Friday 26 July Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-07-26 Fighters-Lions finished tied after 12 innings
Two home runs from Munetaka Murakami were not enough to overcome the nine runs scored in the 2nd inning by the Hiroshima Carp who held on for a 9-6 victory over the Yakult Swallows at Meiji Jingu. After homering in both games of the All-Star Series, Murakami homered in his first at bat on Friday and later belted his second home run of the night to bring his NPB-leading total to 19. But the Carp were able to withstand Murakami's four RBIs with a nine-run 2nd inning that was too much for the Swallows to catch.. Masaya Yano began the barrage with a bases-loaded triple and Takayoshi Noma added a two-RBI double in a frame that saw Hiroshima send 15 batters to the plate. Ryoji Kuribayashi became the first pitcher in NPB history to earn a save by retiring the three batters he faced on just three pitches. It's his 27th save of the season. Hotaka Yamakawa and Tomoya Masaki each hit two-run home runs off Hiroya Miyagi in the 1st inning to lead the SoftBank Hawks to a 5-1 win over the Orix Buffaloes. It was Yamakawa's 15th homer of the year and just Masaki's first of 2024. After allowing four hits in that opening frame, the Buffaloes ace pitcher settlied down and retired 15 of the next 16 batters he faced, the lone base runners coming on an error by third baseman Yuma Mune. Miyagi finished with 12 strikeouts over the 6 innings he pitched but still had to accept his sixth loss of the campaign. Carter Stewart Jr. allowed one earned run over 6-2/3 innings to lower his ERA to 2.02 and up his record to 5-2.
Kotaro Ohtake allowed one earned run in 8 innings to kelp lead the Hanshin Tigers to a 7-3 win over the Chunichi Dragons. Shota Morishita went a modasho 3-for-4 including a double with two RBIs and two runs scored to lead the offense. Koji Chikamoto also went 3-for-4 with two runs scored while Ukyo Maegawa drove in two with a bases-loaded single in a four-run 3rd inning. The Seibu Lions scored three runs in the 6th inning and held on for a 3-1 victory over the Nippon-Hm Fighters in Kitahiroshima. Doubles from Manaya Nishikawa, Takuya Hiruma and Shūta Tonosaki led the rally for the visitors Rookie starter Natsuki Takeuchi went 6-2/3 innings allowing just one earned run to bring his record to 6-2. Softbank Hawks pitcher Kohei Arihara tossed a two-hit complete game shutout in a 3-0 win over the Orix Buffaloes to become the first pitcher this season to win 10 games. Arihara threw 105 pitches with six strikeouts
Sunday 28 July Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-07-28 Tigers-Dragons went 11 innings
For the eighth time in his 12 year career, Tomoyuki Sugano tossed a complete game shutout without issuing any walks as the Yomiuri Giants easily took care of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars 6-0 on Sunday. Sugano allowed seven hits while striking out eight for his ninth win of the year. Second baseman Naoki Yoshikawa went 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs and a run scored while 35 year old Yoshihiro Maru pounded out his 10th home run of the year. Hiromi Itoh struck out seven batters in a 94-pitch two-hit shutout to lead the Nippon Ham Fighters to a 9-0 destruction of the Seibu Lions. The performance was Itoh's second 'Maddux' of the season and raises his record to 8-3. The Fighters scored all nine runs over the first two innings including a seven-run 2nd inning on eight hits with Torai Fushimi getting base knocks in both of his at bats inthe frame. The defeat makes the Lions the first team to reach 60 losses this season.
Three of the six NPB games played on Sunday ended in walk-off fashion. In Sendai, Ryōsuke Tatsumi drove a comeback liner just past the quick glove of pitcher Naoya Masuda into centerfield allowing Kazuki Tanaka to cross home plate as the Rakuten Eagles avoided getting swept in their weekend series with the Lotte Marines Hideki Nagaoka's two out double into the left-center gap off scored Haruki Nishikawa with the tying and Ryusei Takeoka with the winning runs as the Yakult Swallows rocked Hiroshima Carp closer Ryoji Kuribayashi for three hits in a tense come-from-behind sayonara win. And in the night-capper at Koshien, Shota Morishita's liner down the left field line off Raidel Martínez scored Koji Chikamoto from second to complete a Hanshin Tigers weekend sweep of the Chunichi Dragons.
The Inter City Baseball Tournament is at the semi-final stage. Both games will be streamed LIVE on Mainichi Shimbun's webpage for the tournament. https://mainichi.jp/ama-baseball/kurojishi2024 Monday 29 July 14:00 JT 1:00am ET Sunday 10:00pm PT JR [Japan Railway] East Tohoku (Sendai) -vs- Seino Transportation (Ogaki) 18:00 JT (or one hour after the first semi-final) 5:00am ET 2:00am PT Tokyo Gas (Tokyo) -vs- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries East (Yokohama) The winners will face off on Tuesday for the championship.
BATTING *To qualify: 3.1 plate appearances per the number of games played by that player's club Average .315 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .303 - Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) .300 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) .289 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) .284 - Keita Sano (BayStars) On-Base Percentage .391 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .383 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) .382 - Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) .378 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .368 - Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) OPS .910 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .861 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) .825 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) .824 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .811 - Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) Home Runs 19 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) 16 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 15 - Tyler Austin (BayStars) 15 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) 13 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) 13 - Jose Osuna (Swallows) RBIs 55 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 49 - Jose Osuna (Swallows) 46 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) 44 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) 42 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) 42 - Keita Sano (BayStars) AVG with RISP .333 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) .324 - Shota Morishita (Tigers) .3209 - Keita Sano (BayStars) .3205 - Yusuke Ohyama (Tigers) .316 - Hideki Nagaoka (Swallows) Stolen Bases 11 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 9 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) 9 - Masaya Yano (Carp) 8 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) 8 - Naoki Yoshikawa (Giants) 8 - Ryutaro Hatsuki (Carp) PITCHING *To qualify: Minimum innings equal to the number of games played by that pitcher's club ERA 0.82 - Daichi Ohsera (Carp) 1.20 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 1.67 - Iori Yamasaki (Giants) 1.68 - Masato Morishita (Carp) 1.71 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) WHIP 0.91 - Daichi Ohsera (Carp) 0.92 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 0.94 - Masato Morishita (Carp) 0.95 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 0.96 - Tomoyuki Sugano (Giants) Innings pitched 117.0 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 115.0 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 112.1 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 110.2 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 108.2 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) Strikeouts 89 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 92 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 91 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 80 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 75 - Hiroto Takahashi (Dragons) Wins 9 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 9 - Tomoyuki Sugano (Giants) 8 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 8 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 7 - 5 players tied Holds 28 - Shinya Matsuyama (Dragons) 25 - Takuma Kirishiki (Tigers) 24 - Tatsuya Shimizu (Dragons) 21 - Sotaro Shimauchi (Carp) 20 - Javy Guerra (Tigers) Saves 29 - Raidel Martínez (Dragons) 27 - Ryoji Kuribayashi (Carp) 19 - Kohei Morihara (BayStars) 16 - Taisei Ota (Giants) 15 - Suguru Iwazaki (Tigers)
BATTING *To qualify: 3.1 plate appearances per the number of games played by that player's club Average .318 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .302 - Toshiya Satoh (Marines) .296 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) .282 - Hiromi Oka (Marines) .280 - Daichi Suzuki (Eagles) On-Base Percentage .435 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .363 - Hiromi Oka (Marines) .358 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) .355 - Tomoya Mori (Buffaloes) .3503 - Toshiya Satoh (Marines) .3496 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) OPS .959 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .800 - Hiromi Oka (Marines) .790 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) .753 - Ryoya Kurihara (Hawks) .750 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) Home Runs 16 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 13 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) 13 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) 12 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) 12 - Gregory Polanco (Marines) RBIs 63 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) 56 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 50 - Ryoya Kurihara (Hawks) 49 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) 42 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) AVG with RISP .364 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) .347 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) .333 - Kotaro Kurebayashi (Buffaloes) .329 - Yūya Gunji (Fighters) .319 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) Stolen Bases 32 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) 22 - Hiroto Kobukata (Eagles) 20 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) 15 - Ryota Isobata (Fighters) 14 - Go Matsumoto (Fighters) PITCHING *To qualify: Minimum innings equal to the number of games played by that pitcher's club ERA 1.57 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 1.88 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 2.19 - Anderson Espinoza (Buffaloes) 2.21 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) 2.22 - Takayuki Kato (Fighters) WHIP 0.91 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 0.93 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 0.98 - Cristopher Mercedes (Marines) 1.04 - Takayuki Kato (Fighters) 1.0848 - Anderson Espinoza (Buffaloes) 1.0849 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) Innings pitched 114.2 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 110.2 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 109.2 - Takayuki Kato (Fighters) 109.1 - Chihiro Sumida (Lions) 109.1 - Atsuki Taneichi (Marines) Strikeouts 121 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 109 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 107 - Atsuki Taneichi (Marines) 104 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) 92 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) Wins 10 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 8 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 8 - Yuji Nishino (Marines) 7 - 4 players tied Holds 25 - Tomohito Sakai (Eagles) 23 - Yuki Matsumoto (Hawks) 23 - Tomohito Sakai (Eagles) 16 - Shota Suzuki (Marines) 16 - Sung Chia-hao (Eagles) Saves 21 - Takahiro Norimoto (Eagles) 20 - Roberto Osuna (Hawks) 17 - Albert Abreu (Lions) 16 - Andrés Machado (Buffaloes) 16 - Naoya Masuda (Marines)
Inter City Baseball Tournament Semifinals Seino Transportation (Ogaki) 4-8 Japan Railway East Tohoku (Sendai) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries East (Yokohama) 4-1 Tokyo Gas (Tokyo) Championship Japan Railway East Tohoku (Sendai) -vs- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries East (Yokohama) LIVE stream 18:00 Japan / 5:00am U.S. Eastern / 2:00am Pacific https://mainichi.jp/ama-baseball/kurojishi2024
Tuesday 30 July Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-07-30 Fighters-Buffaloes finished tied after 12 innings
Hiroto Saiki picked up his ninth win of the year in the Hanshin Tigers 5-1 defeat of the Yomiuri Giants on Tuesday. Having picked up his then-league leading eighth win back on 16 June, Saiki had a 1.20 ERA over his next four starts but failed to get the win in those outings due to the lack of run support he received - the Tigers scoring just one run over the 30 innings Saiki was on the mound. Yusuke Ohyama's three-run home run in the 6th inning helped secure the win for Saiki who went 6-1/3 frames allowing just three hits while fanning six batters. The three-game set between the two oldest professional baseball clubs in Japan is being billed as the "Koshien Classic Series" as the stadium prepares to celebrate it's 100th anniversary on August 1st, the day the oldest baseball stadium in the country held its first game. Hiroto Takahashi pitched 7 shutout innings to increase his consecutive scoreless streak to 33 innings and lead the Chunichi Dragons to a 6-0 blanking of the Yakult Swallows Arguably the best pitcher in NPB today, Takahashi stuck out nine batters while allowing just three hits and two walks on 119 pitches thrown and has an 8-1 record with a 0.48 ERA. Hiroki Fukunaga led the Dragons attack going 4-for-5 with an RBI and run scored. Yūki Okabayashi also contributed with a 3-for-3 performance that included two doubles. At ZOZO Marine Stadium the Chiba Lotte Marines out-battled the Seibu Lions in the final innings to come away with a 7-6 win. A unaccustomed throwing error by Lions second baseman Shūta Tonosaki with the bases loaded capped a three-run 8th inning that saw the Marines take a 6-5 lead. An RBI single from Takayoshi Yamamura drew Seibu level in the top of the 9th. But with bases full and two outs in the last of the 9th Lotte manager Masato Yoshii played against the percentages and allowed Ryūsei Ogawa to first-pitch bunt which was mishandled by Yamamura at third allowing Toshiya Satoh to race home uncontested with the sayonara run.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries East, based in Yokohama, defeated Japan Railway East of Sendai, Tohoku 3-1 to capture the "Black Lion Flag", symbolic of the champions of the Intercity Baseball Tournament, at the Tokyo Dome. MHI shortstop Yukiya Yano celebrated his birthday by going 4-for-4 with two solo home runs and three RBIs. Yano's achievements at the plate came on the same night his younger brother, third baseman Masaya Yano of Hiroshima Carp, went 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead his team to a 6-3 win over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
The pitching of the Rakuten Eagles allowed just two hits on the night in their 3-2 victory over the SoftBank Hawks at Miyagi Park. Rookie southpaw Tatsuki Koja gave up a single and a hit batsman before Kensuke Kondoh drove both runners in with a double to left field. But that 4th inning was the only time Koja allowed any base runners, pitching five perfect innings to pick up his third win of his career. Relievers Shōma Fujihira, Sora Suzuki and Takahiro Norimoto each pitched one perfect inning with Norimoto earning his 22nd save of the year. The Eagles three runs came in the 2nd inning with Hideto Asamura hitting a leadoff home run and Hikaru Ohta's two-out triple driving in the remaining two runs. It was a Latino American night in Chiba where Dominicans Cristopher Mercedes (2 runs allowed over 7 innings pitched), Gregory Polanco (3 home runs on the night, 16 for the year) and Puerto Rican Neftali Soto (14th home run of the campaign) were all on the Hero's podium following the Lotte Marines 6-2 win over the Seibu Lions. Shuta Tonosaki went 2-for-3 including a two-run homer for the Lions. Hiroki Tokoda allowed one run over 7 innings in leading the Hiroshima Carp to a 2-1 win over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. The victory makes Tokoda the first pitcher in the Central League to reach 10 wins this season while closer Ryoji Kuribayashi earned save number 28 on the year. Second baseman Ryosuke Kikuchi and third baseman Masaya Yano drove in the two Carp runs in the 4th inning.
The aggressive base running of Tsuyoshi Shinjō's Nippon-Ham Fighters is always fun to watch. We've seen this before...
Thursday marked the 100th anniversary of Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture. Heavily influenced by the style of the Polo Grounds in New York City, the 55.000 seat stadium was the largest baseball venue in Asia at the time and was built to host the 10th edition of the National High School Baseball Tournament. The annual tournament, commonly referred to today as 'Summer Koshien", has been held at the venue ever since. 47,181 spectators turned up for the celebrations, the largest attendance at Koshien since the ballpark underwent extensive renovations in 2010. First pitch was thrown by two legends: Tsuneo Horiuchi, the 76 year old Kyojin Hall of Fame pitcher who won Rookie of the Year, MVP and was a two-time Eiji Sawamura Award winner, and 91 year old Yoshio Yoshida who won the Best Nine Award a record nine times at shortstop and whose #23 jersey is retired by the Tigers. Yoshida also managed Hanshin to its first Japan Series title in 1985. It was a memorable night as the Hanshin Tigers completed a three game sweep of the rival Yomiuri Giants with a comfortable 9-2 win. The victory extended Hanshin's winning streak to seven games and pulls the Tigers to within a half game behind the Central League leading Giants. Second-year left fielder Ukyo Maegawa led the home team on offense going 3-for-5 with four RBIs and a run scored. Seiya Kinami drove in three runs including a two-RBI triple in the 5th inning, after which the crowd joined in unison as they sang Happy Birthday to Koshien. Teruaki Sato completed a 3-for-4 night with a crushing 8th inning home run into the right field bleachers, his sixth bomb of the year. The baseball gods were kind to Koshien Stadium and its tenants this week. The 106th edition of 'Summer Koshien' begins next week on Wednesday 7 August.
In his first appearance on the mound since 8 June, Roki Sasaki went 5 innings allowing one earned run on three hits and a walk as the Lotte Marines defeated the Seibu Lions 4-1 in Chiba. Sasaki made his last start in the Interleague game in Hiroshima where he also allowed one run on three hits (over 6 innings), after which he complained of arm fatigue and upper right leg discomfort and was removed from the active roster five days later. Although he didn't make any rehab appearances on the farm he did train with the second team for the next few weeks, and threw live BP with the first team ten days ago. Manager Masato Yoshii announced on Tuesday that Sasaki would return for today's series finale against the Lions with a limit of 70-80 pitches. Indeed, the Marines flame thrower - his first pitch of the game was clocked at 156 kmh - ended his night on 72 pitches with his heater sitting in the mid to upper 90s and topping out at 160 kmh (99.5 mph) in the 5th inning where he also touched 159 kmh seven times. Kyota Fujiwara played key roles for Lotte on both offense and defense. In the 1st inning the right fielder nailed Seibu's Takuya Hiruma who was attempting to score on Takayoshi Yamamura's two-out single. Fujiwara then hit a solo home run in the 5th to extend the Marines lead to 3-1 en route to the victory. The Marines have all 14 games the two teams have played against each so far in 2024.
A four-run rally in the 6th inning gave the Hanshin Tigers a 4-2 victory over the DeNA BayStars Friday night at Yokohama Stadium. BayStars starting pitcher Andre Jackson was stellar for 5 innings allowing just two hits and one walk. But the 6th began with Koji Chikamoto getting plunked on a 2-1 pitch which led to the Tigers batting around the order, scoring four runs on four hits and a walk with Seishirō Sakamoto's two-run double ultimately being the game-winning hit. Shoki Murakami earned his fifth win of the year going 7-1/3 innings for Hanshin. The game marks the beginning of what the Tigers annually term the "Road of Death", where the team will be playing away from Koshien Stadium for the next four weeks as the venue hosts the National High School Baseball Championship. Of their next eight series matchups, six will be at their opponent's ballpark while their two home stands will take place at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka. Rookie Daisuke Nakashima hit his first career home run to give the Rakuten Eagles a 3-2 win over the Seibu Lions in Saitama. Nakashima's twq-run homer in the 5th inning came in his 19th game in NPB and flipped a 2-1 deficit into an Eagles win that puts the team one game over .500 this season. Daiju Nomura also homered for the Lions, his second of the season. Seibu ace Tatsuya Imai took the loss despite a good 7 inning performance where he struck out eight while allowing six hits and two walks.
JapanBall.com article updates how Japanese players are doing in MLB this season. https://japanball.com/mlb-japanese-...-keeps-rolling-ohtani-adds-to-highlight-reel/