Gary
Garland /
the
japanese insider
May 30, 2002
Arias Sayonara Single Edges Out Yokohama 3-2
The Hanshin Tigers kept their tenous hold on first place Thursday thanks to a sayonara single to left with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning by George Arias to sneak by the Yokohama Bay Stars Koshien Stadium 3-2. Yokohama starter Daisuke Miura continues to rack up frustrating defeats and no decisions, as he threw a stellar nine innings, allowing a measly two runs on four hits while whiffing 11 and walking three in a gritty 145 pitch outing.
Hanshin starter Shinji Taninaka lasted for only five innings despite a pretty decent showing where he allowed five hits and a run while striking out six and walking none. However, he had thrown 84 pitches and perhaps Tigers manager Senichi Hoshino had figured that Taninaka would tire and perhaps cost the team the game, so he called on his unsteady relief corps and they allowed the Stars to tie the game in the eighth before Hanshin ultimately won it.
Hanshin scored both of their runs in regulation in the bottom of the first, as centerfielder Osamu Hamanaka waylaid a fastball down and in and rocketed it out to left to make it 1-0 Tigers. Arias then got a slider on the outer half of the plate and drilled it into the leftcenterfield stands to go up 2-0.
Yokohama had managed just an infield hit off of Taninaka until the fourth, when they put up their first run. Takahiro Saeki singled to center with one out and, one out later, second baseman Hitoshi Taneda singled to left and rightfielder Boi Rodrigues singled in Saeki to make it 2-1 Hanshin.
Shinobu Fukuhara came on in the eight with the intention of setting up a save situation for Mark Valdez, only to be stymied by some small ball from Yokohama. Shortstop Takuro Ishii leadoff with a double down the leftfield line. Fukuhara hit centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo. Both runners were bunted along by Saeki and third baseman Mike Gulan converted Ishii with a fly ball to center to knot it at two apiece.
Yokohama then had two men on and one out in the top of the tenth against Hanshin reliever Takehito Kanazawa, but Kanazawa fanned Gulan and it appears that somebody made a baserunning mistake to end the inning.
So having dodged that bullet, Hanshin saw its first two batters in the home portion go down easily on a strikeout and a ground ball against reliever Atsushi Kizuka, but second baseman Makoto Imaoka singled to left and shortstop Hidemitsu Saito singled to right. Imaoka made for third and Rodrigues throw was right on the money, but Imaoka was in under the tag according to umpire Shimada, resulting in a demonstrative objection from both Gulan and Stars boss Masaaki Mori. Hamanaka finagled a walk to put a runner on every base. Arias stepped up and battled Kizuka for eight pitches before lining a 2-2 87mph fastball down the leftfield line just inside the chalk and Imaoka strolled in as the team went out to mob Arias at first. Hanshin is 11-10 for May. You can see a pic of the Arias knock at:http://www.nikkansports.com/news/baseball/bb-020530-3.jpg
Aside from suffering the loss, Yokohama also lost its star leftfielder Takanori Suzuki, when he hurt his shoulder attempting a diving catch in the first inning and was taken out in the sixth. It appears that he did sustain damage to shoulder and is going to be out for a while. I have no idea what the injury is since I'm not familiar with Japanese medical terminology, but it sounds like it may be a labrum. If so, he is done for the season. No timetable has been given as to when he is expected to be back.
Takehiro Hashimoto made his debut in a Hanshin uniform and gave up a single to Saeki before then being pulled in favor of Atsunori Itoh.
For Yokohama, Gulan was 1-4 with an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .236. Rodrigues was 1-4 with an RBI and is at .244.
For Hanshin, Arias was 2-5 with two RBIs and two strikeouts and is at .269. Derrick White struckout in a pinch hitting appearance and is at .287.
Pitching Lines:
Yokohama:
Miura
IP 9.0 PC 145 H 4 HR 2 K 11 BB 3 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.75
Kizuka (L, 1-1) IP 0.2 PC 33 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB
1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.24
Hanshin:
Taninaka
IP 5.0 PC 84 H 5 HR 0 K 6 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.66
Hashimoto
IP 0.0 PC 6 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
A.
Itoh
IP 2.0 PC 10 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.00
Fukuhara
IP 1.0 PC 18 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.80
Kanazawa (W, 3-0) IP 2.0 PC 26 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA
3.98
E: Sekimoto
SB: Gulan
2B: T. Ishii
HR: Hamanaka (8), Arias (16)
RBI: Hamanaka, Arias 2, Gulan, Rodrigues
SF: Gulan
HBP: Kinjo (Fukuhara)
GIDP: Gulan
LOB: Yokohama 8, Hanshin 8
Game Time: 3:43
Attendance: 33,000
Umpires: Kasahara (HP), Tani (1B), Watada (2B), Shimada (3B)
Giants Batter Rookie Ishikawa in 7-5 Victory
The Yomiuri Giants have Yakult Swallows starter Masanori Ishikawa ha righteous hiding Thursday at Meiji Jingu Stadium, mugging him for six earned runs on eight hits, two of which became souvenirs, as the Giants went on to stave off a concerted Yakult counterattack that shook the veteran Kazuhiro Takeda and triumphed 7-5. Cho Sung-min earned his second win with a scoreless inning plus of one hit ball when Takeda couldn't hang on long enough to be credited for it.
The Giants went pretty peacefully in the first, but went into action in the second. Godzilla Matsui leadoff with a walk. first baseman Daisuke Motoki homered to left to make it 2-0 Yomiuri. Shortstop Masahiro Kawai singled to center and one out later catcher Shinnosuke Abe singled to left. However, Ishikawa struckout Takeda and leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu rolled out to second to minimize the damage.
Yakult leftfielder Alex Ramirez then checked in with one away in the home half and belted a hanging slider over the leftfield fence to halve the deficit to 2-1.
Yakult leveled it at 2-2 in the third with a leadoff single to left by Brazilian rightfielder Yuichi Matsumoto his first as a pro, a sac bunt that got Matsumoto to second, a single by second baseman Chihiro Hamana and a groundout to second from shortstop Shinya Miyamoto that permitted Matsumoto to run home and it was a brand new ballgame.
Unfortunately, Ishikawa was still on the mound for Yakult and the Giants went one up in the fourth on a leadoff walk to Motoki, a single to right by Kawai that enabled Motoki to sprint to third and a double play ball tapped by Yasuo Nagaike that got Motoki in, though no RBI for Nagaike.
Yakult came clawing back in their at bats, as third baseman Akinori Iwamura singled to center with two outs and came home on a double into the leftfield corner by first baseman Hirobumi Watarai to deadlock it at 3-3.
The Giants, though, tired of the Swallows nipping at their heels, applied the death blow in the fifth. With one down, Shimizu singled to right and Akira Etoh was sent up to pinch hit for second baseman Toshihisa Nishi. Etoh was being rested because he had a five game hitless streak and was 0-8 in his career vs. Ishikawa. When somebody is going that bad they can be scary since one wonders who they will make pay and when the ax will fall. You know what's coming next: Ishikawa left something in Etoh's wheelhouse and he dialed Ibaraki 6-5000 on it to make it 5-3 Giants. Rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi doubled to leftcenter and went to third on a wild pitch. Matsui bounced to short and Takahashi hustled in and the Giants were looking down on the Swallows with a 6-3 lead.
Takeda, though, and the Giants were lucky the Swallows didn't come all the way back from that predicament. In the bottom of the fifth, Hamana singled to center, and Shinichi Sato followed suit one out later. Catcher Atsuya Furuta banged a single to right and Hamana made the turn and chugged for home. Takahashi came up with the ball and put it right in Abe's mit, and the umpire rang Hamana up. However, Hamana sprang up and started protesting the call, and Yakult manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu did as well, asserting that Hamana was in just under the tag. But umpire Arisumi was unyielding and the call stood. While Wakamatsu, who is normally pretty self-controlled, was venting his spleen, Giants manager Tatsunori Hara waved in Cho Sung-min, who promptly induced a grounder to Nagaike at third and he threw it to Setagaya, Sato and Furuta both scoring on the play and the Yomiuri margin was reduced to 6-5.
Each side wasted a sixth inning two out threat and now on to the seventh with two gone and Ryota Igarashi on the hill for Yakult. Matsui had been 1-10 in his career against the fireballer and, well, you've already guessed it, as Godzilla sent back the 94mph high cheese with some mustard on it over the rightfield wall and it was 7-5 Yomiuri. More on the significance of that dinger later.
Tsuyoshi Jobe and Hideki Okajima kept the bases clean of any Swallows for Yomiuri and now on to the ninth and Junichi Kawahara, who had given up Ramirez sayonara homer the previous night. Pinch hitter Takahiro Ikeyama flew out to center to start the ninth. Hamana walked, which brought up the tying run in the form of Miyamoto. However, Miyamoto grounded to Kawai, who went to Motoki, who whipped it on to Koji Goto at first for a game ending twin killing.
The homer by Godzilla was his 100th lifetime out of the cleanup spot in the batting order, becoming only the fifth of 67 who have inhabited the Giants number four hole at one time or another to have attained that number. Here's how his 294 career longballs break down by position in the lineup: three, 182; four, 100; five, 2; six, 5; seven, 5. His now manager, Hara, slugged 255 in that role. Others breaking the century mark: Sadaharu Oh, Tetsuharu Kawakami, and Shigeo Nagashima, who are all in the Hall of Fame. Hara doesn't have the numbers to be voted to the Hall, though Godzilla will if he stays in Japan.
For Yakult, Ramirez was 1-4 with an RBI and is at .311. Matsumoto was 1-2 and is at .500.
Pitching Lines:
Yomiuri:
Takeda
IP 4.2 PC 69 H 8 HR 1 K 4 BB 1 R 5 ER 3 ERA 3.24
Cho (W,
2-0)
IP 1.1 PC 23 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.45
Jobe
IP 1.0 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.13
Okajima
IP 1.0 PC 16 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.49
J. Kawahara (S, 12) IP 1.0 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K
0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.04
Yakult:
Masanori Ishikawa (L, 3-3) IP 4.2 PC 77 H 8 HR 2 K 4 BB 2 R 6 ER 6
ERA 4.02
Kawabata
IP 1.0 PC 17 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.48
Newman
IP 0.1 PC 4 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.60
R.
Igarashi
IP 2.0 PC 35 H 2 HR 1 K 3 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.70
Hagiwara
IP 1.0 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.00
E: Nagaike, Sato
2B: Y. Takahashi, S. Abe, Watarai, Hongo
HR: Motoki (2), Etoh (5), H. Matsui (12), Ramirez (10)
RBI: Etoh 2, H. Matsui 2, Motoki 2, S. Miyamoto, Ramirez, Watarai
WP: Takeda
GIDP: Nishi, Nagaike, S. Miyamoto
LOB: Yomiuri 5, Yakult 6
Game Time: 3:23
Attendance: 38,000
Umpires: Arisumi (HP), Watamari (1B), Tomoyori (2B), Kittaka (3B)
Today in Japanese Baseball History
This report is for May 30th and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1975, Taiheiyo Club Lions infielder Yoshinori Yamamura homered in his first two at bats ever at the big club level in a game against the Lotte Orions, thus becoming the only rookie in Japanese annals to accomplish that feat. What makes that even more remarkable is that Yamamura only got 29 at bats the whole season and homered three times, driving in five runs and batting .276. He did stick around for 15 seasons, playing with the Lions and the Hawks, batting .256 with 70 homers and 318 RBIs, finishing with a career OPS of .674.
May 31, 2002
It's All Moore No Less in 3-1 Hanshin Victory
Short of throwing a no hitter or a perfect game, a battle like this is a pitcher's dream, especially if your name is Trey Moore. The ex-Braves farmhand threw eight strong innings of one run ball on four hits while striking out four and walking four and knocked in all of his team's runs with a fifth inning bases loaded triple in a 3-1 victory Friday over the Yakult Swallows at Chiba Marine Stadium. Moore is now 6-3 on the season with an outstanding 1.99 ERA.
20 year old rookie sensation Yataro Sakamoto started for Yakult and was excellent for the most part save for the hit by Moore, as he went six innings and permitted just four hits while striking out 12 and walking four (one intentional). Three of the four knocks he gave up as well as half of the free passes he handed out came in that fateful fifth. Otherwise, he dominated. But it's nine inning game, so he dropped his second decision of the year.
Sakamoto begam the game by whiffing the first two batters he saw and then fanned another pair in the second, struckout the side in the third. I'm sure the fans at the game thought that they were going to see a no no the way Sakamoto kicked the first third of the game off. Sakamoto had just one K in the fourth, maybe a sign he was losing steam (yes, that's a joke).
In any event, Sakamoto had a perfect game going into the fifth and then things kinda fell apart. With one out, rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama beat out a bunt for a hit. One out later, third baseman Kentaro Sekimoto scalded a double down the leftfield line. Catcher Akihiro Yano was intentionally walked to load the bases and to get to Moore. Now maybe Yakult manager Tsutomu Wakamatsu doesn't know that Moore was a first baseman at Texas A&M on days he wasn't pitching and maybe he also didn't realize that Moore hit fairly well in MLB by a hulrer's standards. So Sakamoto threw Moore an 0-1 88mph fastball and Moore murdered it, cannonading it into the rightcenter alley all the way to the wall and everybody came home except Lassie to make it 3-0 Tigers. Sakamoto struckout shortstop Hidemitsu Saito to end the inning, but the damage was done. He then got in trouble in the sixth, too, but rang up three more strikeouts amid the one hit and the two walks to escape unscathed. Wakamatsu wisely determined that his youngster had reached the edge of his endurance and so got on the horn and ordered himself something from the bullpen.
Moore had runners in scoring position in both the first and second before wriggling out of the difficulties and then was cruising until the seventh, when he issued a pair of one out walks. One of them tried to steal, it appears, and was meat. Moore then struckout pinch hitter Takahiro Ikeyama to disperse the revolt.
In the eighth, Yakult finally had something to show thanks to the legs of second baseman Hajime Miki. Miki beat out a bleeder near the hole and then stole second. One out later, Shinichi Sato singled to right to plate Miki and bring the tying run to the plate, the future Hall of Famer Atsuya Furuta. Moore again did what he needed to and induced a grounder to third to turn it over to closer Mark Valdez, who nearly gave the game away in the ninth.
In that final Yakult at bat, leftfielder Alex Ramirez leadoff by jackhammering a Valdez delivery into the rightcenter alley for a double. Third baseman Akinori Iwamura walked and Roberto Petagine's understudy, Hirobumi Watarai, a guy who tore it up during spring training, dug in. Valdez got Watarai to go after something he shouldn't have and beat into the ground in front of the plate. Yano was all over it, firing a strike to Sekimoto at third for the first out. Centerfielder Yuichi Matsumoto then singled to center to load the bases. Kota Soejima pinch hit for backup second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi and flied out to shallow left for the second out. Now Hiroki Hongo was up to pinch hit for the pitcher and he was soon down, as Valdez struck him out to end the ballgame. Hanshin manager Senichi Hoshino is going to need alot of Maalox if Valdez keeps this up.
Nikkan Sports, as usual, unearthed some nifty data about Hanshin pitchers and bases loaded situations. Hanshin's position players are 10-42 in that situation this season, a .238 clip. But the pitching staff is 3-8, one each by Moore, Kei Igawa and Keiichi Yabu, for a .375 mark.
Moore said after the game that he was bothered a little by the notorious wind that blows off the ocean into Chiba Marine Stadium since it was blowing in his face. He also remarked that due to the movement he was getting on his pitches, he had trouble hitting the outside corner consistently. Obviously, it didn't really matter in the end.
Moreover, winning this game ensured that Hanshin would finish May in first, only the fifth time in the club's storied history that has happened. And it is only the second time in which they lead in both April and May, the last time being the Japan Series championship year of 1985.
For Yakult, Ramirez was 1-4 and is at .324. Matsumoto was 1-1 and is at .667.
For Hanshin, first baseman George Arias was 1-3 with a walk and is at .270. White was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .279. Moore was 1-3 with three RBIs and is at .259. For the Trey Moore marching and chowder society, you can see a pic of him at: http://www.nikkansports.com/news/baseball/bb-020601-6.jpg
Pitching Lines:
Hanshin:
Moore (W, 6-3) IP 8.0 PC 122 H 4 HR 0 K 4 BB 4 R
1 ER 1 ERA 1.99
M. Valdez (S, 12) IP 1.0 PC 22 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 1
R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.51
Yakult:
Sakamoto (L, 1-2) IP 6.0 PC 114 H 4 HR 0 K 12 BB 4 R 3 ER 3 ERA 2.01
Teramura
IP 2.0 PC 28 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.95
Hagiwara
IP 1.0 PC 14 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.50
SB: Miki 2
2B: Sekimoto, Arias, Yano, Watarai, Ramirez
3B: Moore
RBI: Moore 3, H. Sato
IBB: Yano
WP: Sakamoto
LOB: Hanshin 7, Yakult 9
Game Time: 2:59
Attendance: 22,000
Umpires: K. Kobayashi (HP), ? (1B), T. Kobayashi (2B), Watada (3B)
Kiyohara Pinch Hit Sayonara Single Ends Extra Inning Battle with Hiroshima
Kazuhiro Kiyohara has for now lost his starting
first base as long as his leg continues to bother him and he has become the
Yomiuri Giants chief pinch hitter off the bench. Friday, he pinged a shot
off the leftfield wall with the bases full in the bottom of the tenth off
of Hiroshima Carp starter Kuroda to win it for Yomiuri 3-2. Hideki Okajima
won his third in relief while Hiroki
Kuroda took his second defeat.
Masumi Kuwata started for the Giants and was quite good, going seven innings and permitting two runs on four hits while striking out four and walking none in getting the no decision.
The Gianst had trouble just getting the ball out
of the infield until the fifth, when they produced a pair of runs. Shortstop
Masahiro Kawai leadoff by beating out a ground ball toward second. Rightfielder
Yoshinobu Takahashi parachuted a fly ball into a vactant space in right for
a double. Two outs later, third baseman Akira Etoh walked to juice the bags.
Second baseman
Daisuke Motoki singled to left to bring both runners in and it was 2-0 Yomiuri.
Hiroshima was flailing away doing absolutely nada against Kuwata, The runners from their two hits had both been erased on double plays and those were their only baserunners until two outs in the seventh, when Carp second baseman Eddie Diaz singled to center and leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto, who seems to be warming up with the bat, played some hammertime with a Kuwata pitch and left it in the rightfield seats for a game tying two run homer.
Both offenses were at a standstill until the bottom of the tenth, when catcher Shinnosuke Abe spanked a one out single to right. Toshihisa Nishi, pinch hitting for Kuwata, hit a comebacker to Kuroda, who attempted to get the double play, but threw wildly and now it was men on second and third with one out. Leftfielder Takayuki Shimizu was intentionally walked. Kiyohara then was sent up to hit for Kawai and crushed a first pitch 88mph fastball that was up and over the outer half of the plate off the centerfield wall to welcome Abe and to win their sixth consecutive extra inning game.
According to Nikkan Sports, that was Kiyohara's 18th lifetime sayonara hit, 11 while he was with Seibu and seven with the Giants, but this is the first time he has done it as a pinch hitter. He is just one more walkoff form tying Katsuya Nomura's all time record of 19. Sadaharu Oh is third with 15 (boy, that's hard to believe). Giants pinch hitters have been 10-20 in the last ten games.
For Hiroshima, Diaz was 1-4 and is at .327.
Pitching Lines:
Hiroshima:
Kuroda (L, 2-2) IP 9.1 PC 113 H 7 HR 0 K 6 BB 2 R 3 ER 2 ERA 3.77
Yomiuri:
Kuwata
IP 7.0 PC 82 H 4 HR 1 K 4 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 1.81
Y.
Maeda
IP 0.1 PC 4 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.70
Jobe
IP 1.1 PC 23 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.04
Okajima (W, 3-1) IP 1.1 PC 18 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA
2.35
E: Kuroda
2B: Y. Takahashi
HR: Kanemoto (6)
RBI: Kanemoto 2, Motoki 2, Kiyohara
WP: Kuroda
GIDP: T. Maeda, K. Kimura
LOB: Hiroshima 2, Yomiuri 7
Game Time: 3:19
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Kamimoto (HP), Ino (1B), Tani (2B), Honda (3B)
Nippon Ham Limited to Three in 5-1 Loss
Nippon Ham Fighters first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara slugged his 16th homer into the rightfield bleachers Friday at Seibu Dome to give his team a 1-0 first inning lead off of Seibu Lions starter Fumiya Nishiguchi. Nishiguchi then had two more fall where they weren't, both singles, before rendering the Nippon Ham offense hitless in Tokorozawa over his last four innings of work. Shinji Mori and Kiyoshi Toyoda then extended the hitless skein while the Lions ralled for three in the fifth and two in the seventh to win it 5-1.
Fighters starter Itsuki Shoda was perfect through four and then saw a combination of two hits, his own wildness and the right kind of outs result in him emerging behind 3-1 when the fifth was completed. Seibu first baseman Alex Cabrera walked to lead it off. Tom Evans singled to left. Masaji Shimizu singled in Cabrera .Shoda then hit Tetsuya Kakiuchi to load the bases. Catcher Tsutomu Itoh flied to left to plate Evans with the lead run. Second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi grounded to short and Shimizu, who had alertly tagged and gone to third on the throw home on the Itoh fly ball, crossed to make it 3-1 Lions.
In the seventh, Shimizu commenced the inning with a single to center and was sacrificed to second. Tomokazu Iba was summoned in from the bullpen by Fighters boss Yasunori Oshima. Itoh was next and he made for the leftfield bleacher exit and it was 5-1 Lions.
Mori struckout the side in the eighth and Toyoda induced a couple of groundballs and a whiff to turn out the lights.
Evans impressed his teammates with two fine plays. In the third with a man on first and nobody out, Hiroshi Narahara tried to sacrifice. Evans anticipated it well and got to the ball quickly and winged it to first to nail Narahara. Cabrera then sent it on to second, where the runner was caught in a run down and tagged out for a relatively unusual double play.
Then in the fourth, Fighters DH Sherman Obando really tagged one and sent it toward left, but before it could get there, Evans intervened with a diving catch for the out. Before he left Hanshin, George Arias offered to tell Evans what he knew about pitchers in the Pacific League, which should aid Evans in quickening his adjustment period.
For Nippon Ham, 0-3 Obando was 0-3 and is at .261. Leftfielder D.T. Cromer was 0-2 with a walk and is at .272.
For Seibu, Cabrera was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .245. Evans was 1-4 and is at .250.
Pitching Lines:
Nippon Ham:
Shoda (L, 1-2) IP 6.1 PC 109 H 4 HR 0 K 3 BB 2 R 4 ER 4
ERA 3.62
Iba
IP 0.0 PC 9 H 2 HR 1 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.87
Tateishi
IP 1.2 PC 23 H 0 HR 0 K 5 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Seibu:
Nishiguchi (W, 5-3) IP 7.0 PC 86 H 3 HR 1 K 7 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.11
Mori
IP 1.0 PC 16 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.82
Toyoda
IP 1.0 PC 7 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.06
2B: Ozeki
HR: M. Ogasawara (16), T. Itoh (4)
RBI: M. Ogasawara, T. Itoh 3, Masaji Shimizu, H. Takagi
SF: T. Itoh
HBP: Kakiuchi (Shoda)
LOB: Nippon Ham 2, Seibu 3
Game Time: 2:37
Attendance: 18,000
Umpires: Kawaguchi (HP), Nakamura (1B), Yanagida (2B), Hirabayashi (3B)
Dragons Bunch Together 12 Runs in Trouncing Yokohama
Chunichi Dragons first baseman Leo Gomez pulverised a forkball from Yokohama Bay Stars starter Hiroshi Yamada and lashed it into the fifth deck more than 450 feet away at Nagoya Dome with a man on Friday, as the Dragons offense generated 12 hits and twelve runs against Yamada and five other pitchers while also being helped out by a big error from Stars third baseman Mike Gulan that lead to four unearned runs in the home team's 12-3 stomping of their last place opponents.
Melvin Bunch started for the Dragons and he didn't have his "A list" stuff, but with the kind of wood his side was putting on Yamada and the rest, he had ample room to work with. He ended up going six innings and gave up three runs on seven hits while striking out six and walking two to receive his fifth victory against four losses.
It was 0-0 until the bottom of the third, as shortstop Hirokazu Ibata conned a one out walk out of Yamada and stole second. One out later, centerfielder Kosuke Fukudome zipped one into the leftcenter gap for a double to drive in Ibata. Gomez then became the first Dragons player since Alonzo Powell in 1997 to hit one in the upper reaches, though Powell's shot was estimated at 520 feet, and it was 3-0 Chunichi. Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami singled to center and Jun Inoue went yard to right to make it 5-0 Dragons and the rout was on.
In the top of the fourth, Yokohama got as close as it ever would in this game when first baseman Takahiro Saeki singled with one out and Gulan shredded a Bunch ball into the rightcenterfield bleachers to cut it to 5-2.
The Dragons then proceeded to pull away in the home portion, as Yokohama reliever Kazuyuki Maeda hit catcher Motonobu Tanishige with a pitch. He went to second on a Bunch roller by the mound where Maeda's only play was to first. Ibata singled to right. Maeda was replaced by Ryuichi Kawahara and he got pinchi hitter Jinno to ground to Gulan, who threw it away and Tanishige scored to make it 6-2. Then in the course of pitching to Fukudome, Kawahara balked in Ibata. Fukudome lined out. Gomez was intentionally walked. Tatsunami walked to load the bases. Inoue singled to right to usher in another pair and it was 9-2 Dragons.
Bunch escaped a two out bases loaded jam in the fifth, but had more problems in the sixth. Gulan leadoff with a double to rightcenter. Rightfielder Boi Rodrigues walked. One out later, leftfielder Hitoshi Tamura singled to pack the sacks. Catcher Takeshi Nakamura flied out to drive in Gulan and make it 9-3.. Pinch hitter Hirofumi Ogawa whiffed for the third out.
Shintaro Takeshita tossed two perfect innings, but then Stars manager Masaaki Mori went to the pen again and gave the ball to Shinya Goto, a bad mistake. Backup first baseman Hiroyuki Watanabe walked to lead off the eighth. Ibata singled to right. Substitute outfielder Takayuki Onishi walked to fill the bases again. Fukudome flied out to get Watanabe in. Reliever Makoto Kito sacrificed (!!! somebody is going to get a horsehide ear wax remover for that) and Tatsunami singled to right for two RBIs and that was it for the carnage, a 12-3 Dragons cakewalk.
For Yokohama, Gulan was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .244. Rodrigues was 1-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .246.
For Chunichi, leftfielder Scott Bullet was 0-2 and is at .205. Gomez was 1-2 with two walks and is at .266.
Pitching Lines:
Yokohama:
H. Yamada (L, 2-4) IP 3.0 PC 61 H 6 HR 2 K 2 BB 2 R 5 ER 5 ERA
4.54
K.
Maeda
IP 0.1 PC 11 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 2 ER 0 ERA 11.12
R.
Kawahara
IP 0.2 PC 24 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 2 ER 0 ERA 1.08
Hosomi
IP 1.0 PC 7 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.27
Takeshita
IP 2.0 PC 29 H 1 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.20
Goto
IP 1.0 PC 46 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 7.15
Chunichi:
Bunch (W, 5-4) IP 6.0 PC 96 H 7 HR 1
K 6 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.77
Kito (S,
1)
IP 3.0 PC 30 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.93
E: Gulan, J. Inoue
SB: Ibata, Tatsunami
2B: Fukudome, Onishi, Kuramoto, Rodrigues, Gulan
HR: Gulan (7), Gomez (11), J. Inoue (4)
RBI: Gulan 2, Gomez 2, J. Inoue 4, Fukudome 2, T. Nakamura
SF: T. Nakamura, Fukudome
HBP: Tanishige (Maeda)
Balk: R. Kawahara
GIDP: Tatsunami
LOB: Yokohama 6, Chunichi 7
Game Time: 3:16
Attendance: 31,000
Umpires: Kittaka (HP), Mori (1B), Watamari (2B), Tomoyori (3B)
Red Hot Nakamura Slugs 20th in 5-4 Kintetsu Sayonara Victory
Kintetsu Buffaloes shortstop Masahiro Abe singled to left in the bottom of the ninth at Osaka Dome Friday against the Orix Blue Wave to drive in Kenshi Kawaguchi from second with the winning run in a 5-4 Buffs victory. The game was also highlighted by third baseman Norihiro Nakamura's 14 homer of the month, a new personal high and one that put him atop the Pacific League RBI race as well as elevating his team to second place in the PL standings.
Orix got out to a 1-0 lead in the second when leftfielder Kazuhiko Shiotani leadoff with a double down the leftfield line and two outs later came around on a double into the rightfield corner from catcher Takeshi Miwa.
The Kobe crew then added another in the third thanks to a miscue from Kintetsu second baseman Takashi Muto. Second baseman Koichi Oshma leadoff with a single to right and centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani walked. DH Fernando Seguignol rolled one to Muto, who threw it away trying to get a double play and Oshima crossed to make it 2-0 Blue Wave.
But Nakamura brought his club back to even it in the fourth. Muto leadoff with a single to right. One out later, Orix starter Hisashi Tokano threw an 87mph fastball on the inner half of the plate to Nakamura and he unloaded a majestic, towering drive deep into the leftfield seats and it was 2-2.
Two innings later, Kintetsu went ahead when Nakamura beat out a bleeder and jogged home on rightfielder Koichi Isobe's tater into the rightfield bleachers to make it 4-2 Buffs.
Kintetsu starter Katsuhiko Maekawa and the bullpen wouldn't be able to hold it, however. In the seventh, Tani singled to center with two away. Seguignol plastered one against the leftfield wall, but it was hit so hard that it only went as a single. Tatsuya Shindo singled to left and Tani motored home to shrink the gap with the Buffaloes to 4-3.
Orix then evened it with two outs in the eighth, as reliever Koichi Misawa was taken over the leftfield fence for the gyakuten solo and a 4-4 tie.
In the bottom of the ninth, Kawaguchi used what wheels he has to get on and he was then bunted to second. Abe came up and stroked a slider into left for the RBI and it was decided for Kintetsu 5-4. That was the second sayonara hit of Abe's young career.
For Orix, Seguignol was 1-4 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .245. Third baseman Scott Sheldon was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .219.
For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .253. Aside from the barrage of homers he has unleashed, Nakamura is now at .305.
Pitching Lines:
Orix:
Tokano
IP 6.0 PC 91 H 5 HR 2 K 4 BB 0 R 4 ER 4 ERA 4.43
Imamura
IP 0.1 PC 5 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.49
Kase
IP 0.1 PC 3 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.86
Yamaguchi IP 1.1 PC 20 H
0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.42
Okubo (L, 1-2) IP 0.1 PC 5 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1
ER 1 ERA 2.92
Kintetsu:
Maekawa
IP 6.2 PC 132 H 7 HR 0 K 11 BB 4 R 3 ER 2 ERA 4.80
Aikyo
IP 0.0 PC 1 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA
3.65
Yamamoto
IP 0.1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA
2.31
Misawa (W, 1-1) IP 2.0 PC 45 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 1 R 1 ER 1
ERA 5.29
E: Sheldon, Muto
SB: Oshima, Miwa
2B: Shiotani, Miwa
HR: Hidaka (3), N. Nakamura (20), Isobe (1)
RBI: Hidaka, Isobe 2, N. Nakamura 2, Shindo, Miwa, M. Abe
HBP: Isobe (Tokano)
LOB: Orix 10, Kintetsu 5
Game Time: 3:15
Attendance: 15,000
Umpires: Kodera (HP), Nagami (1B), Higashi (2B), Yamamura (3B)
Trivia Time
What is the record for most homers by one team in a single game? Answer at end of article.
Yokohama to Audition Ernie Young
Reports from the Japanese press indicate that the Yokohama Bay Stars are mulling the aquisition of Ernie Young, a journeyman major leaguer who was the cleanup hitter of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Baseball team. He is currently playing in the Diamondbacks system at Tuscon and may be flown to Japan to tryout. Yokohama is last in all of Japanese baseball in homers and on pace to break the all time record for losses in a season (103 by Kintetsu), so they want to bolster their power profile. They were hoping to get that from Boi Rodrigues, but it hasn't happened and Rodrigues is a liability in the outfield. If they add young, it will be interesting to see who goes to the minors or is released. My guess is that they will demote or unload Jason Turman.
KBO Standings and Leaders
Team: Record GB
1. Samsung
Lions
29-18-0
----
2. Kia
Tigers
26-17-2
1.0
3. Doosan
Bears
24-21-1
4.0
4. Hanwha
Eagles
21-22-0
6.0
5. SK
Wyverns
21-22-1
6.0
6. Hyundai
Unicorns
20-22-4
6.5
7. LG
Twins
19-25-1
8.5
8. Lotte
Giants
16-29-1
12.0
Batting: AVG:
01. Lee Yeong-wu
(Hanwha)
.381
02. Lee Ho-joon
(SK)
.355
03. Song Ji-man
(Hanwha)
.335
04. Lee Seung-yeop
(Samsung) .330
05. Park Jae-hong
(Hyundai)
.330
06. Lee Soong-yong
(Hyundai) .322
07. Chae Jong-beom
(SK)
.318
08. Hong Seong-heun (Doosan) .317
09. Jeon Joon-ho
(Hyundai)
.316
10. Chang Seong-ho
(Kia)
.315
Homers HR
01. Song Ji-man
(Hanhwa)
18
02. Lee Seung-yeop
(Samsung) 17
03. Ma Hae-yeong
(Samsung)
17
04. Lee Yeong-wu
(Hanhwa)
14
05. Jin Gap-yong
(Samsung)
12
Three tied
with
11
Runs Batted In RBI
01. Lee Seung-yeop
(Samsung)
52
02: Ma Hae-yeong
(Samsung)
47
03. Song Ji-man
(Hanhwa)
42
04. Jin Gap-yong
(Samsung)
35
05. Chang Seong-ho
(Kia)
34
Pitching ERA
01. Cho Yong-joon
(Hyundai)
1.08
02. Song Jin-wu
(Hanwha)
2.14
03. Melquicides Torres
(Hyundai)
2.33
04. Kiefer
(Kia)
2.81
05. Allantes
(SK)
2.82
Strikeouts K
01. Kim Jin-wu
(Kia)
65
02. Park Myeong-hwan
(Doosan)
63
03. Song Jin-wu
(Hanwha)
63
04. Lee Seung-ho
(SK)
61
05. Kim Soo-kyung
(Hyundai)
59
Wins W
01. Song Jin-wu
(Hanhwa)
8
02. Gary Rath
(Doosan)
7
03. Melquicides Torres
(Hyundai)
6
04. Kiefer
(Kia)
6
05. Choi Sang-deok
(Kia)
6
Today in Japanese Baseball History
This report is for May 31st and on that day in Japanese
baseball history in 1956, Yomiuri Giants first baseman Tetsuharu Kawakami
became the first pro yakyu player ever to attain 2,000 lifetime hits.
Trivia Answer
The record for most homers in a single game by one team is nine and is held by four clubs:
Shochiku Robins, August 1, 1951 against Hanshin.
Hanshin Tigers September 19, 1976 against Hiroshima.
Hankyu Braves August 9, 1980 against Kintetsu.
Lotte Orions October 3, 1980 against Kintetsu.
May 29, 2002
Hanshin Seizes First Place with 3-2 Victory
The Hanshin Tigers got behind 2-0 in the second to the Yokohama Bay Stars, but struck for single runs in the third, sixth and seventh innings to pull out a 3-2 victory at Koshien Stadium Wednesday. Shinobu Fukuhara was credited with his first win after two perfect innings to set it up for Mark Valdez to earn his 11th save and to put the Osaka nine at the summit of the CL pennant race.
Goto started for Yokohama and struggled, giving up a run on five hits and walking two while striking out none, so Stars manager Masaaki Mori, playing it safe, pulled him before the Tigers could really filet him. However, Kazushi Hosomi, who otherwise threw very competently for three innings, was touched for a tally, as was his successor, Maeda, and that was the ballgame.
Yokohama got to Hanshin starter Kei Igawa in the second, as first baseman Hirofumi Ogawa singled to left to lead it off and second baseman Hitoshi Taneda singled to right. Both were sacrificed along by centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura and rightfielder Masaaki Koike cashed them in by cracking a fastball that was up and in the middle of the plate safely to right and it was 2-0 Stars.
Hanshin was able to load the basese in the bottom of the inning, when third baseman Kentaro Sekimoto doubled down the leftfield line with two outs, catcher Akihiro Yano was intentionally walked and Igawa singled to left to pack the sacks. But second baseman Makoto Imaoka grounded to short to end the threat.
However, in the third, centerfielder Osamu Hamanaka homered to center with one out to make it 2-1. First baseman George Arias singled to left and rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama singled to right. Mori brought in Hosomi and Hanshin leftfielder Derrick White struckout and Sekimoto bounced to third to kill any further scoring.
In the sixth, Hanshin managed to tie it against Hosomi when Hiyama doubled to right center to begin the inning, Sekimoto singled to left after an out and Yano walked to load the bases. Koji Hirashita was sent up to hit for Igawa, but Mori countered by waving in Ryuichi Kawahara. Hiroshi Yagi was then nominated to pinch hit for Hirashita and he wacked a first pitch slider to left to chase Hiyama in and knot it at two all. Hanshin wasn't able to extend it, though, since Imaoka popped out and Hidemitsu Saito struckout.
Another inning down the line, Hanshin finally surfaced on top with a leadoff single to left from Hamanaka, Arias singled to center and Hiyama picked on a first pitch slider and rammed it up through the middle for what proved to be the game winner, and Hanshin fans treated themselves to a raucous rendition of the team theme song, "Rokko Oroshi" to celebrate the 3-2 triumph.
When the game ended, Igawa, though the pitching line would tell yo he had a pretty solid outing, was not impressed with his performance and was particularly angry with himself for the pitch to Koike.
For Yokohama, Boi Rodrigues was 0-1 in a pinch hitting appearance and is at .244.
For Hanshin, White was 0-3 and is at .289. Arias was 2-4 and is at .265.
Pitching Lines:
Yokohama:
Goto
IP 2.1 PC 41 H 5 HR 1 K 0 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.23
Hosomi
IP 3.0 PC 41 H 2 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.43
R. Kawahara IP 0.0 PC 1 H 1 HR
0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.17
Maeda (L, 0-3) IP 0.2 PC 17 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 11.81
Takeshita
IP 0.1 PC 1 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.57
Higashi
IP 0.2 PC 8 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.52
Morinaka IP 1.0
PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.23
Hanshin:
Igawa
IP 6.0 PC 78 H 5 HR 0 K 6 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 1.89
Fukuhara (W, 1-0) IP 2.0 PC 23 H 0 HR 0 K 4 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA
1.29
M. Valdez (S, 11) IP 1.0 PC 16 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0
R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.54
E: Kinjo
2B: Sekimoto, Hiyama
HR: Hamanaka (7)
RBI: Hamanaka, Hiyama, Yagi, Koike 2
IBB: Yano
LOB: Yokohama 4, Hanshin 10
Game Time: 2:58
Attendance: 40,000
Umpires: Suginaga (HP), Watada (1B), Shimada (2B), Kasahara (3B)
Arai Sayonara Jack Finishes Off 10-9 Slugfest
Hiroshima Carp third baseman Takahiro Arai took the fourth pitch he saw from Chunichi Dragons reliever Eiji Ochiai and bashed it on to the grassy section of the leftfield stands with one out in the bottom of the ninth at Miyagi Stadium in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, to put an end to what had been a 9-9 track meet and give the Carp a 10-9 victory. The sayonara clout was the first such walkoff dinger of Arai's four year career. Moreover, out of Hiroshima's 20 wins, six have been won in the bottom of the final inning.
The fireworks started in the first inning, as Carp leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto followed a leadoff walk by centerfielder Kojiro Machida and a free pass to second baseman Eddie Diaz with one away by going midieval on a pitch from Dragons starter Takashi Ogasawara and depositing it in the rightfield seats for a three run homer and a 3-0 Hiroshima lead.
The Dragons surged back, though, in the top of the second, as first baseman Leo Gomez spanked a leadoff single to left and third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami got all over a fat one from Hiroshima starter Yasushi Tsuruta and lobbed it in the rightfield stands to make it 3-2.
Hiroshima improved on their advantage in their half when catcher Kazuyoshi Kimura began the frame with a walk and was sacrificed to second, Machida walked, and Diaz singled to centert to plate Kimura and it was 4-2 Carp.
In the fourth, Kimura walked again and Machida clocked a shot down the leftfield line to get Kimura in and lend his side a 5-2 lead.
The Dragons responded with one in the fifth on a one out singled to right from pinch hitter Jiro Fujitate, a two out walk to leftfielder Scott Bullet and centerfielder Kosuke Fukudome singled to left to plate Fujitate and the score was 5-3.
They then went to the head of the line in the sixth, when Tatsunami leadoff with a walk and second baseman Masahiko Morino doubled him in. Pinch hitter Junichi Jinno was plunked by Carp reliever Daisuke Sakai with two out and shortstop Hirokazu Ibata dialed long distance on Sakai for a three run homer and now the Nagoya crew was in front 7-5.
The Carp made that deficit up in the bottom portion, as Kazu Kimura tripled to rightcenter, pinch hitter Itsuki Asai and Machida walked to juice the bags and Kanemoto collected his fourth and fifth RBIs of the night on a single to right and it was gridlocked at 7-7.
Tatsunami, though, homered to right in the seventh and Chunichi was ahead again 8-7. Rightfielder Jun Inoue doubled down the rightfield line and Morino was intentionally walked. Catcher Fumihiro Suzuki singled to center and Inoue came home for a 9-7 Dragons advantage.
Once more, though, Hiroshima fought their way back when they had their turn in the batter's box. Rigthtfielder Tomonori Maeda leadoff with a single to center and Arai went up the center of the diamond, too. Both men advanced on a little groundball to third and then hit the dish when pinch hitter Koichi Ogata flamed a double to rightcenter and it was now 9-9.
I don't know if it was exhaustion or what, but neither team did much until Arai steered the victory his team's way with the homer off of Ochiai.
Hiroshima have aquired a new foreign pitcher, Ramon Ramirez, a hard throwing righthander from their academy in the Dominican Republic. He will make $35,000 and will be used mainly in middle relief. His fastball reportedly tops out at 93mph to go along with a curve, slider and changeup. You can see a pic of his delivery at: http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/top/bt200205/image/0531rami_OS047530_b.jpg
Ramirez, 5'10" and 170 pounds, has been playing baseball since age ten and was mostly an outfielder until being converted to a pitcher three years ago.
For Chunichi, Bullet was 0-4 with a walk and three strikeouts and is at .214. Gomez was 2-5 with three strikeouts and is at .263.
For Hiroshima, Diaz was 1-4 with a walk and an RBI and is at .329. Lopez was 2-5 and is at .287.
Pitching Lines:
Chunichi:
T. Ogasawara IP 1.0 PC 32 H 1 HR 1 K 0 BB 4 R 4 ER
4 ERA 2.77
Yamai
IP 3.0 PC 42 H 3 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.61
Shotsu
IP 1.0 PC 16 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Endo
IP 1.0 PC 26 H 2 HR 0 K 2 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.35
Iwase
IP 2.1 PC 37 H 4 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 1.37
Ochiai (L,) IP 0.0
PC 4 H 1 HR 1 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.69
Hiroshima:
Tsuruta
IP 3.0 PC 57 H 5 HR 1 K 4 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 6.26
Hiroike
IP 1.2 PC 38 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.13
Sakai
IP 1.1 PC 33 H 2 HR 1 K 3 BB 2 R 4 ER 4 ERA 8.05
Tomabechi
IP 1.0 PC 22 H 3 HR 1 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 7.06
Kobayashi (W, 1-1) IP 2.0 PC 43 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.59
2B: Morino, Inoue, Machida, Ogata
3B: K. Kimura
HR: Tatsunami 2 (5), Ibata (2), Kanemoto (5), Arai (9)
RBI: Tatsunami 3, Ibata 3, Kanemoto 5, Arai, Fukudome, Morino, Suzuki, Diaz,
Ogata 2
IBB: Morino
WP: Yamai
HBP: Jinno (Sakai)
GIDP: Lopez
LOB: Chunichi 8, Hiroshima 8
Game Time: 4:01
Attendance: 15,000
Umpires: Manabe (HP), T. Kobayashi (1B), Honda (2B), Nishimoto (3B)
Kawahara Blows First Save in 2-1 Loss to Yakult
A two run homer to rightcenter off of a hanging 2-1 forkball by Yakult Swallows leftfielder Alex Ramirez not only wasted eight shutout innings by Yomiuri Giants starter Yusaku Iriki and gave the Swallows the victory, but it was also the first time that the Giants closer, Junichi Kawahara, had been scored upon in his 16 innings of work this season in the 2-1 Yakult triumph. Shugo Fujii went all the way for the birds to grab his fourth win of the year.
Ramirez said after the game that the walkoff blast was the first of his baseball life. Ramirez had been 1-10 lifetime against Iriki before he connected.
Fujii held the Giants to six hits, though it appeared that he was going to lose it when centerfielder Hideki Matsui took him over the rightfield fence at Meiji Jingu Stadium in the top of the ninth to give Yomiuri a temporary 1-0 lead. Giants manager Tatsunori Hara, with the way that Kawahara has pitched this season, had to feel thast this one was pretty much over until Kawahara was touched for a one out single to center from catcher Atsuya Furuta and then Ramirez hit the big fly. The loss also dropped the Giants into second, one half game behind the Hanshin Tigers.
For Yakult, Ramirez was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .327.
Pitching Lines:
Yomiuri:
Y.
Iriki
IP 8.0 PC 102 H 5 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.17
J. Kawahara (L, 1-1) IP 0.1 PC 8 H 2
HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 1.10
Yakult:
Fujii (W, 4-1) IP 9.0 PC 121 H 6 HR 1 K 5 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.10
E: S. Miyamoto
2B: S. Miyamoto
HR: H. Matsui (11), Ramirez (9)
RBI: Ramirez 2, H. Matsui
GIDP: Nishi, Iwamura
LOB: Yomiuri 5, Yakult 5
Game Time: 2:58
Attendance: 38,000
Umpires: Mori (HP), Tomoyori (1B), Kittaka (2B), Arisumi (3B)
Two Run Valdez Homer Enables Terahara, Daiei to Defeat Seibu 3-2
With the Hawks starting pitching being decimated by a string of bad performances, Daiei needed the young phenom, Hayato Terahara, to give them a boost against the frontrunning Seibu Lions and their ace, Daisuke Matsuzaka, especially since the Hawks were just 3-6 against the Lions in 2002. Terahara didn't let the fact that he was pitching before a 48,000 capacity crowd, running his fastball up to the plate at a clocked season high of 94mph and exhibiting very good control of of his slider and sharp curve ball to hold Seibu to four hits and two runs over six innings, striking out a career best eight and walking three to take home a 3-2 victory.
Matsuzaka's elbow isn't in the best of shape right now and during his four innings on the hill he was victimized by homers from Hawks first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka and leftfielder Pedro Valdez, the latter a two run shot that was the decisive stroke of the contest. More ominously, Matsuzaka's elbow felt worse that it did originally and he was taken off the roster indefinitely until his elbow heals after the game.
The Lions had an opportunity to go out in front in the first but let that chance go by, when shortstop Kazuo Matsui doubled down the rightfield line to open the game and went to third on a sacrifice. Kazuhiko Miyaji then hit the ball sharply to second, too sharply to allow Matsui to score and he held at third. First baseman Alex Cabrera then struckout to end the inning.
Matsunaka leadoff the second with a drive into the centerfield bleachers and it was 1-0 Hawks.
Then in the third, second baseman Tadahito Iguchi laced a one out single to center and stole second. Valdez then transported a Matsuzaka offering center backscreen style and it was 3-0 Daiei.
Seibu made it tense in the fourth, when Ken Suzuki singled to center and one out later so did Hiroaki Ueda. Catcher Tsutomu Itoh then howitzered a double into rightcenter to make it 3-2. Second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi walked. But Terahara induced Matsui to fly out to right and, after a perfect fifth, struckout the side in the sixth to put an exclamation point on his night. Reliever Shuji Yoshida held the Lions to a hit and a walk over two innings and Rodney Pedraza pulled the curtain down on the game in the ninth by retiring each of the three men that stood in against him for his eighth save.
To compensate for the loss of Matsuzaka, new signing Chang Chieh-chiah has been called up from the minors. Also, another Lions hurler, Tomioka, has come down with a leg problem and Takashi Ishii has been promoted in his stead. Another recent addition, former Texas Ranger Tom Evans, will start Friday for his first action at the big club level in 2002.
For Seibu, Cabrera won a prize for trying to hit Terahara, a golden sombrero (four up, four whiffs) and is now at .250.
For Daiei, Valdez was 1-4 with two RBIs and two strikeouts and is at .282.
Pitching Lines:
Seibu:
Matsuzaka (L, 6-2) IP 4.0 PC 75 H 8 HR 2 K 1 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA
2.59
Aoki
IP 2.0 PC 18 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Doi
IP 1.0 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.25
Mori
IP 1.0 PC 17 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.90
Daiei:
Terahara (W, 3-1) IP 6.0 PC 108 H 4 HR 0 K 8 BB 3 R 2 ER
2 ERA 3.72
Yoshida
IP 2.0 PC 27 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.38
Pedraza (S,
8) IP 1.0
PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.38
E: Terahara
SB: Iguchi
2B: K. Matsui, T. Itoh, Iguchi
HR: Matsunaka (9), P. Valdez (11)
RBI: Matsunaka, P. Valdez 2, T. Itoh 2
WP: Mori
HBP: Matsunaka (Matsuzaka)
GIDP: Kakiuchi
LOB: Seibu 6, Daiei 8
Game Time: 3:01
Attendance: 48,000
Umpires: Tamba (HP), Hayashi (1B), Maeda (2B), Fujimoto (3B)
Nakamura Three Run Homer Fatal to Minchey, Lotte
Boy, what a way to get your 1000th pro hit: take a slow curve ball and unleash a majestic three run homer to centerfield in the fifth inning at Osaka Dome to lock up a ballgame 5-1 against the Chiba Lotte Marines. The man in question is Kintetsu Buffaloes third baseman Norihiro Nakamura and just to add to the fun, this was his seventh homer in the last seven games and it put him in a tie with Tuffy Rhodes for supremacy in RBIs with 44. The Buffs have been 15-1 when he has unloaded a roundtripper in a game this season.
Ironically, Nakamura's first ever pro hit was also a three run blast, against Nippon Ham on June 18, 1992 at Fujiidera Stadium off of a pitcher named Kawano in the....wait for it....fifth inning! God, I love baseball! Anyway, Nakamura is the 209th player in Japanese history to have reached the 1000 hit plateau. His 13 homers this month also ties a personal best, set last May.
Kintetsu jumped ahead 1-0 in the second when Nakamura singled to left and first baseman Yuji Yoshioka singled to center one out later. Kenshi Kawaguchi singled to center to load the bases and shortstop Masahiro Abe flew out to right to plate Nakamura.
Lotte evened it in the fourth when leftfielder Derrick May doubled down the leftfield line, third baseman Kiyoshi Hatsushiba walked and Kenji Morozumi threw the ball away trying for the double play and May crossed to make it 1-1.
In the fifth, Kintetsu was able to put it in cruise control, as centerfielder Naoyuki Omura doubled to rightcenter with two away, second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi thwacked one off the rightfield wall for another double, leftfielder Rhodes walked, and Nakamura electrified the crowd with his "arch" into the deepest part of the yard to make it 5-1.
From there on in, Lotte could only amass a hit and a single over the final four innings from four Buffaloes relievers to help starter Takamura to his fifth victory. Special thanks to Nikkan Sports for all the nifty stats they tossed out about Nakamura.
Lotte manager Koji Yamamoto has told the press that he is demoting starter Kosuke Kato to middle relief after Kato has gotten pounded this season so far.
Hirotoshi Kitagawa was also brought back up with Kintetsu after rehabbing an injury to a thumb ligament and he will be the team's primary pinch hitting specialist.
Mike Johnson, who Kintetsu just aquired from L.A., will make his debut June 7th once immigration requirements are satisfied.
Pitching Lines:
Lotte:
Minchey (L, 3-7) IP 5.0 PC 103 H 8 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 5 ER 5 ERA 3.59
Yoshida
IP 2.0 PC 35 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.44
K. Yamasaki IP 1.0
PC 21 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.18
Kintetsu:
Takamura (W, 5-2) IP 5.0 PC 96 H 4 HR 0 K 5 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.35
Yoshida
IP 1.0 PC 17 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.50
Misawa
IP 1.1 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.40
Yamamoto
IP 0.2 PC 7 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.38
D. Miyamoto IP
1.0 CP 17 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.71
E: M. Abe
SB: Yoshioka
2B: M. Watanabe, May, Mizuguchi, N. Omura
HR: N. Nakamura (19)
RBI: Mizuguchi, M. Abe, N. Nakamura 3, Morozumi
SF: M. Abe
LOB: Lotte 7, Kintetsu 7
Game Time: 3:10
Attendance: 13,000
Umpires: Yoshikawa (HP), Sato (1B), Kodera (2B), Higashi (3B)
Yarnell Perfect Through Four Before Home Run Ball Kills Him
Ed Yarnell through a nice little five hit ballgame Wednesday at Tokyo Dome in what should have been a winning effort, but three of those left the building and Nippon Ham starter Hayato Nakamura and reliever Hiroshi Shibakusa, despite allowing a hit in every inning except the first and second, were able to prevent the Orix Blue Wave from scoring more than two runs and Yarnell and his Kobe compatriots absorbed a 3-2 loss. Nippon Ham has now won a season high five in a row.
Orix put up both of their runs in the third, when third baseman Scott Sheldon leadoff with a walk and was sacrificed to second. Rightfielder Ikuro Katsuragi doubled into the rightfield corner to make it 1-0. He was then sent in on a single to center from centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani for a 2-0 edge.
With one away in Nippon Ham's half of the fifth, third baseman Yukio Tanaka ruined both the no hitter and the shutout when he ditched a Yarnell delivery into the leftfield seats. Leftfielder D.T. Cromer then boomed one into the rightcenterfield standa and it was a tie ballgame at 2-2.
An inning later and with one out, shortstop Makoto Kaneko came up looking for something on the inner half of the plate and he got good wood, lifting it into the leftfield bleachers for the "kachikoshi" (go ahead) solo homer and it was 3-2 Fighters.
The Fighters then knocked Yarnell out in the eighth, but also blew a primo scoring chance. Rightfielder Toshihiro Noguchi leadoff with a double down the leftfield line and he was sacrificed to third. Orix manager Hiromichi Ishige went to the pen for Kazuo Yamaguchi, who struckout centerfielder Tatsuya Ide and got Kaneko to fly out to right to terminate the uprising.
Orix were able to get the tying run on with two outs in the ninth, but pinch hitter Koji Takamizawa flew to left and it was "game setto."
For Nippon Ham, DH Sherman Obando was 0-3 and is at .266. Cromer was 2-3 woith an RBI and is at .275.
For Orix, first baseman Fernando Seguignol was 0-4 and is at .245. Sheldon was 0-2 with a walk and is at .225.
Pitching Lines:
Orix:
Yarnell (L, 3-5) IP 7.1 PC 101 H 5 HR 3 K 5 BB 0 R 3 ER
3 ERA 3.55
Yamaguchi IP 0.2
PC 8 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.55
Nippon Ham:
H. Nakamura (W,4-1) IP 7.2 PC 124 H 7 HR 0 K 4 BB 3 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.58
Shibakusa (S, 6) IP
1.1 PC 16 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.60
SB: Tani
2B: Katsuragi, Shiotani, Noguchi
HR: Y. Tanaka (8), Cromer (9), Kaneko (2)
RBI: Y. Tanaka, Cromer, Kaneko, Katsuragi, Tani
GIDP: Katsuragi
LOB: Orix 7, Nippon Ham 1
Game Time: 2:33
Attendance: 11,000
Umpires: Sakaemura (HP), Yamamoto (1B), Hirabayashi (2B), Akimura (3B)
Today in Japanese Baseball History
This report is for May 29th and on that date in
Japanese baseball history in 1948 at Ujiyamada Stadium in Mie Prefecture,
Yomiuri Giants pitcher Tokuji Kawasaki threw one pitch to Chunichi Dragons
rookie leftfielder Satoru Sugiyama and saw it leave the ballpark for a walk
off homer to get hung with the loss. Sugiyama went on to play a total of
13 years with the Dragons, the Kokutetsu Swallows and the Kintetsu Buffaloes,
batting .249 with 209 homers and 698 RBIs. His lifetime OPS was
.749.
May 28, 2000
Hodges Outstanding in 3-1 Triumph Over Giants
The Seattle Mariners are the most popular MLB team in Japan right now thanks to Ichiro, but fans of the Yomiuri Giants may be cursing that club for allowing Kevin Hodges to go to the Yakult Swallows, as the big righthander used his changeup and mixed in his high 80's fastball effectively to go seven more strong innings against Godzilla Matsui and company to take home a 3-1 victory Tuesday at Meiji Jingu Stadium. Overall this season, Hodges is 3-0 with a microscopic 0.95 ERA against Yakult's crosstown rivals.
Kimiyasu Kudoh started for the Giants and had another frustrating outing, as he permitted three runs in 6.2 innings on eight hits and struckout eight while walking three to lose for the fifth time this year against three wins despite his stelllar 2.89 ERA. In his last seven games, he has gotten a pathetic average of 1.5 runs per tilt in back of him.
The game was scoreless until the sixth, when Yakult staged a one out rally. Rightfielder Shinichi Sato walked. Catcher Atsuya Furuta singled to center. Leftfielder Alex Ramirez doubled down the leftfield line on a slider to plate Sato. Third baseman Akinori Iwamura walked to load the bases. First baseman Hirobumi Watarai grounded out to short to usher in Furuta to make it 2-0 Swallows.
The Giants got half of that back in the top of the seventh, when Matsui leadoff with an infield hit and went to third on a single to right from rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi. Takayuki Saito flied out to right and Matsui tagged and hustled in to cut Yomiuri's deficit to 2-1 and to end Giants 17 inning scoreless streak against Hodges.
Yakult went back up by a pair, though in their half, shortstop Shinya Miyamoto singling to center and galloping home when Furuta ripped a fastball up and out over the plate to the centerfield wall for an RBI double and it was 3-1 Swallows.
Hirotoshi Ishii and Shingo Takatsu took it from there, putting down the last six Giants hitters in order to close it out.
Hodges has permitted just nine hits against Yomiuri in 19 innings and is now tied with Shugo Fujii for the team lead in wins with five. The team record for wins by a foreigner against the Giants was five, set by Terry Bross in 1995, when he went 5-0 in those faceoffs.
The Giants foreign hurler, John Wasdin, who was taken off the roster with pain in his upper arm, is unlikely to return to the team until after the all star break because of a recent string of solid performances by the likes of Kazuhiro Takeda, Hisanori Takahashi and others. Wasdin says his arm feels fine now and is ready for whenever they need him.
For Yakult, Ramirez was 1-4 with an RBI and is at .323. Hodges, who had a couple of homers earlier this season, fanned all three times he went to the plate and is at .136. Rookie Muneo Shida made his first start of the season in centerfield and he whiffed thrice in four chances.
Pitching Lines:
Yomiuri:
Kudoh (L, 3-5) IP 6.2 PC 109 H 8 HR 0 K 8 BB 3 R
3 ER 3 ERA 2.89
Minami
IP 0.1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Y.
Maeda
IP 0.1 PC 3 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.76
Cho
IP 0.2 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.79
Yakult:
Hodges (W, 5-2) IP 7.0 PC 98 H 4 HR 0
K 5 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.77
H.
Ishii
IP 1.0 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.78
Takatsu (S, 13) IP 1.0 PC
13 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.25
2B: Ramirez, Furuta
RBI: Takayuki Saito, Furuta, Ramirez, Watarai
SF: Takayuki Saito
IBB: Dobashi
HBP: Iwamura (Kudoh)
GIDP: Motoki, Watarai
LOB: Yomiuri 3, Yakult 8
Game Time: 2:47
Attendance: 38,000
Umpires: Watamari (HP), Kittaka (1B), Arisumi (2B), Mori (3B)
Yokohama Keeps Hanshin Out of First with Win
The Yokohama Bay Stars threw up a three spot in the seventh inning Tuesday at Muskat Stadium in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture to pull away from the Hanshin Tigers and win only their second game of the season against the Osaka contingent 6-4. Second year reliever Kazumasa Azuma (note: I had been writing his last name previously as "Higashi," which is another way to read the character for his last name. Oops!) grabbed his first pro win despite having four baserunners reach during his two inning stint.
Keiichi Yabu started for Hanshin and did okay, going six innings and allowing three earned runs on nine hits to take his third loss and keep the Tigers out of first place in the Central League race.
Hanshin took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when shortstop Hidemitsu Saito cracked a single to center and first baseman George Arias went yard to left, the former Angel's 15th dinger of the 2002 campaign.
The Stars chipped one off that advantage in the third, as shortstop Takuro Ishii tripled to rightcenter and one out later was cashed in on a single to center from leftfielder Takanori Suzuki. Yabu then got his revenge by picking Suzuki off first base. The normally quiet former batting champ argued the umpire's call vociferously, but his protestations fell on deaf ears.
Yokohama then blew a chance to even it in the fourth, when third baseman Mike Gulan roasted a double down the rightfield line and went to third on an infield hit by Tamura. Boi Rodrigues flied out to left and Hanshin leftfielder Derrick White nailed Gulan at the plate. Catcher Takeshi Nakamura singled to left, but both runners were stranded when centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo grounded out.
But it didn't matter, since in the fifth, second baseman Hitoshi Taneda singled to center with one down and jogged home on a tour of the centerfield bleachers by Suzuki to make it 3-2 Yokohama.
The Stars were able to feel even more comfortable once the results of the seventh were tabulated. With one away, Takuro Ishii singled to center off of Tigers reliever Atsunori Itoh and was sacrificed to second. Suzuki was intentionally walked. Shoji Toyama came in to face Hirofumi Ogawa, who had just been recalled after being demoted a couple of weeks back for not hitting and was mugged for a triple over the head of Hanshin rightfielder Shinjiro Hiyama to drive in two. Ogawa then toed the dish himself when Gulan seared another one down the rightfield line to expand his side's advantage to 6-2.
Hanshin combined singles from catcher Akihiro Yano, Saito and centerfielder Osamu Hamanaka to shrink the difference to 6-3 and then used a double to leftcenter from Yano and a single to center from second baseman Makoto Imaoka to tighten it to 6-4, but Stars closer Takashi Saito fanned the final two men of the game to save it.
The season has already taken a little bit of a toll on Suzuki, as he has dropped eight pounds since opening day after beefing up with a weight training program last winter.
For Yokohama, Gulan was 2-3 with an RBI and a walk and is at .236. Rodrigues was 0-3 and is at .246.
For Hanshin, Arias was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .259. White was 0-3 with a walk and is at .295.
Pitching Lines:
Yokohama:
Sugimoto
IP 3.0 PC 47 H 3 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.38
Azuma (W, 1-0) IP 2.0 PC 43 H 2 HR 0
K 1 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.86
Takeshita
IP 0.1 PC 3 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.63
Kizuka
IP 1.2 PC 34 H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.96
R.
Kawahara
IP 0.1 PC 9 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.17
Takashi Saito (S, 7) IP 1.2 PC 25 H 2 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.08
Hanshin:
Yabu (L, 5-3) IP 5.0 PC 68 H 9 HR 1 K 2 BB
1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 2.67
A.
Itoh
IP 1.2 PC 27 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.50
Toyama
IP 0.1 PC 11 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 15.75
Ando
IP 2.0 PC 22 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.92
2B: Gulan 2, Hiyama, Yano
3B: T. Ishii, Ogawa
HR: Arias (15), T. Suzuki (3)
RBI: Arias 2, T. Suzuki 3, Ogawa 2, Gulan, Imaoka, Hamanaka
IBB: T. Suzuki
WP: Sugimoto
HBP: Gulan (Yabu)
GIDP: Saeki
LOB: Yokohama 7, Hanshin 8
Game Time: 3:23
Attendance: 24,000
Umpires: Tani (HP), Shimada (1B), Kasahara (2B), Sugianaga (3B)
Daiei Lights Up Shiozaki in Rain Shortened Victory
Seibu Lions sidearner Tetsuya Shiozaki had been brilliant in his first four outings, so maybe he was due to get hit around a little bit. Well, okay, a lot, as he was hammered for eight runs, six earned, on ten hits, one of them a mighty clout from Daiei Hawks catcher Kenji Johjima into the leftfield bleachers with two men aboard at Kita Kyushu Municipal Stadium, in four innings. Mercifully for all concerned, the weather intervened and it was called after five to lend the birds of prey a quick and dirty 8-1 victory over their chief Pacific League rivals.
Kenichi Wakatabe was put back into the rotation and responded with five innings of five hit, one run ball to snatch his first win of the year.
The Hawks went to work on Shiozaki immediately, second baseman Tadahito Iguchi singling to center and leftfielder Pedro Valdez finding an unoccupied piece of ground in left. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo juiced the bags with a walk and first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka pushed two across with a knock to center and DH Noriyoshi Omichi went back up through the middle for another before Johjima stepped in and crushed a Shiozaki offering to make it 6-0 Daiei. The Omichi RBI was his first in eight games.
Seibu avoided a shutout in the third when Tatsuya Ozeki doubled to rightcenter and was converted on a single to left from Kazuhiko Miyaji to put it at 6-1.
The Hawks reclained that one and raised the Lions one in their ups when Lions third baseman Hiroaki Ueda booted a ground ball by Omichi and Johjima drilled one up the rightcenter ally for an RBI standup double and centerfielder Hiroshi Shibahara delivered Johjima with a trip to the leftfield wall for two bags and it was now an 8-1 blowout. Even worse for Seibu on that play, however, was that leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada, who was batting .317 with eight homers and 24 RBIs, ran into the wall while chasing it down and suffered a hairline knee fracture and he is going to be out a couple of months. Wakatabe retired three of four in the fifth and after the Hawks had one more turn at bat, the rain was so bad that the umpires declared this one to be in the books.
For Seibu, first baseman Alex Cabrera was 0-2 and is at .256.
For Daiei Valdez was 2-3 and is at .283.
Pitching Lines:
Seibu:
Shiozaki (L, 4-1) IP 4.0 PC 84 H 10 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 8 ER 6 ERA
2.48
Uchizono
IP 1.0 PC 12 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.38
Daiei:
Wakatabe (W, 1-0) IP 5.0 PC 77 H 5 HR 0 K 5 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.80
E: Miyaji, Ueda
SB: Ozeki
2B: Ozeki, Johjima, Shinahara
HR: Johjima (11)
RBI: Johjima 4, Shibahara, Matsunaka 2, Omichi, Miyaji,
HBP: Ueda (Wakatabe), Ozeki (Wakatabe)
LOB: Seibu 5, Daiei 5
Game Time: 1:59
Attendance: 24,000
Umpires: Kakigizono (HP), Maeda (1B), Fujimoto (2B), Tamba (3B)
Ogasawara Clout Decides it for Nippon Ham
A monster two out fifth inning jack into the third deck in right by Nippon Ham first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara off of a hanging slider from Orix Blue Wave starter Hisashi Ogura put the Fighters up to stay in a 3-2 triumph Tuesday at Tokyo Dome. The shot travelled an estimated 455 feet. Nippon Ham starter Hiroyuki Sekine and three relievers then shutout Orix on two hits the rest of the way to preserve the win.
The Fighters got the inital blow in during their turn in the first, as shortstop Makoto Kaneko leadoff with a single to center and was sacrificed to second. One out later, DH Sherman Obando singled to right to plate Kaneko for a 1-0 lead. Leftfielder D.T. Cromer slammed a double to rightcenter, but third baseman Yukio Tanaka grounded out to stave off any further plateward incursions.
Orix restored equilibrium in the third when third baseman Scott Sheldon leadoff with a single to left and moved to second on a one out groundout. Second baseman Koichi Oshama banged a single to center and Sheldon was back in the dugout with the tying run to make it1-1. Centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani singled to center and first baseman Fernando Seguignol walked to load the bases, but Sekine blew away shortstop Tatsuya Shindo to keep it even.
An inning later,. Sheldon cranked his fourth homer of the season, a solo job to right and it was 2-1 Blue Wave.
Nippon Ham balanced it in the bottom of the frame with a two out single by Tanaka, a single to center from Kuniyuki Kimoto, and an RBI double down the leftfield line by catcher Toshihiro Noguchi to deadlock it at 2-2.
In the fifth, Ogasawara went deep and the Fighters staff managed to hold on to put it in the refrigerator.
For Orix, Seguignol was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .252. Sheldon was 2-3 with an RBI and a walk and is at .228. Tani was 3-4 to raise his average to .321.
For Nippon Ham,.Obando was 1-3 with a walk and an RBI and is at .271. Cromer was 1-3 with a walk and is at .269.
Pitching Lines:
Orix:
Ogura (L, 0-1) IP 6.0 PC 72 H 8 HR 1 K 4 BB
0 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.50
Yamaguchi IP
2.0 PC 43 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 2 R 0 ER 2 ERA 2.63
Nippon Ham:
Sekine (W, 3-3) IP 5.2 PC 122 H 7 HR 1 K 6 BB 2 R
2 ER 2 ERA 3.58
Kato
IP 0.2 PC 7 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.93
Iba
IP 1.2 PC 26 H 1 HR 0 K 5 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.28
Shibakusa (S, 5) IP 1.0 0C 10 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R
0 ER 0 ERA 3.86
SB: Y. Nakamura
2B: Shindo, Cromer, Noguchi
HR: Sheldon (4), M. Ogasawara (15)
RBI: Sheldon, Oshima, M. Ogasawara, Obando, Noguchi
WP: Sekine 2
HBP: Sheldon (Shibakusa), Y. Tanaka (Kokura)
LOB: Orix 9, Nippon Ham 7
Game Time: 3:11
Attendance: 12,000
Umpires: Yanagida (HP), Tsugawa (1B), Kawaguchi (2B), Yamamoto (3B)
Gomez Two Run Single in Tenth Defeats Hiroshima 4-2
A bases loaded single in the top of the tenth by Chunichi Dragons first baseman Leo Gomez off of reliever Tetsuto Tomabechi was the deciding factor in that team's 4-2 triumph over the Hiroshima Carp at Miyagi Stadium in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture Tuesday. Both Carp starter Shinji Sasaoka and Dragons moundsman Kenshin Kawakami threw solid ballgames, but it was the latter who surrendered a two run double to rightcenter by Itsuki Asai in the seventh to allow Hiroshima to tie it and ultimately send it into extra innings.
Chunichi leftfielder Scott Bullet put his nine on top in the first when he took Sasaoka over the rightfield wall to make it 1-0 Dragons. Dragons second baseman Masahiko Morino then exited to the right himself in the second and it was 2-0 for the party from Nagoya.
Hiroshima had a good opportunity in the fourth but couldn't bring it to fruition. Second baseman Eddie Diaz singled to left to lead it off. One out later, first baseman Luis Lopez singled to center and rightfielder Tomonori Maeda singled to left to load the bases. But third baseman Takahiro Arai flied out to shallow right, as did Shinjiro Nomura and that was that.
After a long lull, Hiroshima finally made something happen in the seventh. Arai ripped a one out single to right. Catcher Kazuyoshi Kimura laced one down the leftfield line to put runners on second and third. Asai found the gap in rightcenter and both runners crossed the plate to make it 2-2. Shortstop Takuya Kimura then lined a pitch from Kawakami, but it was right at Dragons shortstop Hirokazu Ibata, who doubled Asai off to terminate the inning.
Nobody even put a baserunner on until the tenth, when Chunichi found the winning combination. Ibata walked with one away and Onishi came up to pinch hit for Bullet. Onishi pushed a bunt up the first base line and Lopez went to field it and found that nobody bothered to cover first, so it went for a gift single. Carp reliever Rigo Beltran plunked rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome to pack the sacks. Gomez jumped all over a slider that got too much of the plate and wacked it to left to get Ibata and Onishi in and make it 4-2.
Eddie Gaillard, Chunichi.s closer, strolled in and was shaken down for a leadoff single to left by Kazu Kimura. Gaillard, though, got Kojiro Machida to bite on something he should have left alone and the result was a 1-4-3 double play. Takuya Kimura rolled out to second and Gaillard had his tenth save.
For Chunichi, Bullet was 2-4 with an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .237. Gomez was 1-5 with two RBIs and is at .259.
Pitching Lines:
Chunichi:
Kawakami
IP 8.1 PC 133 H 8 HR 0 K 7 BB 0 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.72
Iwase (L, 1-2) IP 0.2 PC 10 H 0
HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.75
Gaillard (S, 10) IP 1.0 PC 7 H
1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.40
Hiroshima:
Sasaoka
IP 7.0 PC 103 H 6 HR 2 K 7 BB 3 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.17
Kobayashi (L, 0-1) IP 2.1 PC 38 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 1 ER
1 ERA 0.68
Beltran
IP 0.1 PC 3 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.87
Tomabechi
IP 0.2 PC 20 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.53
E: Arai, Diaz
2B: K. Kimura, I. Asai, J. Inoue
HR: Bullet (4), Morino (4)
RBI: Bullet, Morino, Gomez 2, I. Asai 2
IBB: Inoue
WP: Beltran
HBP: Fukudome (Beltran)
GIDP: Gomez, Machida
LOB: Chunichi 9, Hiroshima 5
Game Time: 3:25
Attendance: 15,000
Umpires: Kiuchi (HP), Honda (1B), Nishimoto (2B), T. Kobayashi (3B)
Homers by Nakamura and Rhodes Beats Lotte 4-3
For the ninth time this season, Tuffy Rhodes and Norihiro Nakamura of the Kintetsu Buffaloes homered in the same game to win for the 12th straight time when that has occured since last September Tuesday at Osaka Dome, as all of the Buffs tallies came via the longball in a 4-3 victory over the Chiba Lotte Marines. Shingo Ono had his best outing in a while, twirling five innings of two run, six hit ball but didn't figure in the decision.
Kintetsu starter Hisashi Iwakuma was even better, lasting through seven innings of two run, five hit ball, both scores coming on a two run homer to right in the sixth and he likewise wasn't involved in the decision. Instead, Shogo Yamamoto ended up with his third lifetime win when Nakamura's eighth inning two run homer came along to decide it.
It was 0-0 until the sixth, when centerfielder Saburo Omura leadoff with a single to center and one out later May gave Lotte a shortlived lead by riding an Iwakuma offering out to right to make it 2-0.
Ono, though, couldn't hold it. Leftfielder Rhodes, who had struckout his previous five at bats, slugged a first pitch forkball over the leftfield wall to commence the bottom of the frame. Nakamura powdered an 85mph running fastball to leftcenter to tie it at 2-2 and oust Ono from the game.
In the bottom of the eighth, Rhodes kicked it off with a walk and then Nakamura unloaded a cruise missile into the centerfield seats off of an 86mph heater to put his team in front 4-2.
Akira Okamoto then attempted to bring this one to a conclusion and gave Buffs manager Masataka Nishida a few more grey hairs in doing it. With one out, Lotte third baseman Kiyoshi Hatsushiba singled to left. Kenji Morozumi mashed an Okamoto delivery to deep rightcenter for an RBI double to make it a 4-3 ballgame and put the tying run in scoring position. Ryosuke Sawai grounded to third for the second out and Tasuku Hashimoto tapped to second and it was over.
Rhodes has now struck at least 20 homers for seven consecutive years and is 16 games ahead of his record tying 2001 pace, slugging 20 in 44 matches this season and in 60 last year.
Yamamoto was celebrating his 24th birthday when he was awarded the victory.
New Kintetsu signing Mike Johnson, who came over from the Dodgers organization, will make $300,000 this season and will be given a rotation shot. Tommy Lasorda has reportedly guarenteed that Johnson will deliver for the Buffaloes.
For Lotte, May was 1-4 with two RBIs and is at .230. Bolick was 0-4 and is at .217.
For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 1-3 with a walk and an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .263. Nakamura, after a slow start, now has 18 homers, 46 RBIs and has elevated his average to .288. He is on pace for another huge season.
Pitching Lines:
Lotte:
S.
Ono
IP 5.0 PC 72 H 6 HR 2 K 4 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.37
Fujita
IP 0.1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.26
H. Kobayashi (L, 3-2) IP 1.2 PC 28 H 2 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.86
Tak.
Tanaka
IP 0.2 PC 10 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.86
Yoshida
IP 0.1 PC 6 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.86
Kintetsu:
Iwakuma
IP 7.0 PC 106 H 5 HR 1 K 5 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.32
D.
Miyamoto
IP 0.1 PC 6 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.95
Yamamoto (W, 3-0) IP 0.2 PC 8 H 0 HR
0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.53
A. Okamoto (S, 10) IP 1.0 PC 15 H 2 HR 0 K
0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.59
SB: S. Omura
2B: Isobe, N. Omura, Morozumi
HR: May (4), Rhodes (20), N. Nakamura 2 (18)
RBI: Rhodes, Nakamura 3, May 2, Sawai
Balk: H. Kobayashi
LOB: Lotte 6, Kintetsu 7
Game Time: 3:08
Attendance: 13,000
Umpires: Nagami (HP), Kodera (1B), Yamamura (2B), Sato (3B)
Today in Japanese Baseball History
This report is for May 28th and on that date in Japanese baseball history in 1980, Lotte Orions outfielder Isao Harimoto became the second man ever to attain 3,000 career hits with a homer at Kawasaki Stadium against the Hankyu Braves.
Seelbach Throws Complete Game Six Hitter in
Nippon Ham Victory
Chris Seelbach threw his best regular season game
since coming to Japan Monday at Tokyo Dome, as he went all the way while
limiting the Orix Blue Wave to six hits and two runs to get his first victory
since April 14th, his fourth overall. Catcher Toshihiro Noguchi made the
win possible with his second career grandslam in the bottom of the eighth,
his first bases loaded longball in seven years.
The Fighters were able to scratch out a run in the
bottom of the first, as shortstop Makoto Kaneko beat out a roller toward
short to lead it off and advanced on a bunt basehit from second baseman Hiroshi
Narahara. First baseman Michihiro Ogasawara walked to juice the bags. DH
Sherman Obando grounded into a 6-4-3 double play and Kaneko crossed to make
it 1-0 Nippon Ham.
Seelbach then had his only rough inning of the night
in the top of the second when Orix DH Fernando Seguignol beat out a bleeder
toward first, shortstop Tatsuya Shindo tattooed a double to rightcenter,
first baseman Kazuhiko Shiotani ripped a one out RBI single to center and
leftfielder Koji Takamizawa flew out to right to deliver Shindo and make
it 2-1 Orix. Seelbach only gave up three hits, one of the infield variety,
and a walk the rest of the way to give his side's offense time to coalesce
and attack.
In the bottom of the third, Fighters centerfielder
Tatsuya Ide took Orix starter Masahiko Kaneda on a rocket ride to leftcenter
to level it at 2-2. An inning later, Obando grabbed the lead for Nippon Ham
when he cooked up a souvenir for the folks in the leftfield stands and it
was 3-2 Fighters.
It remained that way until the eighth, when Nippon
Ham was able to turn a tight game into an easy win. Narahara leadoff with
a single to center and was thrown out trying to steal. Ogasawara singled
to left. Obando was intentionally walked. One out later, Cromer was hit by
a pitch to pack the sacks. He was pinch run for by Hichori Morimoto. That
brought up Noguchi, who got a hanging curve ball from Orix reliever Yuuki
Tanaka and he killed it, air mailing it into the leftfield bleachers for
the grand salami and a 7-2 Nippon Ham advantage.
Now in a situation where he could just air it out
with a five run lead, Seelbach got Orix centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani on a
grounder to second, Seguignol on a harmless fly ball to left and Shindo on
a flyout to right and it was "game setto." This was Seelbach's first complete
game game in Japan as well. "I just concentrated on throwing strikes," he
told reporters. "Our defense was also good and Noguchi's granny was huge.I
was able to get ahead of the hitters and my walks had been an issue, but
tonight I only had one and that was a big factor."
For Nippon Ham, Obando was 1-3 with a walk and an
RBI and is at .269. Cromer was 1-3 with an HBP and is at .267.
For Orix, Seguignol was 1-4 and is at .257. First
baseman Scott Sheldon was 0-3 and is at .219.
Pitching Lines:
Orix:
Kaneda (L, 1-3) IP 4.0 PC 56 H 5 HR 2 K 1 BB 1 R
3 ER 3 ERA 2.50
Tokumoto
IP 2.2 PC 36 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.18
Kase
IP 0.0 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.93
Yuuki Tanaka IP 1.1 PC 50 H 3 HR 1 K
1 BB 2 R 4 ER 4 ERA 15.43
Nippon Ham:
Seelbach (W, 4-3) IP 9.0 PC 134 H 6 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA
3.88
SB: Tani
2B: Shindo
HR: Ide (8), Obando (12), Noguchi (4)
RBI: Shiotani, Takamizawa, Noguchi 4, Obando, Ide
SF: Takamizawa
IBB: Obando
WP: Yuuki 2
HBP: Cromer (Yuuki)
GIDP: Sheldon, Obando, Noguchi
LOB: Orix 3, Nippon Ham 4
Game Time: 2:44
Attendance: 10,000
Umpires: Tachibana (HP), Hirabayashi (1B), Yanagida (2B), Tsugawa (3B)
Sikorsky Picks Up a Win with Shutout Relief
in 4-1 Lotte Win
Some sloppy defensive play by the Kintetsu Buffaloes
and Chiba Lotte Marines manager Koji Yamamoto's decision to pull starter
Takashi Kawai with one out in the fourth got Brian Sikorsky his second win
of the season Monday at Osaka Dome in a 4-1 Lotte victory. The 27 year old
righthander went 3.2 innings of hitless relief, walking one and striking
out three.
Lotte went out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning,
when second baseman Koichi Hori leadoff with single to left and went to second
on centerfielder Saburo Omura's sacrifice. Kintetsu starter Sean Bergman,
when he picked up the bunt, chose to try to obtain the force at second, but
Hori was in ahead of the peg, so now runners were on first and second with
nobody out. One out later, DH Frank Bolick rolled a double play grounder
to shortstop Masahiro Abe, who threw it away and both Hori and Omura blazed
around to score to makie it 2-0 Lotte. Leftfielder Derrick May rammed a shot
down the leftfield line for standup double and an RBI and Lotte was up 3-0.
Bergman was victimized by more defense as well as
his own control problems in the second, but managed to wriggle out of it
with no damage. Lotte catcher Masaumi Shimizu hit one out in front of the
plate that Kintetsu catcher Kenji Furukubo treated like a hot potato for
an error. Shortstop Masato Watanabe sacrificed Shimizu to second. Bergman
then walked both Hori and Omura to load the bases. But he struckout first
baseman Kazuya Furukubo and lured Bolick into a groundout to second to neutralize
the predicament.
In the bottom of the third, Buffaloes centerfielder
Naoyuki Omura homered to right to make it 3-1 Lotte.
Kawai fanned Kintetsu second baseman Yuji Yoshioka
to open the fourth, but a single to left by DH Fumitoshi Takano and a single
to right from rightfielder Koichi Isobe inspired Yamamoto to dial local and
order himself up a Sikorsky. Brian whiffed the next two men and that was
that. You can see a pic of Sikorsky's delivery at:
http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/top/bt200205/image/0528siko_OS153527_b.jpg
In the top of the sixth, third baseman Kiyoshi
Hatsushiba took the long way home via the leftfield bleachers and it was
4-1 Lotte.
Watanabe doubled to leftcenter to start the seventh
and was sacrificed to third, but Bergman again gutted it out by striking
out Omura and Fukuura and Bergman's night was over. Only one of the runs
he was responsible for were earned.
Masahide Kobayashi wrapped it up in the ninth with
two strikeouts and a ground ball for his seventh save.
For Kintetsu, leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes was 1-4 with
three strikeouts and is at .262.
For Lotte, Bolick was 0-4 and is at .224. May was
2-4 with an RBI and is at .229.
Pitching Lines:
Lotte:
Kawai
IP 3.1 PC 69 H 5 HR 1 K 3 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.60
Sikorsky (W, 2-5) IP
3.2 PC 46 H 0 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.15
H.
Kobayashi
IP 1.0 PC 16 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.45
M. Kobayashi (S, 7) IP 1.0 PC 14 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0
ER 0 ERA 2.31
Kintetsu:
Bergman (L, 1-1) IP 7.0 PC 109 H 7 HR
1 K 8 BB 2 R 4 ER 1 ERA 4.13
Yoshida
IP 0.2 PC 7 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.80
D.
Miyamoto
IP 0.1 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.03
Ishige
IP 1.0 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 9.00
E: M. Abe, Furukubo
SB: Morozumi
2B: May, M. Watanabe
HR: N. Omura (7), Hatsushiba (5)
RBI: N. Omura, Hatsushiba, May
IBB: Hatsushiba
GIDP: Hatsushiba, Fukuura, Sato, Takano
LOB: Lotte 7, Kintetsu 7
Game Time: 3:12
Attendance: 14,000
Umpires: Higashi (HP), Yoshikawa (1B), Nagami (2B), Kodera (3B)
Daiei Drops Another One to Seibu 5-3
The Daiei Hawks had runners on in seven of the nine
innings, but could only score in two of them, so despite outhitting the Seibu
Lions 11-8, they were vanquished 5-3 Monday at Fukuoka Dome to fall further
behind the Pacific League top dogs. Koji Mitsui threw 6.2 innings and allowed
two runs on seven hits to rack up win number four on the season.
Yet another Daiei starter couldn't even go five
innings, the case in point this time around being Akichika Yamada, who has
just fallen apart after several brilliant early outings. Yamada lasted a
mere four innings and was mugged for two homers and three earned runs on
75 pitches before manager Sadaharu Oh lost his patience and yanked him.
Seibu was able to get on top first, shortstop Kazuo
Matsui leading off with a shot into the leftcenter alley. He went to third
on a fly ball to right and, with first baseman Alex Cabrera up at the plate,
took off for home when Yamada threw a pitch by catcher Kenji Johjima to make
it 1-0 Lions.
In the bottom of the inning, Daiei second baseman
Tadahito Iguchi scorched a leadoff double to rightcenter and went to third
on a sacrifice. But that's where he stayed, as leftfielder Pedro Valdez flied
out to shallow right and third baseman Hiroki Kokubo struckout to frustrate
themselves.
Matsui homered to rightcenter off of a hanging breaking
ball in the third to double the advantage to 2-0 for Seibu.
Cabrera came up again to lead off the fourth and
he put a whippin' on a 91mph fastball from Yamada and nine ironing it up
into the upper reaches of the leftcenterfield bleachers and the Lions were
in the catbird seat at 3-0.
Kazuhiko Iijima came out to pitch the sixth after
getting the final two outs of the fifth and Kazuhiko Miayji lined a leadoff
double to leftcenter. Cabrera was intentionally walked and Kazuhiro Wada
sacrificed both men up 90 feet. Suzuki doubled down the rightfield line to
plate two and it was 5-0 Lions.
Daiei got organized for the first time in the contest
in the home portion, as Iguchi drew a one out walk and Shibahara singled
to center. One out later, Kokubo doubled to rightcenter to plate both of
those speedsters and partially close the gap to 5-2.
The next time the Hawks managed to make a dent was
in the ninth, though that proved insufficient. Matsunaka leadoff with an
infield hit. DH Noriyoshi Omichi singled to left, as did Johjima to drive
in Matsunaka. Rightfielder Koji Akiyama, though, lined into a 6-4 double
play and Bonichi struckout to say goodnight.
The Lions are now 4.5 games up and have yet to lose
three in a row. Moreover, they are 12-1 this season when Matsui scored the
first inning.
For Daiei, Valdez was 0-4 and is at .276.
For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-1 with an RBI and three
walks and a steal (!) and is at .260. He was still upset about an earlier
against Daiei where he got hit on the elbow and was looking to hit the daylights
out of the ball. See his swing and make your judgement as to whether he
accomplished that:
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/kiji/2002/05/28/20020528013129.jpg
Pitching Lines:
Seibu:
Mitsui (W, 4-1) IP 6.2 PC 104 H 7 HR 0 K 6 BB 1 R 2 ER
2 ERA 2.49
Aoki
IP 0.2 PC 7 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Mizuo
IP 0.1 PC 4 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.40
Mori
IP 0.1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.99
Toyoda (S, 9) IP 1.0 PC 27
H 3 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.13
Daiei:
A. Yamada (L, 4-3) IP 4.0 PC 75 H 5 HR 2 K 5 BB 2 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.61
Ijima
IP 2.0 PC 36 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 2.81
Yoshida
IP 2.0 PC 35 H 1 HR 0 K 3 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.76
H.K. Watanabe IP 1.0 PC 8 H 0 HR
0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.75
SB: Cabrera, Johjima
2B: K. Matsui, Takayama, H. Takagi, K. Suzuki, Miyaji, Iguchi, Kokubo
HR: K. Matsui (9), Cabrera (14)
RBI: Cabrera, K. Matsui, Kokubo 2, Johjima, K. Suzuki
IBB: Cabrera
GIDP: T. Itoh, Johjima
LOB: Seibu 6, Daiei 6
Game Time: 3:32
Attendance: 47,000
Umpires: Hayashi (HP), Fujimoto (1B), Tamba (2B), Kakigizono (3B)
Today in Japanese Baseball History
This report is for May 27 and on that day in Japanese
baseball history in 1958, Kokutetsu Swallows great Masaichi Kaneda achieved
64.1 consecutive innings without allowing a run to set a record. He went
31-14 with 11 shutouts and a 1.30 ERA in 332.1 innings, striking out 311
and walking only 60. Kaneda was 400-298 2.34 for his 20 season career. He
had 14 consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins. Not only the greatest pitcher
in Japanese history, but also the greatest hurler in Korean annals (since
he was Korean).
Also, on this day in 1979, Yakult Swallows outfielder
John Scott ripped a grand slam, a three run homer, a two run homer and a
solo homer during a double header with Hanshin at Koshien Stadium to do the
cycle in homers.Scott spent three seasons with Yakult, batting .262 with
48 homers and 159 RBIs in 279 games. He was also a two time Gold Glove winner.
He played with the Padres and Blue Jays before going to Japan.
Godzilla Meets Godzilla
As part of a promotional stunt to promote the new
Godzilla movie, Yomiuri Giants centerfielder Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui will
make a cameo in the film playing himself. The folks at Toho Studios got this
little brainstorm after Matsui made a joke about starring in the next installment
of the cinematic franchise during a preview screening last year at the Tokyo
International Film Festival for the previous chapter of the celluloid monster
epic.
In Case You're Wondering....
The reason you aren't seeing me post as many links to Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese pro baseball articles here recently is because the papers that usually do them are focusing their energies on the Soccer World Cup. Things should pick up again once the soccer tournament ends.
May 26, 2002
Hanshin Stays in the Chase with 6-0 Shutout
of Dragons
Veteran Nobuyuki Hoshino bounced back from some
not so great recent appearances to toss six innings of shutout baseball and
then four relievers took it from there, as first baseman George Arias slugged
a three run homer to power the Hanshin Tigers to a 6-0 victory over the Chunichi
Dragons Sunday at Nagoya Dome. The youngster Kenta Asakura was hung with
his second loss against five wins for the Dragons.
The game was marred by an incident in the ninth
inning and then an even more bizarre occurrence after it was over. With a
5-0 advantage, Tigers catcher Akihiro Yano faked a bunt, causing Chunichi
backstop Yuichi Yanagisawa to grumble about Yano doing that with a five run
lead. Yano shot back that it wasn't up to Yanagisawa to determine his team's
strategy. Yanagisawa backed down, but Leo Gomez charged over from first base
and pushed Yano, causing both benches to clear. Home plate umpire Tomoyori
told both sides that if they didn't knock it off he was going to start handing
out ejections, which cooled things off immediately and the inning resumed.
However, once the Tigers closed the game out and
went to board the team bus, a Dragons employee, Tetsuya Yamamoto, got on
and started arguing with Hanshin manager Senichi Hoshino. The club's brawny
batting coach, Koichi Tabuchi, intervened and kept it from getting out of
hand. A Hanshin team official then called an executive of the Dragons to
complain and received an apology, saying that Yamamoto would be severely
reprimanded. Once things cooled off and Hoshino was back at the hotel, he
shrugged the whole thing off. As to whether this will be the root of any
enmity between the two teams in the future remains to be seen.
The contest was scoreless until the top of the third,
when Kentaro Sekimoto got an 0-2 hanging forkball and lined it toward the
leftfield wall. Sekimoto, running full out since he thought it would hit
the wall, was almost suprised when the ball went into the crowd and, making
sure that leftfielder Scott Bullet wasn't playing the ball, slowed down and
completed his first homer trot
around the bases of his career to make it 1-0 Hanshin.
Both pitchers were throwing extremely well, but
the Tigers order was able to slap Asakura around in the fifth. Second baseman
Makoto Imaoka slammed a shot off the leftfield wall that Bullet played perfectly
and gunned it into second to keep Imaoka at first. After Imaoka was sacrificed
along, centerfielder Osamu Hamanaka singled to left. Again, Bullet was there
to keep Imaoka from taking an extra base. That all became academic, though,
as Arias drilled an 89mph fastball into the leftfield stands for a three
run homer and a 4-0 Hanshin edge.
Sekimoto then played a central role in Hanshin getting
to reliever Shinichiro Koyama in the seventh, when he seared a double to
rightcenter to lead it off and came around on a two out knock to center from
Imaoka and it was 5-0 Hanshin.
Hanshin then made the best of a couple of singles
in the ninth when Sekimoto started it with a basehit to left. Yano struckout
in the aftermath of the controversy, but Sekimoto then moved to second on
a groundout to first and was converted on a single to right from Imaoka to
finish the night's scoring at 6-0.
For Chunichi, Bullet was 0-4 and is at .206. Gomez
was 0-3 with a walk and is at .261.
For Hanshin, Arias was 2-3 with three RBIs and is
over .250 for the first time this season at .253. Leftfielder Derrick White
was 0-4 and is at .301.
Pitching Lines:
Hanshin:
N. Hoshino (W, 1-1) IP 6.0 PC 89 H 3 HR 0 K 6 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA
2.84
A.
Itoh
IP 1.0 PC 17 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.77
Fukuhara
IP 1.0 PC 15 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.50
Toyama
IP 0.1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 14.73
Date
IP 0.2 PC 4 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.12
Chunichi:
Asakura (L, 5-2) IP 6.0 PC 83 H 5 HR 2 K 2
BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 2.43
Koyama
IP 2.0 PC 43 H 3 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 0 ERA 3.86
Endo
IP 1.0 PC 22 H 2 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.66
SB: Hamanaka, Yoshida
2B: Sekimoto, Hamanaka
HR: Sekimoto (1), Arias (14)
RBI: Sekimoto, Arias 3, Imaoka 2,
WP: Endo
HBP: Hamanaka (Asakura)
PB: Yanagisawa
GIDP: Hiyama
LOB: Hanshin 5, Chunichi 5
Game Time: 2:49
Attendance: 40,500
Umpires: Tomoyori (HP), Arisumi (1B), Mori (2B), Watamari (3B)
Koo, Okubo Combine for Four Hit Shutout Over
Lotte
A three run rally in the sixth by the Orix Blue
Wave backed another stellar performance by Koo Dae-sung, who went eight scoreless
innings before giving away to a perfect frame from Okubo as the Kobe nine
beat the Chiba Lotte Marines at Chiba Marine Stadium Sunday 4-0. Centerfielder
Yoshitomo Tani had a two run double off the leftfield wall to key the
aforementioned uprising.
Naoyuki Shimizu started for Lotte and was solid,
going seven innings of three run abll on five hits and striking out five
while walking three to drop his second of the year against four wins.
Neither hurler was giving the opposition much of
an opening until the fifth, when Orix Kazuhiko Shiotani tripled into the
rightcenter gap with two outs. However, he was stranded when Daisuke Hayakawa
struckout.
In the top of the sixth, though, Orix was finally
able to sustain something against Shimizu. Catcher Takeshi Hidaka leadoff
with a walk. Rightfielder Ikuro Katsuragi singled to right and both men advanced
on a sacrifice. Tani then played jai lai with a Shimizu delivery and the
Blue Wave were up 2-0. One out later, Tatsuya Shindo singled to right to
usher in Tani to make it 3-0 Orix.
Orix then expanded on that lead in the ninth with
a walk to DH Fernando Seguignol, who was pinch run for by Tomotaka Tamaki,
who was subsequently forced out on a grounder to ffirst by Shindo, a two
out single to center by Shiotani and a pair of walks off of Lotte reliever
Takao Inoue to force Seguignol in to widen it to 4-0.
For Lotte, Frank Bolick was 0-3 with a walk and
is at .231. Leftfielder Derrick May was 0-3 and is at .221.
For Orix, Seguignol was 0-3 with a walk and is at
.257. First baseman Scott Sheldon was 0-4 with an error and is at .224.
Pitching Lines:
Orix:
Koo (W, 3-2) IP 8.0 PC 125 H 4 HR 0 K 4 BB
1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.55
Okubo
IP 1.0 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.25
Lotte:
N. Shimizu (L, 4-2) IP 7.0 PC 94 H 5 HR 0 K 5 BB 3 R 3 ER 3 ERA
2.20
Fujita
IP 0.1 PC 9 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.50
K.
Yamasaki
IP 1.0 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.38
Inoue
IP 0.2 PC 26 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
E: Sheldon
2B: Tani
3B: Shiotani
RBI: Tani 2, Shindo, Hidaka
WP: Inoue
GIDP: Seguignol, M. Shimizu, Hori
LOB: Orix 6, Lott