3, SWALLOWS 1
Shuichi Murata drove in an eighth-inning run after the go-ahead run scored on a wild pitch as visiting Yokohama beat Yakult.
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