The Yokohama DeNA BayStars spotted the Hanshin Tigers a 9-2 lead after 3 innings but then roared back with 4 runs in both the 5th and 8th innings to score an exciting 11-9 victory at Yokohama Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Tatsuo Ebina and Yoshitomo Tsutsugo each homered off Hanshin's 11-year veteran reliever Suguru Iwazaki to complete the remarkable comeback in the 8th inning while Shugo Maki added an insurance run with a solo shot off second-year pitcher Hidetaka Okadome. First baseman Keita Sano led the BayStars offense by going 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored while Yota Kyoda drove in five runs total including three when his double in the 5th inning cleared the loaded bases. Koji Chikamoto had extended the Tigers early lead to 9-2 with a grand slam that culminated a six-run 3rd inning, Chikamoto's fifth jack of the year and the first grand slam of his career. An early candidate for Game of the Year. The SoftBank Hawks scored three runs in the 6th inning to defeat the Orix Buffaloes 4-1 at Sun Marine Stadium in Miyazaki. Kensuke Kondoh's double into the corner of right field scored Yuki Yanagita to break a 1-1 tie and what turned out to be the game winning run. Ryoya Kurihara followed with a two-RBI single to provide insurance. Carter Stewart Jr. picked up his first win of the year in his fifth start allowing the one earned run on three hits and three walks. He also struck out three batters. The four earned runs dropped Buffaloes' starting pitcher Anderson Espinoza's ERA to 1.35 while the 26 year old Venezuelan right-hander suffered his first loss after four wins. The two teams move their countryside traveling road show to Kamoike Park in the Kagoshima Prefecture for Sunday's afternoon clash.
Sunday 12 May - 母の日 Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-05-12 Hawks-Buffaloes postponed (rain) Carp-Dragons postponed (rain)
Hiroto Saiki outlasted Shinichi Ohnuki in a magnificent pitching duel that saw both hurlers allow only six hits combined as the Hanshin Tigers took the rubber game of the weekend series against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars with a slim 1-0 victory on Sunday afternoon. Hanshin's Saiki threw 128 pitches in registering his second complete game shutout of the season, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out five batters. BayStars' starter Ohnuki had the slightly better numbers allowing just two hits and two walks on 110 pitches over 8 innings, but three of those base runners came in the 3rd inning when Saiki himself drew a two-out walk, Kouta Inoue then singled to center and Takumu Nakano doubled to right field scoring Saiki with the lone run of the game. Saiki would later draw another walk in the 8th inning to be the Tigers fourth and final base runner of the day. The Nippon-Ham Fighters rallied for three runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to earn a 6-5 walk off win over the Lotte Marines to complete a three game sweep of their weekend series. Trailing 5-3, the Fighters collected four hits in the final frame culminating with Tatsuki Mizuno's bases-loaded knock to drive home Yua Tamiya with the sayonara run. Chusei Mannami led Nippon-Ham going 2-for-3 with a walk including a solo home run that briefly gave the home team a 2-1 lead in the 2nd inning. It was tough outcome for Hiromi Oka who had a modasho 3-for-5 performance that included two home runs.
BATTING Average .341 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .312 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) .298 - Hideki Nagaoka (Swaqllows) .287 - Shogo Akiyama (Carp) .284 - Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) On-Base Percentage .429 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .410 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .386 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) .376 - Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) .362 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) OPS .947 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .915 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) .912 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) .909 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .819 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) Home Runs 8 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) 8 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 8 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) 6 - Jose Osuna (Swallows) 6 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) RBIs 26 - Jose Osuna (Swallows) 23 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) 23 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) 20 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 20 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) AVG with RISP .444 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) .419 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .371 - Keita Sano (BayStars) .364 - Yuhei Nakamura (Swallows) .357 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) Stolen Bases 6 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 5 - Makoto Kadowaki (Giants) 4 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) 3 - 5 players tied PITCHING ERA 0.88 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 1.28 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 1.37 - Tomoyuki Sugano (Giants) 1.37 - Rei Takahashi (Giants) 1.55 - Iori Yamasaki (Giants) WHIP 0.90 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 0.93 - Shinnosuke Ogasawara (Dragons) 0.94 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 0.97 - Tomoyuki Sugano (Giants) 0.99 - Shinichi Ohnuki (BayStars) Innings pitched 48.1 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 45.2 - Aren Kuri (Carp) 45.0 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 44.2 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 42.1 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 42.1 - Shinichi Ohnuki (BayStars) Strikeouts 43 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 37 - Kojiro Yoshimura (Swallows) 36 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 36 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 33 - Aren Kuri (Carp) Wins 4 - Tomoyuki Sugano (Giants) 4 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 4 - Miguel Yajure (Swallows) 3 - 8 players tied Holds 12 - Yuhi Nishidate (Giants) 10 - Koki Saito (Dragons) 9 - Tatsuya Shimizu (Dragons) 9 - Alberto Baldonado (Giants) 9 - Javy Guerra (Tigers) Saves 10 - Raidel Martínez (Dragons) 9 - Ryoji Kuribayashi (Carp) 8 - Kohei Morihara (BayStars) 7 - Taisei Ota (Giants) 6 - Javy Guerra (Tigers)
BATTING Average .325 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .306 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) .304 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) .297 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) .293 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) On-Base Percentage .428 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .425 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) .365 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) .356 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) .344 - Kotaro Kurebayashi (Buffaloes) OPS .907 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .876 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) .824 - Leandro Cedeño (Buffaloes) .796 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) .776 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) Home Runs 9 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 7 - Leandro Cedeño (Buffaloes) 5 - Gregory Polanco (Marines) 5 - Takeya Nakamura (Lions) 4 - 7 players tied RBIs 35 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 27 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) 21 - Hideto Asamura (Eagles) 19 - Leandro Cedeño (Buffaloes) 18 - Yūya Gunji (Fighters) AVG with RISP .429 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) .381 - Yuma Mune (Buffaloes) .370 - Yūya Gunji (Fighters) .345 - Ariel Martínez (Fighters) .333 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) .333 - Ryusei Satoh (Lions) Stolen Bases 12 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) 11 - Hiroto Kobukata (Eagles) 10 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) 6 - Hiromi Oka (Marines) 6 - Go Matsumoto (Fighters) PITCHING ERA 1.03 - Cristopher Mercedes (Marines) 1.35 - Anderson Espinoza (Buffaloes) 1.47 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 1.49 - Hiroya Miyagi (Buffaloes) 1.50 - Natsuki Takeuchi (Lions) WHIP 0.77 - Cristopher Mercedes (Marines) 0.85 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 0.86 - Natsuki Takeuchi (Lions) 0.87 - Sachiya Yamasaki (Fighters) 0.88 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) Innings pitched 50.0 - Kazuya Ojima (Marines) 49.0 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 45.2 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 44.2 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 42.1 - Hiroya Miyagi (Buffaloes) 42.1 - Takayuki Kato (Fighters) Strikeouts 53 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 47 - Hiroya Miyagi (Buffaloes) 41 - Roki Sasaki (Marines) 37 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 36 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) Wins 4 - Anderson Espinoza (Buffaloes) 4 - Yuki Tsumori (Hawks) 3 - 9 players tied Holds 16 - Yuki Matsumoto (Hawks) 11 - Ryusei Kawano (Fighters) 10 - Koya Fujii (Hawks) 10 - Tomohito Sakai (Eagles) 9 - 3 players tied Saves 10 - Roberto Osuna (Hawks) 9 - Seigi Tanaka (Fighters) 8 - Albert Abreu (Lions) 7 - Takahiro Norimoto (Eagles) 7 - Yoshihisa Hirano (Buffaloes)
Tuesday 14 May Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-05-14 Buffaloes-Marines was called after 5 innings (rain)
A two-RBI single from Takaya Ishikawa capped a three-run 8th inning to give the Chunichi Dragons a come-from-behind 4-2 win over the Hanshin Tigers at Toyohashi City Ballpark. Second baseman Mikiya Tanaka went a modasho 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored to lead the Dragons attack. The run support finally brought Hiroto Takahashi his first win in his third quality start despite allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks over 7 innings. Hanshin's Shoki Murakami pitched 7 strong innings before getting chased with one out in the 8th, last season's Central League MVP and Rookie of the Year in the Central League getting charged with all four runs (three earned) while registering nine strikeouts. Hiromi Oka connected for his third home run in his last two games to help the Lotte Marines to a rain-shortened 4-1 win over the Orix Buffaloes in Naha, Okinawa on the southern Ryukyu Islands. Marines pitcher Yuji Nishino received credit for just his third complete game over ten years to even his win-loss record for the season at 3-3. Cheering battle between fans during the rain delay before the game was called after 5 innings.
Of the six NPB games played on Tuesday, four were played at rural venues. The last time four games were played at countryside stadiums on the same day was on 23 June 2015. The other two games both took place in the Central League. At Alpen Stadium in Toyama, a two-run home run in the 2nd inning from Yukinori Kishida was enough to provide a 2-1 victory for the Yomiuri Giants over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Hayato Sakamoto lead off the inning with a single to right, the 2,352nd base hit of his career which moves him past another Kyojin legend, Tetsuharu Kawakami, into sole position of 13th place on the all-time NPB hits list. Pitcher Iori Yamasaki pitched 7 frames to up his record to 4-0. And at Botchan Stadium in Matsuyama, Kaito Kozono drove in both runs while Hiroki Tokoda pitched 7 strong innings to pick up his fourth win of the season as the Hiroshima Carp defeated the Yakult Swallows 2-1.
Wednesday 15 May Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-05-15 Dragons-Tigers went 11 innings Buffaloes-Marines finished tied after 12 innings
Munetaka Murakami became the youngest player in NPB history to reach 200 career home runs as the Yakult Swallows blanked the Hiroshima Carp 2-0 in their second night playing at Botchan Stadium in Matsuyama. Murakami's solo blast in the 8th inning came off of Carp relief pitcher Takuya Kato and was his ninth bomb of the season. At just 24 years, 103 days old, Murakami beat the previous record of 24 years, 10 months that was set in 1992 by Kazuhiro Kiyohara of the Seibu Lions. Kiyohara ended his 22 year career with 525 homers, fifth most in NPB history. (FWIW, Mel Ott holds the MLB record as the youngest to 200 at 25 years, 144 days) And yet despite the record setting performance, Murakami was upstaged by his teammate, starting pitcher Kengo Matsumoto. Making his NPB debut, the 24 year old rookie right-hander allowed just three hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts on 118 pitches in dominating fashion. Displaying a nasty splitter, he became the first pitcher in NPB history to throw a complete game shutout that featured no walks and at least 10 strikeouts in his debut outing. 13 pitchers total were used during the SoftBank Hawks 7-3 win over the Rakuten Eagles in Sendai. Ukyo Shuto and Yuki Yanagita each collected a modasho three hits with two RBIs and two runs scored. Yanagita drove in his two runs in the 5th inning with his seventh double of the season while Shuto's production included his first home run of the year, a two-run bomb in the 6th inning.
Takumu Nakano went a modasho 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored to help lead the Hanshin Tigers to a 9-4 victory over the Chunichi Dragons in the only game scheduled for Thursday. 32 year old Fumihito Haraguchi, a popular player for having survived colorectal cancer during the 2018 off-season, batted cleanup for the first time in his nine-year career and hit a three-run home run in the 6th inning to complete a four-RBI night at the Nagoya Vantelin Dome. Pitcher Yuki Nishi went 6 innings to earn his first win in five starts this season. Pro Yakyu News highlights
Friday 17 May Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-05-17 Marines-Fighters finished tied after 12 innings
A week after having one of his worst outings of his career, Roki Sasaki returned with a vengeance on Friday striking out a season-high 12 batters (seven were 3-pitch Ks) and allowing one run on just three hits and one walk on 106 pitches over 8 innings. But he had to accept a no decision as the Lotte Marines and Nippon-Ham Fighters were unable to unlock a 1-1 stalemate after 12 innings. Sasaki's fastball also returned to normal with a season-high 13 pitches hitting at least 160 km/h, topping out at 162 kmh (101 mph) Hotaka Yamakawa became the first player to reach 10 home runs this season, his solo blast in the 3rd inning putting the SoftBank Hawks up 4-0 en route to a 6-2 win over his former club, the Seibu Lions, in Fukuoka. Minutes after Yamakawa's bomb, Munetaka Murakami joined him atop the home run leaderboard with a three-run shot in the 3rd inning to help lead the Yakult Swallows to a 4-2 win over the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium. This is the sixth consecutive season that Murakami has reached double digit home runs
A two-RBI single from Kaito Kozono in the 5th inning flipped a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead and helped the Hiroshima Carp to a 4-3 victory over the Yomiuri Giants at Zoom Zoom Mazda Stadium. Shogo Sakakura homered in the 6th inning, part of a 4-for-4 afternoon for the Hiroshima catcher and battery mate of pitcher Aren Kuri who finally picked up his first win of the year following four losses in eight outings. Closer Ryoji Kuribayashi gave up one run off three consecutive hits and a walk but eventualy able to hold on for his 12th save. Giants third baseman Hayato Sakamoto continued his journey on the record books by going 3-for-5 at the plate, his 187th career game with at least three-hits that moves him past fellow Giants legend Shigeo Nagashima to become the all-time modasho leader in Central League history. Sakamoto's three hits on the day included a double in the 5th inning, his third of the season and the 448th two-base hit of his incredible career that ties him for third all time with another NPB legend, Kazuhiro Yamauchi. Kensukle Kondoh hit a two-run home run in the 8th inning to lift the SoftBank Hawks to a 3-2 win over the Seibu Lions at the Mizuho PayPay Dome. Kondoh jumped on the first pitch fastball off reliever Wataru Matsumoto and parked it into the right field bleachers for his sixth homer of the season. Gakuto Wakabayashi had homered in the 2nd inning to put Seibu up 2-1, but the hard luck Lions have now lost 9 of the 11 games they have played against the Pacific League-leading Hawks in 2024, often in late-inning fashion and are now on their fifth four-game losing streak this year.
LIVE STREAM on the Pacific League's Youtube channel. Kyocera Dome, Osaka Orix Buffaloes (Kyosuke Saito 0-0, 0.00) vs Rakuten Golden Eagles (Takayuki Kishi 1-4, 3.62) Sunday 13:00 (Japan) Sunday 12 midnight (US ET) Saturday 9:00pm (US PT)
Sunday 19 May Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-05-19 Buffaloes-Eagles went 10 innings
Yuma Mune drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Orix Buffaloes a 3-2 win over the Rakuten Eagles on a day that saw all three games in the Pacific League finish on sayonara hits, the third time it has happened in the PL and the first since 20 September 2014. Orix held a 2-0 lead after 8 innings but the recent struggles of closer Yoshihisa Hirano to finish the job continued to haunt as he surrendered two runs on four hits and a walk allowing the Eagles to send the game to extra frames. The win sees the Buffaloes jump over the Eagles into fourth place in the P.L. standings. The walk-off 2-1 win by the SoftBank Hawks over the Seibu Lions (AGAIN!) was a bitter pill to swallow for 23 year old Lions pitcher Natsuki Takeuchi who pitched a masterful 8 innings against the best offense in the league before leaving after giving up a leadoff single to Ukyo Shuto to start the 9th. With Shuto eventually scoring the tying run, Takeuchi was denied his fourth win of the year and closed his line for the day at one earned run on four hits and one walk while striking out four on 100 pitches thrown. The ERA for the southpaw rookie drops to 1.43 for the season. Seiya Hosokawa picked up his 25th RBI of the year as the Chunichi Dragons avoided the sweep by beating the DeNA BayStars 3-2 in Yokohama. Yōhei Ōshima and Yutaro Itayama also drove in runs for the Dragons. The BayStars scored in the 8th to cut their deficit to 3-2 but Chunichi shortstop Kaito Muramatsu turned Yamato Maeda's grounder into a brilliant 6-4-3 double play to kill the rally.
BATTING Average .331 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .315 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) .309 - Shuhei Fukuda (Buffaloes) .305 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) .300 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) On-Base Percentage .428 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .425 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) .382 - Shuhei Fukuda (Buffaloes) .372 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) .357 - Hiromi Oka (Marines) OPS .963 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .873 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) .857 - Hiromi Oka (Marines) .814 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) .769 - Leandro Cedeño (Buffaloes) Home Runs 10 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 7 - Leandro Cedeño (Buffaloes) 6 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) 6 - Gregory Polanco (Marines) 5 - 3 players tied RBIs 38 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 30 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) 22 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) 22 - Hideto Asamura (Eagles) 21 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) 21 - Ariel Martínez (Fighters) AVG with RISP .406 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) .385 - Yuma Mune (Buffaloes) .364 - Ariel Martínez (Fighters) .364 - Shuhei Fukuda (Buffaloes) .349 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) Stolen Bases 16 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) 11 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) 11 - Hiroto Kobukata (Eagles) 10 - Go Matsumoto (Fighters) 7 - Hiromi Oka (Marines) PITCHING ERA 1.35 - Anderson Espinoza (Buffaloes) 1.43 - Natsuki Takeuchi (Lions) 1.47 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 1.53 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 1.70 - Hiroya Miyagi (Buffaloes) WHIP 0.82 - Natsuki Takeuchi (Lions) 0.88 - Cristopher Mercedes (Marines) 0.89 - Sachiya Yamasaki (Fighters) 0.91 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 0.92 - Kazuya Ojima (Marines) Innings pitched 57.1 - Kazuya Ojima (Marines) 51.2 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 51.2 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 50.1 - Sachiya Yamasaki (Fighters) 49.0 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) Strikeouts 53 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 53 - Roki Sasaki (Marines) 47 - Hiroya Miyagi (Buffaloes) 45 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 41 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 41 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) Wins 4 - Yuki Tsumori (Hawks) 4 - Anderson Espinoza (Buffaloes) 4 - Sachiya Yamasaki (Fighters) 3 - 13 players tied Holds 16 - Yuki Matsumoto (Hawks) 12 - Ryusei Kawano (Fighters) 11 - Sung Chia-hao (Eagles) 11 - Tomohito Sakai (Eagles) 10 - 3 players tied Saves 11 - Roberto Osuna (Hawks) 9 - Takahiro Norimoto (Eagles) 9 - Seigi Tanaka (Fighters) 8 - Albert Abreu (Lions) 7 - Yoshihisa Hirano (Buffaloes)
BATTING Average .338 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .305 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) .301 - Hideki Nagaoka (Swaqllows) .288 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) .284 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) On-Base Percentage .426 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .338 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .288 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) .283 - Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) .256 - Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) OPS .923 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .919 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .894 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) .872 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) .796 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) Home Runs 10 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) 8 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) 8 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 6 - Jose Osuna (Swallows) 6 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) RBIs 27 - Jose Osuna (Swallows) 25 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) 24 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) 21 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 21 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) AVG with RISP .500 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) .400 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .348 - Yuhei Nakamura (Swallows) .344 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) .333 - Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) .333 - Makoto Kadowaki (Giants) Stolen Bases 7 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 6 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) 5 - Makoto Kadowaki (Giants) 3 - 8 players tied PITCHING ERA 1.28 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 1.30 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 1.51 - Iori Yamasaki (Giants) 1.66 - Shinnosuke Ogasawara (Dragons) 1.76 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) WHIP 0.88 - Shinnosuke Ogasawara (Dragons) 0.97 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 0.99 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 1.05 - Kojiro Yoshimura (Swallows) 1.06 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) Innings pitched 56.0 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 51.0 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 51.0 - Aren Kuri (Carp) 49.2 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 49.1 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) Strikeouts 47 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 45 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 42 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 41 - Kojiro Yoshimura (Swallows) 38 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) Wins 5 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 4 - 7 players tied Holds 13 - Yuhi Nishidate (Giants) 12 - Javy Guerra (Tigers) 11 - Koki Saito (Dragons) 11 - Sotaro Shimauchi (Carp) 10 - Tatsuya Shimizu (Dragons) Saves 12 - Raidel Martínez (Dragons) 12 - Ryoji Kuribayashi (Carp) 10 - Kohei Morihara (BayStars) 7 - Taisei Ota (Giants) 7 - Suguru Iwazaki (Tigers)
The NPB All-Star Series will be taking place on July 23 (Es Con Field Hokkaido, Kitahiroshima) and July 24 (Meiji Jingu Stadium, Tokyo) and Fan voting has been going on for a few days. If you wish to vote, you must first register at this link: https://npb.jp/allstar/2024/fanballot.html Click the red box on the LEFT to register. (Red box on RIGHT is to log in after you have registered.) Enter email address and choose a password between 4-18 characters. You will receive an email that contains a link back to the npb.jp website, and once you click it your registration will be complete.. You'll then have to log in, and that should be it. Everyone is allowed one vote per day. Updated results are periodically announced. Fan voting is open until Sunday 23 June. Here are my votes from today (Tuesday). CENTRAL LEAGUE SP 18 Tomoyuki Sugano (Giants) RP 17 Yuhi Nishidate (Giants) CL 92 Raidel Martínez (Drgons) C 31 Shogo Sakakura (Carp) 1B 25 Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 2B 51 Takumu Nakano (Tigers) 3B 55 Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) SS 51 Kaito Kozono (Carp) OF 5 Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) OF 25 Domingo Santana (Swallows) OF 55 Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) PACIFIC LEAGUE SP 17 Rōki Sasaki (Marines) RP 48 Tatsuya Imai (Lions) CL 35 Liván Moinelo (Hawks) C 4 Tomoya Mori (Buffaloes) 1B 25 Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 2B 0 Hiroto Kobukata (Eagles) 3B 3 Hideto Asamura (Eagles) SS 6 Sōsuke Genda (Lions) OF 3 Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) OF 9 Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) OF 66 Chūsei Mannami (Fighters) DH 60 Takeya Nakamura (Lions)