Fumihito Haraguchi lined a two-out single to left field in the eighth inning that scored pinch runner Kairi Shimada from second base with what proved to be the game winning run in the Hanshin Tigers narrow 2-1 victory over the Yakult Swallows to take over third place in the Central League. For the second consecutive night Takumu Nakano led off the game with a home run into the right field bleachers of Meiji Jingu to open the scoring. Tuesday's blast came off Hirotoshi Takanashi while Wednesday bomb was off Masanori Ishikawa. #中野拓夢 選手の2試合連続先頭打者ホームラン比較動画です！(左が9/27に高梨から、右が9/28に市川から) pic.twitter.com/ZzE7UlnNpO— けーあい (@gucci94love) September 28, 2022 Southpaw Masashi Itoh allowed just three hits after five innings, but in the sixth his throwing error to first base with two outs allowed Yu Matsumoto to score from third to make it 1-1. The Tigers bullpen didn't allow a hit for the remaining 3-1/3 innings with Kyle Keller picking up the win. Closer Suguru Iwazaki notched his 28th save after shutting down the heart of the Swallows lineup in the ninth, fanning Yasutaka Shiomi and Munetaka Murakami before inducing José Osuna into a groundout to short for the final out. With one game to play in their regular season schedule (on Sunday against the Swallows at Koshien) the Tigers temporarily hold sole position of third place in the Central League standings. But they can still be caught and possibly overtaken by Yomiuri Giants (2 games to play at Yokohama on Saturday and Sunday) and/or by the Hiroshima Carp (3 home games to play, Thursday and Friday against the Swallows, Sunday against the Dragons). Scoreboard watching doesn't get any better.
Shota Hiranuma may have batted ninth in the lineup but his solo home run in the fifth inning was the only run in Sendai as the Seibu Lions gained a massive win over the Rakuten Eagles to put Seibu in pole position ahead of Rakuten in the fight for the final post-season spot in the Pacific League. The Lions, who hold a 1-1/2 game lead over Rakuten, have two games left on their regulaqr season schedule (both at home, against the SoftBank Hawks on Saturday and the Nippon-Ham Fighters on Sunday). The Eagles have three tough home game remaining (2 against the Hawks on Thursday and Friday, 1 against the Buffaloes on Sunday).
Wednesday saw the final home game for the Nippon-Ham Fighters at the Sapporo Dome. Beginning next year the Fighters move into their new home 13 miles away at ES CON Field Hokkaido in Kitahiroshima. The final Fox Dance for 2022. 【1年間ありがとうございました🦊】ラスト #きつねダンス🤘🦊🤘#ファンは宝物 #lovefighters pic.twitter.com/8dvD11eQGw— 北海道日本ハムファイターズ公式 (@FightersPR) September 28, 2022 Before the Fighters played their first home game at the Sapporo Dome they had a little girl named Mitsuha Sato throw out the ceremonial first pitch. (Unsure of the circumstances of why she was selected.) In 2014 at the 10th anniversary of the Fighters playing at the Dome, she again threw out the first pitch. Following Wednesday's game, Ms. Sato was brought back to toss the final pitch using the same ball she used the first two times. 【札幌ドーム】ファイナルピッチ⚾【ありがとう】#ファンは宝物 #lovefighters pic.twitter.com/lwETSlH00e— 北海道日本ハムファイターズ公式 (@FightersPR) September 28, 2022 And finally, after putting out a press release on Tuesday saying that he would be making a big announcement after Wednesday's game regarding his future with the team, manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo announced that the "Big Boss" era was over after just one season. He removed his jersey and placed it on the ground. Then promptly revealed that he would continue managing the team. Let the Shinjo era begin! #BIGBOSS からのご報告です🎙#新庄剛志 #SHINJO #ファンは宝物 #lovefighters pic.twitter.com/wCitvz63W7— 北海道日本ハムファイターズ公式 (@FightersPR) September 28, 2022
／ 優勝マジック2⃣！！！＼福岡ソフトバンク #モイネロ 投手が3者凡退に抑えてゲームセット！#sbhawks @HAWKS_official @LivanMoinelo pic.twitter.com/f8mXEJO6Ei— パ・リーグ.com / パーソル パ・リーグTV【公式】 (@PacificleagueTV) September 29, 2022 Kenta Imamiya's two-out single to right field in the fifth inning scored Yuki Yanagita for what turned out to be the game-winning run as the SoftBank Hawks held on to defeat the Rakuten Eagles 5-4 and reduce their Magic Number to claim the Pacific League crown to 2. The result also cements third place in the P.L. for the Seibu Lions and a spot in the post-season. It's a mighty blow to the Rakuten organization after the Eagles began the season with a promising 24-6 record. The Hawks scored four runs in the first inning but Rakuten chipped away at the deficit and tied it at 4-4 in the third before the fifth inning rally won it for SoftBank.
José Osuna of the Yakult Swallows blasted a three-run home run off reliever Nik Turley in the seventh inning to put a serious dent in the playoff hopes of the Hiroshima Carp who let an early 4-0 lead slip away to a 5-4 defeat at home. The Carp, who had their playoff fate in their own hands if they had swept their three makeup games this week, are now on the outside looking in and will need to win their remaining two games while hoping the Hanshin Tigers and the Yomiuri Giants lose in order to make the post-season.
A three-run rally in the fourth inning and a home run from Alfredo Despaigne helped the SoftBank Hawks to a 5-1 victory over the Rakuten Eagles to reduce their Pacific League-clinching Magic Number to 1. 41 year old Tsuyoshi Wada, who spent four injury-plagued years in MLB including two seasons with the Chicago Cubs, recorded his 150th career win in NPB after allowing just one run on two hits over five innings of work. 今季パ・リーグの行方は如何に！？#藤原恭大 9回2死から同点タイムリー！！ソフトバンク•ワイモバイルなら追加料金なし▶️https://t.co/Ic2VzF1PlY #chibalotte pic.twitter.com/I25y7Iz3uT— ベースボールLIVE (@baseballlive_JP) September 30, 2022 Wada was named Hero of the Game but his interview was put on hold because of events going on at the Osaka Dome where the Lotte Marines had scored the tying run against the Orix Buffaloes in the top of the ninth inning. The live broadcast was put up on the video board at Miyagi Park for the Hawks players to watch in anticipation of an Orix loss handing them the Pacific League pennant.
Alas, with two outs and facing a 3-0 count with a runner on third, Shuhei Fukuda shockingly bunted for a base hit that scored Kotaro Kurebayashi with the sayonara run for the Buffaloes, with the Orix celebrations being delayed when umpires momentarily discussed whether Fukuda had exited the basepath to avoid the tag en route to first. The result in Osaka means the P.L. pennant race continues on to Saturday with Softbank traveling to Saitama to face the Seibu Lions while the idle Buffaloes will watch, hope and pray for a Lions win. As for the Buffaloes 4-3 win over the Marines, Yoshinobu Yamamoto virtually assured himself of a second consecutive pitching Triple Crown after striking out ten batters over seven innings. Once confirmed, the 24 year old Yamamoto will be just the second pitcher to achieve the Triple Crown twice (Kazuhisa Inao - 1958, 1961) and the first to accomplish the feat in consecutive seasons. 1575847684917047297 is not a valid tweet id
The Hiroshima Carp were eliminated from playoff contention in the Central League on Friday following a second consecutive defeat at home to the Yakult Swallows, this time by a score of 5-1. Patrick Kivlehan's three-run blast in the third inning and José Osuna's two-run shot in the sixth dampened the hopes of Carp fans who have not seen their team make the playoffs since winning the C.L. pennant in 2018. 1575782658789224450 is not a valid tweet id 1575797619644768258 is not a valid tweet id So third place and the final C.L. playoff spot will either go to the Hanshin Tigers or Yomiuri Giants. The Tigers currently hold a 1/2-game lead over the club from Tokyo. The Kyojin play at Yokohama on Saturday and must win or tie to push the matter to Sunday. A loss and they are eliminated handing the Tigers the post-season bid.
キャプテンの一発で先制‼️1回裏DB 1-0 G#佐野恵太 選手#baystars pic.twitter.com/h9QLS5mniZ— 横浜DeNAベイスターズ (@ydb_yokohama) October 1, 2022 A first inning solo home run by Keita Sano was enough to give the Yokohama BayStars a tight 1-0 victory over the Yomiuri Giants on Saturday. The defeat eliminated the Giants from playoff contention, much to the benefit of the idle Hanshin Tigers who will finish in third place in the Central League which qualifies them for the post-season. Shota Imanaga pitched a gem for Yokohama, allowing just two hits and two walks while fanning six over seven innings. Apart from the game-winning home run early on, Yomiuri's 22 year old phenom Shosei Togo also pitched well, allowing three hits while striking out seven in five innings of work. In the eighth inning the Giants Taisei Ota demonstrated why he's one of the premier closers in NPB when he struck out the side after entering the game facing a bases-loaded no-out situation. Fighting for their playoff lives, the Kyojin began the ninth inning by getting their first two batters on base. But after Sho Nakata flied out to left, Kazuma Okamoto grounded into a 5-3 double play to end the Giants season and send Hanshin to the Climax Series. After opening the season losing their first nine games and at one point having records of 1-15-1 and 4-20-1, the Hanshin Tigers were fortunate to be in a position to qualify for the post-season during the last week of September. This was the Central League standings on September 23... With the Giants having an extra makeup game and the Hiroshima Carp holding the head-to-head tiebreak over the Tigers, Hanshin were on the outside looking in and it appeared a miracle was needed if they were to finish in third place. And yet, over the next eight days... - the Giants lost to the Dragons twice, - the Tigers took two at Meiji Jingu, - the Carp lost at home to the Swallows twice, - and the Giants get shutout by the BayStars, accumulating just three hits in a must-win game. Sunday's game against the Swallows at Koshien goes from a crucial all-or-nothing game to a send off celebration.
混戦パ・リーグ！決着は明日の143試合目に！#山川穂高 劇的サヨナラ弾🔥🔥🔥ソフトバンク•ワイモバイルなら追加料金なし▶️https://t.co/Ic2VzEJG7Q #seibulions pic.twitter.com/qeeQ9K0d5R— ベースボールLIVE (@baseballlive_JP) October 1, 2022 Hotaka Yamakawa bombed his 41st home run of the year high into the left field bleachers off reliever Kouya Fujii to give the Seibu Lions a dramatic 3-1 victory over the SoftBank Hawks in 11 innings. The Hawks, who only need a tie to clinch the Pacific League pennant, will now have to travel to Chiba on the final day of play in the P.L. and hope not to lose to the Lotte Marines to win the league. Yamakawa's homer leaves the door open for the Orix Buffaloes to successfully defend their P.L. crown although they will need help from the Marines while hoping to win their own game against Masahiro Tanaka and the Rakuten Eagles in Sendai. The Lions took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Takumi Kuriyama singled off Kodai Senga to score Sosuke Genda. Senga had a quality outing allowing just the one run on just three hits with nine strikeouts although he also walked four batters. His opposite number, Wataru Matsumoto, was stellar in his own right, allowing five hits and one walk while fanning six over seven shutout innings. Yuki Yanagita provided the first bit of drama with a one-out ninth inning home run off Seibu closer Tatsushi Masuda to send the game into extra innings and possibly bring the P.L. pennant back to Fukuoka, where the PayPay Dome was hosting a public viewing of SoftBank's game for the second straight night. But Yamakawa's two-run blast left both Fujii and his battery mate Takashi Umino in tears as the thought of letting the pennant slip away entered their minds. Redemption possibly awaits as the Fukuoka Dome will have another public viewing for the third consecutive night. ホークスバッテリーの2人が涙…この悔しさを糧に、チームは更に結束 #sbhawks #藤井皓哉 #海野隆司 pic.twitter.com/6xQQqUe1Go— ベースボールLIVE (@baseballlive_JP) October 1, 2022
／オリックス2連覇🏆通算1️⃣ 4️⃣ 度目のリーグ優勝‼️㊗️🎉＼2年連続でマジック未点灯V🌟 #Bs2022 @Orix_Buffaloes pic.twitter.com/pwHNyIsGj5— パ・リーグ.com / パーソル パ・リーグTV【公式】 (@PacificleagueTV) October 2, 2022 An incredible night in the Pacific League saw the Orix Buffaloes capture their second consecutive pennant following their come-from-behind 5-2 victory over the Rakuten Eagles. But they had to wait 90 seconds after the final out was made to see events unfold in Chiba where the SoftBank Hawks were unable to recover after allowing a 2-0 lead slip away in the sixth inning and finally succumb 5-3 to the Lotte Marines. The final out at ZOZO Marine Stadium touched off wild celebrations at Miyagi Park by the Orix players, officials and fans. The finish to the season marks the first time in Japanese baseball history that two teams ended up with the best winning percentage in their league. The Buffaloes win the pennant based on the tiebreaker of head-to-head results (15-10). The collapse by the Hawks is also the first time in NPB history that a team with a Magic Number of 1 failed to claim the pennant.
In Chiba, SoftBank took an early 2-0 lead. Masaki Mimori led off the game with a shot into the right field bleachers and Yuki Yanagita added another solo blast in the fourth. But just as the Seibu Lions' Hotaka Yamakawa played the role of spoiler against the Hawks on Saturday, so too did Koki Yamaguchi in the sixth inning on Sunday when his three-run opposite field blast to right put the Marines up 3-2. Reliever Keisuke Izumi, who gave up the home run, broke down in tears upon returning to the dugout at the end of the inning. Back-to-back RBI doubles by Shogo Nakamura and Hisanori Yasuda extended Lotte's lead to 5-2 in the seventh. The Hawks, who only needed a tie result to win the P.L., had a serious rally in the eighth inning. Yanagita's double into the left-centerfield gap scored Taisei Makihara from first to reduce the deficit to 5-3, but four batters later with the bases loaded and two outs Yurisbel Gracial grounded out to short to end the threat and basically kill off any remaining hopes SoftBank had of a comeback. Marines closer Roberto Osuna set down the Hawks in order in the ninth, and as the Buffaloes celebrated in Sendai the disappointed Hawks took their bows of gratitude towards the fans while trying to console a crushed Izumi. The scenes were very different in Sendai although the game itself went much like what went on in Chiba in that a comeback victory was achieved. The Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded single by Chris Gittens that drove in two runs. Orix immediately hit back in the fifth off veteran ace Masahiro Tanaka when Torai Fushimi hit a bases-loaded single driving home one run. Shuhei Fukuda followed up with an opposite field double down the left field line bringing home two more runs to give the Buffaloes a 3-2 lead. And with the Orix bullpen allowing just one base runner the rest of the way, Fushimi touched off early celebrations in the top of the ninth when his opposite field single to right added two insurance runs to make the score 5-2. Shota Abe closed the door in the last of the ninth and the party began once the final out was made in Chiba.
7回ウラ 今季最終打席そんな局面で決めるのがこの男 村上宗隆！日本人シーズン最多本塁打となる 第56号！おめでとう村神様！#村上 #56号#シーズン最多本塁打#神宮 pic.twitter.com/ZJwpnYd7kq— 【公式】フジテレビ野球 (@fujitv_baseball) October 3, 2022 In the final game to complete the NPB regular season, the Yakult Swallows defeated the Yokohama BayStars 8-2 in a possible preview of the Climax Series Final Stage. The result meant nothing so all focus was on whether Munetaka Murakami could finally hit his 56th home run which would pass Sadaharu Oh's 55 home runs he hit in 1964, the most by a player born in Japan. With the Triple Crown at stake, Murakami would get at least three at-bats to try and go yard. If he went 0-for-3 he would still finish the Central League with the highest batting average giving him the Triple Crown. But in the third inning during his second at-bat, Murakami singled, giving him a fourth at-bat if needed. After grounding out to first in the fifth inning, Murakami stepped into the box and promptly sent Taisei Irie's first pitch an estimated 140.5m (461ft.) high into the right field bleachers. Murakami now sits alone with the second highest home run total for a single NPB season. 60 Wladimir Balentien (Yakult Swallows), 2013 56 Munetaka Murakami (Yakult Swallows), 2022 55 Sadaharu Oh (Yomiuri Giants), 1964 55 Tuffy Rhodes (Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes), 2001 55 Alex Cabrera (Seibu Lions), 2002 54 Randy Bass (Hanshin Tigers), 1985 52 Katsuya Nomura (Nankai Hawks), 1963 52 Hiromitsu Ochiai (Lotte Orions), 1985 51 Makoto Kozuru (Shochiku Robins), 1950 51 Sadaharu Oh (Yomiuri Giants), 1973 51 Tuffy Rhodes (Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes), 2003 50 Sadaharu Oh (Yomiuri Giants), 1977 50 Hiromitsu Ochiai (Lotte Orions), 1986 50 Hideki Matsui (Yomiuri Giants, 2002 Swallows-BayStars game highlights: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/game/2021011454/video/player/8304438
8th player to achieve the NPB batting Triple Crown. Youngest at age 22. 1965 : Katsuya Nomura (Nankai Hawks - PL) 1973 : Sadaharu Oh (Yomiuri Giants - CL) 1974 : Sadaharu Oh (Yomiuri Giants - CL) 1982 : Hiromitsu Ochiai (Lotte Orions - PL) 1984 : Greg Wells (Hankyu Braves - PL) 1985 : Hiromitsu Ochiai (Lotte Orions - PL) 1985 : Randy Bass (Hanshin Tigers - CL) 1986 : Hiromitsu Ochiai (Lotte Orions - PL) 1986 : Randy Bass (Hanshin Tigers - CL) 2004 : Nobuhiko Matsunaka (Fukuoka Daiei Hawks - PL) 2022 : Munetaka Murakami (Yakult Swallows - CL) 50+ home runs and 10+ Stolen bases in a NPB season. 1950 : Makoto Kozuru (51 HR, 28 SB) 2022 : Munetaka Murakami (56 HR, 12 SB) Most single season home runs by a left handed hitter in NPB. The biggest gap between 1st and 2nd place in HR (56... 30 : 26) and RBI (134... 87 : 47) Second player in NPB history to lead league in RBIs without a sacrifice fly (Kazuma Okamoto, 2020). But for me, his most impressive achievement in 2022 was hitting a home run in five consecutive plate appearances over two games. Final three plate appearances on July 31 at Hanshin, then following the Monday off-day, first two plate appearances on August 2 vs Chunichi.