The Rakuten Eagles shut out the Yomiuri Giants 3-0 to sweep their three-game series in Sendai. Left-handed pitcher Masaru Fujii went 5 innings to up his record to 5-1 after winning all three of his Interleague starts over these three weeks. He was helped on Thursday by his infielders who turned three double plays over the 5 innings he pitched. Over their last 16 games the Golden Eagles are 13-3, are over .500 for the first time this season with a 30-29-1 record and have a magic number of 2 at clinching their first ever Interleague title. They host the Hiroshima Carp this weekend. Aren Kuri threw 130 pitches in a masterful (but exhusting) complete game shutout as the Hiroshima Carp took the rubber match of their series against the Seibu Lions with a 5-0 win at the Belluna Dome. Kuri allowed just two hits and two walks while fanning six batters in picking up his third win of the year. Ryuhei Matsuyama led the Carp attack with two RBIs and arun scored. Hiroshima top the Central League standings and are the second team this season to reach 30 wins. Yuki Nishi pitched his 29th complete game of his 16 year career in leading the Hanshin Tigers to a 5-0 shutout victory over the Orix Buffaloes at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka. Nishi threw 114 pitches against his former club, allowing six hits and no walks while striking out four. Seiya Kinami's two-RBI double capped a four-run 4th inning that broke open the scoreless game. Fumihito Haraguchi added a solo home run in the 7th to complete the scoring. The Buffaloes, who won the first two games of the Kansai Derby Nippon Series rematch by identical 4-0 scores, had their seven game unbeaten run snapped with the defeat.
Who are those girls that made up Diana's race team in the Hisense Hamasta Battle? Lead-off 1: Ayaka https://www.baystars.co.jp/diana/members/ayaka.html Lead-off 2: Misa https://www.baystars.co.jp/diana/members/misa.html Second leg: Shizuku https://www.baystars.co.jp/diana/members/shizuku.html Anchor: Aki https://www.baystars.co.jp/diana/members/aki.html
Friday 14 June (セ・パ交流戦) Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-06-14 Eagles-Carp went 11 innings Marines-Dragons went 10 innings
In the 2020 NPB Draft Yasunobu Okugawa was considered the top Japanese pitching prospect alongside Roki Sasaki due to his standout command. Selected by three clubs, the Yakult Swallows won the right to sign him and he had a stellar 2021 rookie season, finishing 9-5 and registering 91 strikeouts against 10 walks over 105 innings. He was rewarded with pitching Game 1 of the Nippon Series and outlasted Yoshinobu Yamamoto by one inning, going 7 full and allowing just one earned run but was forced to take a no decision. During Spring Camp in 2022 he was plagued with arm trouble, and during the regular season he was only able to make one NPB appearance. At the end of October it was announced that Okugawa would require Tommy John surgery on his right elbow but he would later decide to bypass surgery and rehab the injury instead. After 385 days of rehab he returned to action and spent the entire 2023 campaign pitching with the ni-gun second team in the Eastern (minor) League. On Friday in Osaka, Okugawa - now wearing the coveted #18 jersey - made his first appearance in NPB after 808 days of rehab. Facing the Orix Buffaloes, the team he pitched against in the 2022 Japan Series, the 23 year old right-hander allowed just one earned run over 5 innings and picked up his first win since 8 October 2021 following the Swallows 5-3 win at the Kyocera Dome. A very emotional Okugawa broke down during his Hero interview while explaining how nervous he was in not wanting to let down the fans who had supported him through his difficult journey. He also thanked his teammates for given him run support to help him achieve his first win in three years. The Yakult attack was led by Domingo Santana, who went 2-for-4 including a double and two RBIs, and Munetaka Murakami who went 2-for-2 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored. Jose Osuna provided an insurance run with a solo home run in the 9th. Livan Moinelo struck out a career high 12 batters over 7 shutout innings as the SoftBank Hawks kept within a game distance at the top of the Interleague standings following their 2-0 blanking of the Hanshin Tigers at the Mizuho PayPay Dome. Hawks rookie Ryuta Hirose's first NPB home run, a two-out two-run blast in the 5th inning, provided the only runs necessary for the win. Nine-year veteran Fumihito Haraguchi of the Tigers stole just the second base of his career, his other swipe having been achieved during his rookie season in 2016.
The final round of Interleague games began on Friday night. - Shosei Togo struck out nine Nippon-Ham batters in pitching his second complete game of the year as the Giants got back on the winning track. - Keita Sano and Yoshitomo Tsutsugo each drove in two runs to lead the BayStars over the Lions. - Sho Nakata's RBI double in the 10th was the game-winning hit in Chiba. Atsuki Taneichi fanned 10 batters for the Marines. - Takahisa Hayakawa pitched 10 shutout innings allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out 11, but it was all for naught as the Carp scored the game winner in the 11th to escape with the win.
Katsuki Azuma went the distance while his battery mate Yuudai Yamamoto slugged his first home run of the year as the Yokohama DeNA BayStars shutout the Seibu Lions 4-0 in Saitama. It was the fourth complete game shutout in Azuma's career as the sixth-year southpaw has firmly accepted the ace role of the pitching staff following the off-season departures of Shota Imanaga and Trevor Bauer. Azuma is now 5-0 with a 2.09 ERA. Ryuki Watarai added offensive insurance with two RBIs as the BayStars are now just one game below .500 on the year. It's been a tough season for Lions starter Kona Takahashi, whose record dropped to 0-7. In the last two years Takahashi had the best seasons of his career including four complete games in 2023. He asked to be posted to MLB last winter but Lions management denied his request saying they needed him for this season. Whether this has had an effect on his performances this season may not be known but his stock continues to fall with each outing. Kazuma Okamoto's 11th home run of the season broke a scoreless deadlock in the 9th inning to give the Yomiuri Giants the 2-0 win over the Nippon-Ham Fighters. Shoma Kanemura had pitched 8 shutout innings going into the 9th but gave up a single to Elier Hernández before being chased from the game by Okamoto's game-winner. Kanemura was promptly removed thus only credited with pitching 8 innings. Giants starter Foster Griffin went two outs better, just missing out on a complete game shutout but still picking up his second win of the year. Nippon-Ham's rookie sensation Shun Mizutani had his consecutive game hitting streak snapped at 15, missing out on his bid to become the first player in NPB history to get a base hit in every single Interleague game in one season.
The Softbank Hawks and Rakuten Eagles are tied at the top of the Interleague standings going into their final games. If both teams achieve the same result (win, lose or tie) on Sunday, the winner will likely be decided by Total Quality Balance (TQB). The formula is (Runs Scored / Offensive Innings) - (Runs Allowed / Defensive Innings) SoftBank currently have the better TQB with +.138 while Rakuten's is at +.128. But all this will change based on how many runs each teams scores and concedes, as well as the number of innings they play. The start times for both games are staggered by one hour: 13:00 Eagles vs Carp 14:00 Hawks vs Tigers Interleague 2023
Sunday 16 June (セ・パ交流戦) Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-06-16 Fighters-Giants finished tied after 12 innings
Celebrating their 20th season of existence, the Rakuten Golden Eagles captured their first ever Interleague title after defeating the Hiroshima Carp 5-3 Sunday afternoon at Miyagi Ballpark in Sendai. The Eagles had to wait until news of the SoftBank Hawks 4-1 defeat to the Hanshin Tigers had filtered through before they were able to savor their achievement. Rakuten opened the scoring in the 2nd inning when Hikaru Ohta's fielder's choice grounder scored Hideto Asamura as the Carp miscued on a double play attempt. Two batters later Yūya Ogo's sharp grounder was booted by Hiroshima first baseman Shota Dobayashi allowing pitcher Makoto Aduwa and Ohta to increase the lead to 3-0. A two-run home run by Daichi Suzuki made it 5-0 after 3 innings at which point manager Toshiaki Imae opted to use a relief pitcher for each of the remaining 6 innings. The Carp scored once in the 8th and two in the 9th before Takahiro Norimoto halted the comeback attempt and closed out the game by striking out Kaito Kozono who represented the tying run. Pacific League and Nippon Series champions in 2013, the Golden Eagles finish Interleague play with a 13-5 record and have evened their season record at .500 (31-31-1). They trail the Lotte Marines by two games for third place in the Pacific League standings.
• Hiroto Saiki pitched 7 innings and collected his eighth win of the year thanks to Ukyo Maegawa's 1st inning grand slam as the Tigers thwarted the Hawks hopes of winning a ninth Interleague title. • The Eagles became the fourth team to enter Interleague play in fifth place or lower in their league standings and win the Interleague competition. And 40 year old Toshiaki Imae is not only the youngest manager to win the Interleague tournament but he's also just the second person to win Interleague play as both a player and manager. (Satoshi Nakajima) • Kazuma Okamoto hit his 12th homer of the year but it wasn't enough to get past the Fighters. • The Swallows scored three runs in the 9th to snatch victory away from the Buffaloes, but the main story was Shunpeita Yamashita, last season's Pacific League Rookie of the Year, making his first outing since 19 April and not allowing a base hit while walking two and striking out nine in his scheduled 5 innings of work. He threw 82 pitches . • Gregory Polanco had three RBIs including a two-run homer to lead the Marines over the Dragons. • Rookie Yutaro Ishida tossed a complete game shutout allowing just four hits and no walks while fanning six on just 95 pitches as the BayStars completed their sweep over the Lions. Pro Yakyu News episode #80 on the final full day of Interleague play for 2024. Presenters: Reiko Endo, former Fighters player Tsutomu Iwamoto
Updated voting totals as of Monday 17 June. CENTRAL LEAGUE STARTING PITCHER 333,826 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 161,616 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 131,894 - Shosei Togo (Giants) RELIEF PITCHER 386,191 - Suguru Iwazaki (Tigers) 259,112 - Yuhi Nishidate (Giants) 186,197 - Kohei Morihara (BayStars) CLOSER 643,070 - Raidel Martínez (BayStars) 259,771 - Ryoji Kuribayashi (Carp) 202,814 - Javy Guerra (Tigers) CATCHER 420,908 - Yuudai Yamamoto (BayStars) 313,785 - Yuhei Nakamura (Swallows) 233,319 - Seishirō Sakamoto (Tigers) FIRST BASE 607,350 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 320,740 - Sho Nakata (Dragons) 272,060 - José Osuna (Swallows) SECOND BASE 444,308 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) 397,029 - Takumu Nakano (Tigers) 273,510 - Mikiya Tanaka (Dragons) THIRD BASE 723,867 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) 270,771 - Hayato Sakamoto (Giants) 230,970 - Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) SHORTSTOP 423,995 - Hideki Nagaoka (Swallows) 373,218 - Kaito Muramatsu (Dragons) 312,486 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) OUTFIELD 702,409 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 634,830 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) 486,534 - Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (BayStars) 441,127 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) 378,957 - Shōta Morishita (Tigers) PACIFIC LEAGUE STARTING PITCHER 541,385 - Sachiya Yamasaki (Fighters) 257,342 - Rōki Sasaki (Marines) 207,314 - Hiroya Miyagi (Buffaloes) RELIEF PITCHER 585,439 - Ryusei Kawano (Fighters) 241,117 - Yuki Matsumoto (Hawks) 237,792 - Andrés Machado (Buffaloes) CLOSER 765,814 - Seigi Tanaka (Fighters) 323,274 - Takahiro Norimoto (Eagles) 231,663 - Roberto Osuna (Hawks) CATCHER 802,657 - Yua Tamiya (Fighters) 328,670 - Tomoya Mori (Buffaloes) 272,671 - Takuya Kai (Hawks) FIRST BASE 721,517 - Ariel Martinez (Fighters) 338,846 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 295,358 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) SECOND BASE 500,007 - Daigo Kamikawabata (Fighters) 361,724 - Shuta Tonosaki (Lions) 273,558 - Taisei Makihara (Hawks) THIRD BASE 758,820 - Yūya Gunji (Fighters) 348,828 - Yuma Mune (Buffaloes) 286,281 - Ryoya Kurihara (Hawks) SHORTSTOP 497,702 - Tatsuki Mizuno (Fighters) 414,389 - Kotaro Kurebayashi (Buffaloes) 403,211 - Sosuke Genda (Lions) OUTFIELD 984,600 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) 660,847 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) 616,792 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) 571,904 - Go Matsumoto (Fighters) 406,353 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) DESIGNATED HITTER 463,643 - Takeya Nakamura (Lions) 295,685 - Gregory Polanco (Marines) 269,976 - Franmil Reyes (Fighters)
Tuesday 18 June (セ・パ交流戦) Boxscore: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/game/2021023499/top Tigers-Fighters went 11 innings
Catcher Yua Tamiya allowed a 2-0 pitch to get by him which sent Kai Ueda racing home from third base to score the sayonara run giving the Hanshin Tigers a 2-1 victory in 11 innings over the Nippon-Ham Fighters. Tigers starter Shoki Murakami, last season's Central League Rookie of the Year and MVP, struck out seven batters over 5 innings allowing just two hits and one walk. With the designated hitter not in force in Central League ballparks, Murakami was removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 5th as Hanshin had a rally going with the game still scoreless. For the contest Nippon-Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjō promoted three players from the ni-gun including highly touted prospect Haruki Hosono, the talented southpaw pitcher whom the Fighters won in last October's draft pick lottery over the Lotte Marines. Shinjo named Hosono to start the Interleague makeup game at Koshien that had been rained out on 28 May, the opening day of Interleague play. To help Hosono in his NPB debut, Shinjo also called up his battery mate on the farm, Yūya Shintō, also making his first appearance with the first team. Hosono looked comfortable early on, striking out four batters in 3 perfect innings and facing just one batter over the minimum after 4. But then came the 5th where things began to unravel. Two walks, a base hit and a wild pitch left the bases loaded with one out, and with Fumihito Haraguchi sent on to pinch-hit for Murakami, Shinjo decided to pull the plug on Hosono's debut. Veteran reliever Naoki Miyanishi, who has spent his entire 17 seasons with the Fighters, was brought in for his first appearance of 2024 and although he was unable to keep the shutout intact he did limit the Tigers to just one run: Koji Chikamoto's single up the middle driving in Shota Morishita with the game's first run. Hosono's final line over 4-1/3 innings read one earned run allowed on two hits, two walks and a wild pitch. He registered six strikeouts on 78 total pitches with his fastball topping out at 152 km/h (94.5 mph). Before the game NPB announced that Fighters outfielder Chusei Mannami had received over 1 million votes (1,016,500) for the NPB All Star Series, the first player to hit the 1 million mark since Eagles DH Takeshi Yamasaki in 2007. Mannami scored the visitor's lone run against the Tigers on Kōtarō Kiyomiya's single to right field in the 7th inning. The game marks the end of Interleague play for the 2024 regular season. Intra-league play returns on Friday 21 June and will continue until the end of the regular season in October.
BATTING *3.1 plate appearances per the number of games played by that player's club to quality *Average .438 - Shun Mizutani (Fighters) .356 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .351 - Tatsuru Yanagimachi (Hawks) .351 - Yua Tamiya (Fighters) .342 - Elier Hernández (Giants) .338 - Tyler Austin (BayStars) .333 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) .328 - Akito Takabe (Marines) .315 - Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) .314 - Ryoma Nishikawa (Buffaloes) *On-Base Percentage .471 - Shun Mizutani (Fighters) .465 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .405 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) .400 - Elier Hernández (Giants) .397 - Yuma Tongu (Buffaloes) .393 - Tatsuru Yanagimachi (Hawks) .390 - Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) .3823 - Akito Takabe (Marines) .3815 - Tyler Austin (BayStars) .380 - Haruki Nishikawa (Swallows) *OPS 1.159 - Shun Mizutani (Fighters) 1.086 - Tyler Austin (BayStars) 1.058 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .972 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) .915 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .893 - Elier Hernández (Giants) .864 - Yua Tamiya (Fighters) .814 - Tatsuru Yanagimachi (Hawks) .811 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) .809 - Ariel Martínez (Fighters) Home Runs 5 - Tyler Austin (BayStars) 4 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) 4 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) 4 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) 3 - Shun Mizutani (Fighters) 3 - Elier Hernández (Giants) 3 - Ryoya Kurihara (Hawks) 3 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) 3 - Jose Osuna (Swallows) 3 - Tetsuto Yamada (Swallows) 3 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 3 - Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (BayStars) RBIs 14 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) 14 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 13 - Shun Mizutani (Fighters) 13 - Tyler Austin (BayStars) 13 - Ryo Ohta (Buffaloes) 13 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) 12 - Ryoma Nishikawa (Buffaloes) 12 - Ukyo Maegawa (Tigers) 12 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) 11 - Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (BayStars) AVG with RISP .615 - Shun Mizutani (Fighters) .467 - Naoki Yoshikawa (Giants) .467 - Tatsuru Yanagimachi (Hawks) .462 - Tatsuki Mizuno (Fighters) .429 - Ryoma Nishikawa (Buffaloes) .429 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) .421 - Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) .412 - Shota Morishita (Tigers) .412 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) .400 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) .400 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) Stolen Bases 6 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) 5 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) 5 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) 5 - Atsuki Tomosugi (Marines) 4 - Hiroto Kobukata (Eagles) 4 - Ryota Isobata (Fighters) 3 - Tokumasa Chano (Buffaloes) 3 - Soichiro Tateoka (Giants) 3 - Hiroki Fukunaga (Dragons) 3 - Haruki Nishikawa (Swallows) 3 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 3 - Masaya Yano (Carp) PITCHING *Minimum innings equal to the number of games played by that pitcher's club to quality *ERA 0.00 - Daichi Ohsera (Carp) 0.38 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 0.39 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) 0.41 - Aren Kuri (Carp) 0.47 - Hiroto Takahashi (Dragons) 0.82 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 1.29 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 1.29 - Cristopher Mercedes (Marines) 1.45 - Anthony Kay (BayStars) 1.45 - Anderson Espinoza (Buffaloes) *WHIP 0.63 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 0.64 - Aren Kuri (Carp) 0.67 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 0.79 - Chihiro Sumida (Lions) 0.80 - Andre Jackson (BayStars) 0.82 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 0.85 - Masato Morishita (Carp) 0.857 - Cristopher Mercedes (Marines) 0.863 - Shoma Kanemura (Fighters) 0.87 - Daichi Ohsera (Carp) Innings pitched 24.0 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 24.0 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 23.0 - Daichi Ohsera (Carp) 23.0 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) 22.2 - Chihiro Sumida (Lions) 22.0 - Aren Kuri (Carp) 22.0 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 22.0 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 22.0 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 22.0 - Shoma Kanemura (Fighters) Strikeouts 28 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 26 - Atsuki Taneichi (Marines) 25 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) 24 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 24 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 20 - Shoma Kanemura (Fighters) 20 - Kojiro Yoshimura (Swallows) 19 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 18 - 5 players tied Wins 3 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 3 - Masaru Fujii (Eagles) 2 - 17 players tied Holds 6 - Seiryu Kotajima (Buffaloes) 6 - Tomohito Sakai (Eagles) 6 - Hitomi Honda (Buffaloes) 5 - Patrick Murphy (Fighters) 5 - Shinya Matsuyama (Dragons) 5 - Takuma Kirishiki (Tigers) 5 - Tatsuya Shimizu (Dragons) 5 - Yuki Matsumoto (Hawks) 4 - 10 players tied Saves 7 - Roberto Osuna (Hawks) 6 - Raidel Martínez (Dragons) 6 - Takahiro Norimoto (Eagles) 5 - Ryoji Kuribayashi (Carp) 4 - Kazuto Taguchi (Swallows) 4 - Andrés Machado (Buffaloes) 3 - Kohei Morihara (BayStars) 3 - Alberto Baldonado (Giants) 2 - Naoya Masuda (Marines) 2 - Albert Abreu (Lions) 2 - Suguru Iwazaki (Tigers)
Interleague Player Awards 2024 MOST VALUABLE PLAYER OF Shun Mizutani - Nippon Ham Fighters (1st time award winner) 18 games 64 official at-bats 28 hits .438 batting average 3 home runs 13 runs batted in .688 slugging percentage .471 on base percentage OUTSTANDING PLAYER - PACIFIC LEAGUE OF Kensuke Kondoh - SoftBank Hawks (2nd time award winner) 18 games 59 official at-bats 21 hits .356 batting average 4 home runs 14 runs batted in .593 lugging percentage .465 on base percentage OUTSTANDING PLAYER - CENTRAL LEAGUE RHP Hiroto Saiki - Hanshin Tigers (1st time award winner) 3 starts 3 wins 0 losses 1.000 win ratio 24 innings pitched 24 strikeouts 1 run allowed 1 earned run allowed 0.38 ERA
大リーグの伝説的なスター選手 ウィリー・メイズさん死去 93歳https://t.co/FWXDkrqTD7 #nhk_news— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) June 19, 2024 1959: Japan High School All-Star players Yukio Minegishi (left) and Tetsuo Kaneko (center) receive pointers from Willie Mays in Los Angeles. Shigeo Nagashima and Willie Mays on the cover of Baseball Weekly magazine, November 1960. 10 November 1960, Willie Mays (660 career home runs) and Katsuya Nomura (657) before a post season exhibition game in Hiroshima. March 1970, Sadaharu Oh and Willie Mays during an exhibition game between the Yomiuri Giants and the San Francisco Giants in Tokyo. Mays had just hit a double into right-center field in the 8th inning. 1973: Kochi Tabuchi, Katsuya Nomura, Willie Mays, Hiroyuki Yamazaki and Osamu Higashio
On Wednesday the Caribbean Baseball Confederation announced that the 2025 Caribbean Series will involve 5 teams. 4 of the teams will be champions of the Winter Leagues from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Venezuela. The fifth team will be from Japan (?!) and will come from one of the independent leagues. Serie del Caribe was first contested in 1949 and has a long, proud history. It takes place every February after the Winter Leagues throughout Latin America have concluded. The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Venezuela are the traditional mainstays of the tournament. The remainder of the field often rotates with Panamá, Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua and, most recently, Curaçao taking part. As many as seven countries were represented in recent tournaments. For the 2025 tournament (to be held in Mexicali, Mexico) it has been suggested that the four main participants effectively pushed out the five others. Supposedly, the organizers want to try and make the tournament a more international event, rather than a regional one. I try to watch the Caribbean Series when I'm able to. And as much I love watching Japanese baseball, I think this is a horrible idea on so many levels. A Mexican sportscaster has already said he was hoping to see Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto participate. Nope. Can't see that happening.
Friday 21 June Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-06-21 Fighters-Eagles finished tied after 12 innings
Intra-league play returned to NPB on Friday. In Nagoya, Hiroto Takahashi continued his impressive form this season throwing 7 shutout innings in helping the Chunichi Dragons to a 1-0 victory over the the Hiroshima Carp. Takahashi allowed just four hits and no walks while striking out seven to earn his fourth win of the year against no defeats. Seven of his eight appearances have been quality starts which is demonstrated with his 0.49 ERA. Orlando Calixte provided the only run of the game with a 3rd inning home run, his sixth jack of the year. For the Carp, who hold top spot in the Central League standings, it was the 12th time this season that they've been shutout. Half of those goose eggs (6) have been inflicted by the Dragons from their eight meetings so far in 2024. Ryuhei Obata's two-out single in the bottom of the 9th inning drove in Kai Ueda from second base to give the Hanshin Tigers a 1-0 sayonara win over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars at Koshien Stadium.
In a classic pitcher's duel, the Orix Buffaloes slipped past the Seibu Lions 2-0 in Osaka. Orix's Venezuelan gaijin Anderson Espinoza and went 8 innings allowing just four hits and one walk. He recorded six strikeouts to up his record to 6-3. Espinoza's countryman Andres Machado fanned two batters in the 9th to earn his eighth save. Seibu's ace hurler Tatsuya Imai was the tough luck loser despite also going 8 innings with nine strikeouts. His fastball maxed out at 157 kmh (98 mph) but in the 1st inning he allowed a triple to leadoff batter Tokumasa Chano and a double to Ryō Ohta for what proved to be the game-winner. Former Lion Tomoya Mori added an insurance run in the 8th when he homered off his former battery mate. The Seibu bats have now gone 32 consecutive innings without scoring a run, a new club record that breaks the previous mark of 31 set back in August 1964. It's the tenth time the Lions have been shutout this season, the fifth time this month alone. Franmil Reyes of the Nippon-Ham Fighters and Maikel Franco of the Rakuten Eagles each hit a grand slam as the two teams finished in a wild 9-9 tie after 12 innings. It's the 17th time in NPB history that both teams hit a grand slam in the same game but it's the first occasion that they were hit by non-Japanese players. Interleague MVP Shun Mizutani continued his hot streak by going 2-for-4 including a triple, a walk, three RBIs and a run scored.