Good teams find a way to win, bad ones develop ways to lose.
The Hiroshima Carp showed why they are near the bottom of the Central League standings, turning a victory into a loss that will be nearly impossible to forget.
Two ninth-inning errors helped the first-place Yomiuri Giants plated two runs in a late 5-4 comeback win over the Carp at the Zoom on Wednesday.
Edgar Gonzalez doubled to open the inning, and an error on Yoshiyuki Kamei’s sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with none out.
Hayato Sakamoto got the Giants even with a scoring flyball before Akihiro Higashide’s error plated the go-ahead run.
The Carp had their moments. After falling behind 2-0 on red-hot Shinnosuke Abe’s 26th homer in the fourth, a wild pitch from Giants starter Ken Nishimura gifted Hiroshima a run in the bottom of the frame.
In the fifth, Eishin Soyogi knocked in the tying run with a single and Masato Akamatsu doubled to give the Carp a 4-2 lead.
Dioni Soriano went seven sharp innings and left with the lead, but John Bale (0-2) was the victim of poor defense.
DRAGONS 2, TIGERS 1
Chen Wei-yin finally looked like the league ERA leader from last season, handcuffing Hanshin on seven hits over 7.2 innings, and Kazuhiro Wada knocked in both runs as Chunichi won at Koshien.
Chen (5-7) didn’t walk a batter and fanned three, and Wada blasted his 21st longball, a solo shot in the fourth, to lead the Dragons.
SWALLOWS 3, BAYSTARS 2
Norichika Aoki doubled in the tying run and Hiroyasu Tanaka followed with a run-scoring single in the fifth inning and visiting Yakult held off Yokohama.
Three Swallows relievers combined to work 3.1 scoreless innings to close it out.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
BUFFALOES 3, EAGLES 2
Takeshi Hidaka ripped a two-run walk-off homer in the ninth inning as Orix woke up in time to top visiting Rakuten.
The Eagles took the lead in the top of the inning on Takeshi Yamasaki’s RBI groundout, but closer Tsuyoshi Kawagishi (2-3) didn’t record an out.
FIGHTERS 7, LIONS 3, 11 innings
Eiichi Koyano keyed a four-run 11th inning with a bases-loaded, two-run single -- his third hit -- to break a tie, and visiting Nippon Ham topped Seibu.
It was the third hit for Koyano, who helped the Fighters stretch their winning streak to five games.
MARINES 7, HAWKS 4
KimTae Kyung double in two runs and Saburo Omura tripled in a pair in a five-run fifth inning that carried host Lotte past Softbank.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Bang, boom, bam …
Ramirez, Giants top night of the longball
It was the night of 1,000 runs, and Alex Ramirez and the Yomiuri Giants ran away.
Ramirez hit three longballs in one game for the first time in his 10-plus years in Japan, and the Giants tied a franchise record with eight homers in a 12-9 win over the Hiroshima Carp at the Zoom.
Ryota Wakiya cracked his third, Shinnosuke Abe hit his 25th, Edgar Gonzalez, with his parents visiting, smacked his third – his second in three games -- Hayato Sakamoto had his 15th, and rookie Hisayoshi Chono hit his 10th.
Ramirez, who moved into a tie for the Central League lead with his 26th homer, went 4-for-5 with a double and four RBIs.
The big scoring backed Shun Tono (10-2), who tied for the Central League lead with his career-best 10th win.
Tono wasn’t exactly sharp, allowing six hits and three walks with no strikeouts over five innings.
Marc Kroon closed it out, after the Carp scored four in the eighth inning, with a perfect ninth for his 13th save.
TIGERS 11, DRAGONS 5
Craig Brazell belted three homers in consecutive at-bats and added a single for a 4-for-4 night as Hanshin beat Chunichi senseless at Koshien Stadium.
Takahiro Arai hit his 10 th and and Kenji Jojima smacked his 12th to back Jason Standridge (4-1), who allowed a run in seven innings.
SWALLOWS 10, BAYSTARS 0
Hiroyasu Tanaka had three hits, including a triple, and three RBIs, and newcomer Josh Whitesell hit his second homer in three games as Yakult smothered host Yokohama.
Kyohei Tanaka (5-6) scattered seven hits and two walks, while punching out five over eight innings for the win.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
HAWKS 19, LOTTE 1
Satoru Morimoto went 4-for6 with a homer and a double to lead a 23-hit attack as Fukuoka drubbed scuffling Lotte at Chiba Marines Stadium.
Nobuhiro Matsuda had three hits, including his seventh homer, and four RBIs, to back lefty Toshiya Sugiuchi (10-3) as the Hawks sent the Marines to their season-high fourth straight loss.
The Hawks batted around in the fifth, scoring 10 runs on nine hits, including Jose Ortiz’s 18th shot.
BUFFALOES 3, EAGLES 0
Mitsutaka Goto ripped a three-run, first-inning shot, and Hiroshi Kisanuki (8-5) tossed a four-hitter for his first shutout in seven years as Orix blanked visiting Rakuten.
FIGHTERS 6, LIONS 4
Atsunori Inaba homered and drove in two as Nippon Ham took an early lead and held off host Saitama.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
’Starring role for import …
Bootcheck holds Giants in check
Chris Bootcheck might have turned his first start in Japan into a fulltime job.
The right-hander went 6.1 innings, holding the mighty Yomiuri Giants to two runs in his first start in at least four years.
The seven singles he scattered were harmless. The one double he surrendered cost him two runs, but three relievers and a two-inning save from closer Shun Yamaguchi preserved the victory.
Seiichi Uchikawa had three hits, including his fourth homer, and Kazuya Fujita drove in two runs with a clutch single in a three-run third to back Bootcheck.
The 31-year-old first-year import had a 6.00 ERA in 11 outings out of the bullpen, but he tossed six shutout innings against the Giants, fanning the Central League’s hottest hitter, Shinnosuke Abe, twice.
CARP 6, DRAGONS 4
Junpei Shinoda (2-1) held Chunichi to one run over seven innings, and Justin Huber hit a two-run homer and an RBI single to help visiting Hiroshima avoid a sweep.
SWALLOWS 8, TIGERS 4
Josh Whitesell’s two-run triple broke a 2-2 tie and Jamie D’Antona cracked his 11th homer and added a scoring flyball as Yakult won the last two of a three-game set.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
LIONS 4, BUFFALOES 2
Takuya Hara’s solo blast in the seventh was the difference as Seibu topped visiting Orix.
Brian Sikorski locked it down with a perfect ninth for his Japan-best 23 rd save.
FIGHTERS 10, MARINES 3
PL leading hitter Kensuke Tanaka collected four hits to back Bobby Keppel (10-1), who matched two others atop the PL with his 10th win.
HAWKS 1, EAGLES 1
Kensuke Uchimura’s RBI single in the seventh knotted up the score, and neither Rakuten nor SoftBank could score as the teams played to a 12-inning tie at the Kleenex Box.
Chris Bootcheck might have turned his first start in Japan into a fulltime job.
The right-hander went 6.1 innings, holding the mighty Yomiuri Giants to two runs in his first start in at least four years.
The seven singles he scattered were harmless. The one double he surrendered cost him two runs, but three relievers and a two-inning save from closer Shun Yamaguchi preserved the victory.
Seiichi Uchikawa had three hits, including his fourth homer, and Kazuya Fujita drove in two runs with a clutch single in a three-run third to back Bootcheck.
The 31-year-old first-year import had a 6.00 ERA in 11 outings out of the bullpen, but he tossed six shutout innings against the Giants, fanning the Central League’s hottest hitter, Shinnosuke Abe, twice.
CARP 6, DRAGONS 4
Junpei Shinoda (2-1) held Chunichi to one run over seven innings, and Justin Huber hit a two-run homer and an RBI single to help visiting Hiroshima avoid a sweep.
SWALLOWS 8, TIGERS 4
Josh Whitesell’s two-run triple broke a 2-2 tie and Jamie D’Antona cracked his 11th homer and added a scoring flyball as Yakult won the last two of a three-game set.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
LIONS 4, BUFFALOES 2
Takuya Hara’s solo blast in the seventh was the difference as Seibu topped visiting Orix.
Brian Sikorski locked it down with a perfect ninth for his Japan-best 23 rd save.
FIGHTERS 10, MARINES 3
PL leading hitter Kensuke Tanaka collected four hits to back Bobby Keppel (10-1), who matched two others atop the PL with his 10th win.
HAWKS 1, EAGLES 1
Kensuke Uchimura’s RBI single in the seventh knotted up the score, and neither Rakuten nor SoftBank could score as the teams played to a 12-inning tie at the Kleenex Box.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Out of the doghouse and in the spotlight ...
Ihara on the fast track to redemption
Yasushi Ihara had a recent base-running gaffe that put him in the doghouse. He was humble but living it up in the penthouse after hitting a two-run, eighth-inning home run on Saturday to help the Yakult Swallows top the Hanshin Tigers 4-2.
Ihara, who doubled in the tying run in the fifth inning, cracked his fourth longball off Ken Nishimura (4-1) to give the Swallows a 3-2 lead, and newcomer Josh Whitesell slugged his first homer in his debut in a win at Jingu Stadium.
The Swallows promoted the game in hopes of drawing a large crowd to make the world’s biggest toast. Of the 28,503 on hand, 27,126 were confirmed in the toast to set the record.
Ihara set fifth-place Yakult’s record one game in the right direction in the Central League.
After Hiroyasu Tanaka singed, he sent a fly toward right-center field that took off and carried over the wall.
The Swallows evened the three-game weekend series, which wraps up on Sunday.
Masanori Ishikawa was sharp over his 6.1 innings, but left after walking a man in the seventh. Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi, a one-time promising hurler turned reliever, allowed singles to the first two batters he faced to load the bases.
He fanned pinch-hitter Tomoaki Kanemoto, but held onto a fastball too long against pinch-hitter Shinjiro Hiyama for a wild pitch that sent home the go-ahead run for a 2-1 Hanshin lead.
Ihara erased that and made fans forget about his failure to touch up and score on a flyball in a June 20 game at Hiroshima, by blasting the Swallows into the lead.
DRAGONS 1, CARP 0
Kenichi Nakata (2-2) scattered four hits and three walks over 7.2 innings to beat Giancarlo Alvarado (1-4) in a pitching duel at Nagoya Dome.
The Dragons pushed home a run in the first, and escaped a two-on, none-out jam in the ninth to preserve the win.
GIANTS 11, BAYSTARS 2
Shinnosuke Abe homered twice -- giving him the CL lead with 24 -- and drove in four, and Edgar Gonzalez hit a three-run shot as two five-run innings helped lift front-running Yomiuri past visiting Yokohama and give skipper Tatsunori Hara his 517th win, fourth most in club history.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
FIGHTERS 7, MARINES 2
Yu Darvish (7-4) stopped Bill Murphy’s winning streak to start the season at six games, working seven innings of one-run ball to beat Lotte at Sapporo Dome.
Murphy (6-1) was trying to top Leo Kiely’s franchise record for foreign pitchers. Kiely went 6-0 in 1953 for the team when it was known as the Mainichi Orions.
HAWKS 2, EAGLES 1
Tsuyoshi Wada (10-4) became the PL’s second10-game winner with seven strong innings, and three relievers finished up with a perfect inning each at SoftBank edged Rakuten at the Kleenex Box.
Jose Ortiz and Hiroshi Shibahara each had RBIs in a two-run second inning in support of Wada.
BUFFALOES 7, LIONS 5
Takahiro “T.O.” Okada had three hits, including his 15th homer, and four RBIs, and Alex Cabrera went 2-for-4 as visiting Orix topped front-running Seibu.
Yasushi Ihara had a recent base-running gaffe that put him in the doghouse. He was humble but living it up in the penthouse after hitting a two-run, eighth-inning home run on Saturday to help the Yakult Swallows top the Hanshin Tigers 4-2.
Ihara, who doubled in the tying run in the fifth inning, cracked his fourth longball off Ken Nishimura (4-1) to give the Swallows a 3-2 lead, and newcomer Josh Whitesell slugged his first homer in his debut in a win at Jingu Stadium.
The Swallows promoted the game in hopes of drawing a large crowd to make the world’s biggest toast. Of the 28,503 on hand, 27,126 were confirmed in the toast to set the record.
Ihara set fifth-place Yakult’s record one game in the right direction in the Central League.
After Hiroyasu Tanaka singed, he sent a fly toward right-center field that took off and carried over the wall.
The Swallows evened the three-game weekend series, which wraps up on Sunday.
Masanori Ishikawa was sharp over his 6.1 innings, but left after walking a man in the seventh. Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi, a one-time promising hurler turned reliever, allowed singles to the first two batters he faced to load the bases.
He fanned pinch-hitter Tomoaki Kanemoto, but held onto a fastball too long against pinch-hitter Shinjiro Hiyama for a wild pitch that sent home the go-ahead run for a 2-1 Hanshin lead.
Ihara erased that and made fans forget about his failure to touch up and score on a flyball in a June 20 game at Hiroshima, by blasting the Swallows into the lead.
DRAGONS 1, CARP 0
Kenichi Nakata (2-2) scattered four hits and three walks over 7.2 innings to beat Giancarlo Alvarado (1-4) in a pitching duel at Nagoya Dome.
The Dragons pushed home a run in the first, and escaped a two-on, none-out jam in the ninth to preserve the win.
GIANTS 11, BAYSTARS 2
Shinnosuke Abe homered twice -- giving him the CL lead with 24 -- and drove in four, and Edgar Gonzalez hit a three-run shot as two five-run innings helped lift front-running Yomiuri past visiting Yokohama and give skipper Tatsunori Hara his 517th win, fourth most in club history.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
FIGHTERS 7, MARINES 2
Yu Darvish (7-4) stopped Bill Murphy’s winning streak to start the season at six games, working seven innings of one-run ball to beat Lotte at Sapporo Dome.
Murphy (6-1) was trying to top Leo Kiely’s franchise record for foreign pitchers. Kiely went 6-0 in 1953 for the team when it was known as the Mainichi Orions.
HAWKS 2, EAGLES 1
Tsuyoshi Wada (10-4) became the PL’s second10-game winner with seven strong innings, and three relievers finished up with a perfect inning each at SoftBank edged Rakuten at the Kleenex Box.
Jose Ortiz and Hiroshi Shibahara each had RBIs in a two-run second inning in support of Wada.
BUFFALOES 7, LIONS 5
Takahiro “T.O.” Okada had three hits, including his 15th homer, and four RBIs, and Alex Cabrera went 2-for-4 as visiting Orix topped front-running Seibu.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Big Al comes through in big spot ...
Ramirez blasts Giants past BayStars
Tomokazu Oka was back in Tokyo Dome, and Alex Ramirez was back to old tricks on Friday night.
Oka, who spent time in the States, pitched his heart out, holding the Yomiuri Giants to a run over 6.2 innings. But the bullpen let the game slip away, as Ramirez bopped his 23rd longball with a man in the eighth on in a 3-1 win.
The shot, which came off former Giants Hiroki Sanada (2-4), broke a 1-1 tie and moved Ramirez into a tie atop the Central League.
The front-running Giants moved a season-best 15 games over .500, and was their sixth straight win over Yokohama.
Hayato Sakamoto started off the game for the Giants with a homer, his third career first-inning leadoff longball.
Dicky Gonzalez made the start and pitched one his best games of the season, going 7.1 innings and holding the BayStars to a run on six hits and three walks, while fanning three.
Yuya Kubo (5-0) got the win by striking out two in the eighth to get Gonzalez out of a jam. Marc Kroon cleaned up with three punchouts in the ninth for his 12th save.
Oka scattered nine hits and a walk, while fanning five for the last-place BayStars.
DRAGONS 3, CARP 1
Kazuki Yoshimi (7-3) outdueled budding all-star Kenta Maeda (9-3), holding Hiroshima to a run on four hits, and Tony Blanco clubbed a two-run homer as Chunichi won at Nagoya Dome.
Closer Hitoki Iwase worked a scoreless ninth to tie former Lotte stopper Masahide Kobayashi by collecting at least 20 saves for seven straight seasons.
TIGERS 9, SWALLOWS 4
CL leading hitter Matt Murton had three hits and an RBI, and Craig Brazell drove in a pair as Hanshin topped Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Swallows starter Tony Barnette (3-5) got roughed up, surrendering seven runs in 2.2 innings.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
FIGHTERS 7, MARINES 3
Red-hot Eiichi Koyano, who came into Friday’s action hitting .429 the past week, homered and added two more hits to drive in five as Nippon Ham manhandled Lotte at Sapporo Dome.
Yoshio Itoi had three hits and two RBIs and took over the PL lead in batting at .350.
LIONS 7, BUFFALOES 3
Hiroyuki Nakajima had three hits, including his 10th homer, and Dee Brown also went deep as Seibu topped Orix at Seibu Dome.
Hideaki Wakui (10-3) went the distance, firing 141 pitches and holding the Buffaloes to three runs on seven hits, two walks and two hit batters, while fanning nine.
HAWKS 6, EAGLES 2, 10 innings
Hidenori Tanoue’s two-run double in the 10th inning lifted SoftBank past host Rakuten.
Tomokazu Oka was back in Tokyo Dome, and Alex Ramirez was back to old tricks on Friday night.
Oka, who spent time in the States, pitched his heart out, holding the Yomiuri Giants to a run over 6.2 innings. But the bullpen let the game slip away, as Ramirez bopped his 23rd longball with a man in the eighth on in a 3-1 win.
The shot, which came off former Giants Hiroki Sanada (2-4), broke a 1-1 tie and moved Ramirez into a tie atop the Central League.
The front-running Giants moved a season-best 15 games over .500, and was their sixth straight win over Yokohama.
Hayato Sakamoto started off the game for the Giants with a homer, his third career first-inning leadoff longball.
Dicky Gonzalez made the start and pitched one his best games of the season, going 7.1 innings and holding the BayStars to a run on six hits and three walks, while fanning three.
Yuya Kubo (5-0) got the win by striking out two in the eighth to get Gonzalez out of a jam. Marc Kroon cleaned up with three punchouts in the ninth for his 12th save.
Oka scattered nine hits and a walk, while fanning five for the last-place BayStars.
DRAGONS 3, CARP 1
Kazuki Yoshimi (7-3) outdueled budding all-star Kenta Maeda (9-3), holding Hiroshima to a run on four hits, and Tony Blanco clubbed a two-run homer as Chunichi won at Nagoya Dome.
Closer Hitoki Iwase worked a scoreless ninth to tie former Lotte stopper Masahide Kobayashi by collecting at least 20 saves for seven straight seasons.
TIGERS 9, SWALLOWS 4
CL leading hitter Matt Murton had three hits and an RBI, and Craig Brazell drove in a pair as Hanshin topped Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Swallows starter Tony Barnette (3-5) got roughed up, surrendering seven runs in 2.2 innings.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
FIGHTERS 7, MARINES 3
Red-hot Eiichi Koyano, who came into Friday’s action hitting .429 the past week, homered and added two more hits to drive in five as Nippon Ham manhandled Lotte at Sapporo Dome.
Yoshio Itoi had three hits and two RBIs and took over the PL lead in batting at .350.
LIONS 7, BUFFALOES 3
Hiroyuki Nakajima had three hits, including his 10th homer, and Dee Brown also went deep as Seibu topped Orix at Seibu Dome.
Hideaki Wakui (10-3) went the distance, firing 141 pitches and holding the Buffaloes to three runs on seven hits, two walks and two hit batters, while fanning nine.
HAWKS 6, EAGLES 2, 10 innings
Hidenori Tanoue’s two-run double in the 10th inning lifted SoftBank past host Rakuten.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Master Randolph ...
BayStars lefty tops Dragons again
A dynamic duo went medieval on the Chunichi Dragons on Thursday night at Nagoya Dome.
Terrmel Sledge played the role of batman, slamming a pair of homers, and southpaw Stephen Randolph was Robin went six strong innings in a 5-2 Central League win. Randolph ate up the Dragons last season, and he returned to the first team on Friday by chewed them up again. He held them to a run on three hits and three walks, while fanning a half-dozen. Randolph (1-6), who was 2-0 with a 0.44 ERA in three starts vs. the Dragons last year, is 3-1 in about one year with Yokohama. He stopped a personal six-game slide.
Sledge, who last year had six hits at Nagoya Dome -- three of them homers -- hit a pair off Chen Wei-yin (4-7) to improve on his .333 average at the dome.
“I like this place, so hopefully we can play here every day. It was good for the team. We’ve been struggling a lot, so it was good for me to come out and have a game like this,” said Sledge, who hit a solo blast, a two-run shot (hit 16th) and added an RBI double.
“He (Randolph) should be up here, too,” Sledge said during the postgame interview. “He’s a hero. He came back from an injury to pitch great like that.”
The Donoue brothers each accounted for the Dragons’ runs. Naomichi started at second and had an RBI double in the fifth, while Takehiro came on as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and had an RBI single.
GIANTS 4, SWALLOWS 1
Alex Ramirez blasted a pair of solo homers to move into a tie for the CL lead at 22 as Yomiuri topped Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Rookie Hisayoshi Chono belted his ninth homer, a two-run shot in a three-run sixth.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
EAGLES 6, LIONS 2
Second-year righty Ryohei Isaka (2-1) held first-place Seibu to two run on six hits in his first career complete game as Rakuten won at the Kleenex Box.
Yosuke Takasu had a breakout game with three hits, including his fourth homer, and five RBIs.
MARINES 6, BUFFALOES 2
Shoitsu Omatsu got Lotte an early lead with a two-run, first-inning double, and Shunsuke Watanabe (5-3) held Orix to a run over five innings and the Marines cruised at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Lotte’s Tadahito Iguchi went deep as did Kim Kyung Tae, cracking his 17th.
HAWKS 6, FIGHTERS 1
Roberto Petagine’s RBI single sparked a four-run fourth, and rookie Hiroki Yamada (1-1) scattered six hits, a walk and a hit batter over 8.1 innings for his first pro win as SoftBank halted Nippon Ham’s six-game winning streak.
Nippon Ham’s Kensuke Tanaka went 0-for-4 to see his 22-game hitting streak end.
A dynamic duo went medieval on the Chunichi Dragons on Thursday night at Nagoya Dome.
Terrmel Sledge played the role of batman, slamming a pair of homers, and southpaw Stephen Randolph was Robin went six strong innings in a 5-2 Central League win. Randolph ate up the Dragons last season, and he returned to the first team on Friday by chewed them up again. He held them to a run on three hits and three walks, while fanning a half-dozen. Randolph (1-6), who was 2-0 with a 0.44 ERA in three starts vs. the Dragons last year, is 3-1 in about one year with Yokohama. He stopped a personal six-game slide.
Sledge, who last year had six hits at Nagoya Dome -- three of them homers -- hit a pair off Chen Wei-yin (4-7) to improve on his .333 average at the dome.
“I like this place, so hopefully we can play here every day. It was good for the team. We’ve been struggling a lot, so it was good for me to come out and have a game like this,” said Sledge, who hit a solo blast, a two-run shot (hit 16th) and added an RBI double.
“He (Randolph) should be up here, too,” Sledge said during the postgame interview. “He’s a hero. He came back from an injury to pitch great like that.”
The Donoue brothers each accounted for the Dragons’ runs. Naomichi started at second and had an RBI double in the fifth, while Takehiro came on as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and had an RBI single.
GIANTS 4, SWALLOWS 1
Alex Ramirez blasted a pair of solo homers to move into a tie for the CL lead at 22 as Yomiuri topped Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Rookie Hisayoshi Chono belted his ninth homer, a two-run shot in a three-run sixth.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
EAGLES 6, LIONS 2
Second-year righty Ryohei Isaka (2-1) held first-place Seibu to two run on six hits in his first career complete game as Rakuten won at the Kleenex Box.
Yosuke Takasu had a breakout game with three hits, including his fourth homer, and five RBIs.
MARINES 6, BUFFALOES 2
Shoitsu Omatsu got Lotte an early lead with a two-run, first-inning double, and Shunsuke Watanabe (5-3) held Orix to a run over five innings and the Marines cruised at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Lotte’s Tadahito Iguchi went deep as did Kim Kyung Tae, cracking his 17th.
HAWKS 6, FIGHTERS 1
Roberto Petagine’s RBI single sparked a four-run fourth, and rookie Hiroki Yamada (1-1) scattered six hits, a walk and a hit batter over 8.1 innings for his first pro win as SoftBank halted Nippon Ham’s six-game winning streak.
Nippon Ham’s Kensuke Tanaka went 0-for-4 to see his 22-game hitting streak end.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Showing some Fight ...
Fighters back into the swing
The defending Pacific League champions seem to be getting back into the swing.
Kensuke Tanaka had three hits to extend his hitting streak to 22 games -- third longest in franchise history -- and one of Yoshio Itoi’s three hits was a two-run bomb that powered the Fighters to a 9-3 win over host Fukuoka SoftBank.
Five of the first six Fighters hit safely in a three-run first inning, and Itoi’s longball capped a five-run fourth that gave Nippon Ham a 9-0 cushion en route to its fifth straight win.
Eiichi Koyano had three hits and three RBIs, and Atsunori Inaba added three hits and two runs driven in to lead Nippon Ham to its fourth straight win over SoftBank.
The Fighters are still in last place in the PL, a half-game behind Rakuten, but have won eight of 10 since June 12.
The Hawks -- hanging onto third place, two games ahead of Orix -- have yet to win since the end of interleague, dropping six straight.
EAGLES 10, LIONS 8
Norihiro Nakamura's two-run single highlighted a seven-run sixth as Rakuten rallied to beat front-running Seibu at the Kleenex Box.
Yosuke Takasu added a two-run single to cap the rally as the Eagles halted a four-game skid at home.
BUFFALOES at MARINES -- rained out.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
TIGERS 9, CARP 4
Matt Murton had four hits, including the eventual game winner, a run-scoring double in the in seventh, and four RBIs as Hanshin smothered Hiroshima at the Zoom.
Takashi Toritani also had four hits and chipped in with two RBIs for the Tigers, who moved to within 2.5 games of the first-place Giants.
Murton took over the CL batting lead at .351.
DRAGONS 4, BAYSTARS 2
Daisuke Yamai (2-2) tossed seven innings of one-run ball, and Masahiko Morino and Kazuhiro Wada both went deep in the seventh as Chunichi came back to beat visiting Yokohama.
Hitoshi Iwase closed it out in the ninth to take over the No. 2 spot on the all-time saves list, moving past the “Daimajin” Kazuhiro Sasaki with his 253 rd career save -- his 19th this season.
SWALLOWS 4, GIANTS 3
Shohei Tateyama (4-5) worked six solid innings before leaving injured, and the eventual winning run scored on Yoshinobu Takahashi’s fourth-inning error at first base as Yakult topped Yomiuri at Jingu Stadium.
The defending Pacific League champions seem to be getting back into the swing.
Kensuke Tanaka had three hits to extend his hitting streak to 22 games -- third longest in franchise history -- and one of Yoshio Itoi’s three hits was a two-run bomb that powered the Fighters to a 9-3 win over host Fukuoka SoftBank.
Five of the first six Fighters hit safely in a three-run first inning, and Itoi’s longball capped a five-run fourth that gave Nippon Ham a 9-0 cushion en route to its fifth straight win.
Eiichi Koyano had three hits and three RBIs, and Atsunori Inaba added three hits and two runs driven in to lead Nippon Ham to its fourth straight win over SoftBank.
The Fighters are still in last place in the PL, a half-game behind Rakuten, but have won eight of 10 since June 12.
The Hawks -- hanging onto third place, two games ahead of Orix -- have yet to win since the end of interleague, dropping six straight.
EAGLES 10, LIONS 8
Norihiro Nakamura's two-run single highlighted a seven-run sixth as Rakuten rallied to beat front-running Seibu at the Kleenex Box.
Yosuke Takasu added a two-run single to cap the rally as the Eagles halted a four-game skid at home.
BUFFALOES at MARINES -- rained out.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
TIGERS 9, CARP 4
Matt Murton had four hits, including the eventual game winner, a run-scoring double in the in seventh, and four RBIs as Hanshin smothered Hiroshima at the Zoom.
Takashi Toritani also had four hits and chipped in with two RBIs for the Tigers, who moved to within 2.5 games of the first-place Giants.
Murton took over the CL batting lead at .351.
DRAGONS 4, BAYSTARS 2
Daisuke Yamai (2-2) tossed seven innings of one-run ball, and Masahiko Morino and Kazuhiro Wada both went deep in the seventh as Chunichi came back to beat visiting Yokohama.
Hitoshi Iwase closed it out in the ninth to take over the No. 2 spot on the all-time saves list, moving past the “Daimajin” Kazuhiro Sasaki with his 253 rd career save -- his 19th this season.
SWALLOWS 4, GIANTS 3
Shohei Tateyama (4-5) worked six solid innings before leaving injured, and the eventual winning run scored on Yoshinobu Takahashi’s fourth-inning error at first base as Yakult topped Yomiuri at Jingu Stadium.
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