Chusei Mannami hit two home runs including a gyakuten grand slam in the 5th inning as the Nipponham Fighters defeated the Rakuten Eagles 8-7 in a wild game at Es Con Field Hokkaido. Mannami's two bombs lifts his total to 9 on the season, tops in the Pacific League. The bases-loaded blast matched that of Rakuten's Itsuki Murabayashi, who had also launched a score-flipping grand slam to punctuate a six-run rally by the Eagles in the 4th inning. The visitors threatened to tie the game in the 9th when they loaded the bases with one out, but Nipponham closer Seigi Tanaka escaped the jam by getting the final two batters to fly out to preserve the win. For the third time this season Tatsuya Imai struck out 10 batters over 7 shutout innings in a game, the latest in Saturday's 7-0 win for the Seibu Lions over the Lotte Marines in Saitama. Imai also had two outings this year where he fanned 9 batters in each. He currently leads all of NPB with 55 punch outs while his ERA dropped to 0.51. Tyler Nevin provided the only runs the Lions needed for the victory with a grand slam in the 3rd inning.
Shoki Murakami tossed his second consecutive complete game shutout - this one on only 98 pitches - to lead the Hanshin Tigers to a 2-0 win over the Chunichi Dragons at Koshien. A 1st inning single by Shota Morishita drove in Takumu Nakano from second base for the game-winning run. Teruaki Sato doubled home Koji Chikamoto in the 6th for insurance. Oh No! While the Yokohama BayStars cheerleading race team of 'diana' have lost the Hisense Hamasta Battle before (43 losses in 159 races) Saturday's defeat was due to a dropped hand off from Shizuku to Aki, the first time the ladies have dropped the baton during a race. Stay strong!
Gu Lin Ruei-yang dealt a magnificent two-hit complete game shutout as the Nipponham Fighters completed a three-game sweep of the Rakuten Eagles with a 4-0 blanking on Sunday. In his third NPB start, the Taiwanese flamethrower took a perfect game into the 6th inning before Hiroto Kobukata broke up the bid with a clean single to right field. Gu Lin would surrender another base hit in the 7th but nothing more, walking none while registering 7 strikeouts and completing a 'Maddux' with only 98 pitches. His fastball hovered in the 150-152 range, topping out at 154 kmh (95.5 mph) Kengo Yoshida provided the only run needed for the win, leading off the bottom half of the 1st inning with a first pitch home run off Eagles starter Takayuki Kishi. Fighters manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo played season-long designated hitter Franmil Reyes at first base in preparation for interleague play which is set to begin in three weeks. Chihiro Sumida raised his record to 5-1 following 7 shutout innings as the Seibu Lions dominated the Lotte Marines 10-0 to sweep their weekend series. Sumida allowed just three hits and two walks while lowering his ERA to 0.98. Seiya Watanabe and Sosuke Genda each went a modasho 3-for-5 to lead the Seibu attack at the plate.
Eigoro Mogi's two-run home run in the 6th inning was enough to give the Yakult Swallows a 2-1 victory over the Yomiuri Giants in the night-capper at Meiji Jingu Kojiro Yoshimura struck out 10 Giant batters while allowing no walks over 8 solid innings to earn his second win of the year. The only run Yoshimura allowed came off the bat of Shogo Asano, the 20 year old's second round-tripper of the season. diana redeem themselves.
BATTING *To qualify: 3.1 plate appearances per the number of games played by that player's club Average .348 - Ryo Ohta (Buffaloes) .311 - Ryoma Nishikawa (Buffaloes) .288 - Akira Nakamura (Hawks) .286 - Yuki Nomura (Fighters) .286 - Yuma Tongu (Buffaloes) On-Base Percentage .410 - Ryo Ohta (Buffaloes) .388 - Akira Nakamura (Hawks) .371 - Yuki Nomura (Fighters) .365 - Yudai Fujioka (Marines) .361 - Yuma Tongu (Buffaloes) OPS .871 - Ryo Ohta (Buffaloes) .847 - Yuki Nomura (Fighters) .841 - Franmil Reyes (Fighters) .840 - Yuma Tongu (Buffaloes) .792 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) Home Runs 9 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) 7 - Franmil Reyes (Fighters) 7 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 5 - Yuki Nomura (Fighters) 5 - Yuma Tongu (Buffaloes) RBIs 22 - Keita Nakagawa (Buffaloes) 22 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) 20 - Franmil Reyes (Fighters) 19 - Ryo Ohta (Buffaloes) 19 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) AVG with RISP .412 - Ryo Ohta (Buffaloes) .364 - Franmil Reyes (Fighters) .353 - Keita Nakagawa (Buffaloes) .345 - Yuki Nomura (Fighters) .323 - Tyler Nevin (Lions) Stolen Bases 11 - Hiroto Kobukata (Eagles) 10 - Manaya Nishikawa (Lions) 6 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) 6 - Akito Takabe (Marines) 6 - Yūsuke Mugitani (Buffaloes) PITCHING *To qualify: Minimum innings equal to the number of games played by that pitcher's club. ERA 0.51 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 0.98 - Chihiro Sumida (Lions) 1.20 - Allen Kuri (Buffaloes) 1.60 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 1.64 - Hiroya Miyagi (Buffaloes) WHIP 0.72 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 0.79 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 0.83 - Chihiro Sumida (Lions) 0.84 - Hiroya Miyagi (Buffaloes) 0.89 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) Innings pitched 53.0 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 46.0 - Chihiro Sumida (Lions) 46.0 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 45.0 - Allen Kuri (Buffaloes) 44.0 - Hiroya Miyagi (Buffaloes) 44.0 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) Strikeouts 55 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 46 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 43 - Hiroya Miyagi (Buffaloes) 42 - Chihiro Sumida (Lions) 42 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) Wins 5 - Chihiro Sumida (Lions) 4 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 4 - Allen Kuri (Buffaloes) 4 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 3 - 6 players tied Holds 10 - Yuki Matsumoto (Hawks) 9 - Trey Wingenter (Lions) 9 - Ryusei Kawano (Fighters) 9 - Luis Perdomo (Buffaloes) 8 - Naoto Nishiguchi (Eagles) 8 - Takahide Ikeda (Fighters) Saves 8 - Seigi Tanaka (Fighters) 8 - Kaima Taira (Lions) 7 - Andrés Machado (Buffaloes) 5 - Takahiro Norimoto (Eagles) 5 - Roberto Osuna (Hawks)
BATTING *To qualify: 3.1 plate appearances per the number of games played by that player's club Average .333 - Shota Morishita (Tigers) .324 - Sandro Fabian (Carp) .308 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) .304 - Takumu Nakano (Tigers) .301 - Naoki Yoshikawa (Giants) On-Base Percentage .395 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .389 - Takumu Nakano (Tigers) .381 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) .379 - Shota Morishita (Tigers) .370 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) OPS .979 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) .968 - Teruaki Sato (Tigers) .883 - Shota Morishita (Tigers) .827 - Trey Cabbage (Giants) .823 - Shota Suekane (Carp) Home Runs 11 - Teruaki Sato (Tigers) 8 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 6 - Shota Morishita (Tigers) 5 - Shota Suekane (Carp) 5 - Trey Cabbage (Giants) 5 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) RBIs 33 - Teruaki Sato (Tigers) 29 - Shota Suekane (Carp) 25 - Shota Morishita (Tigers) 25 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 22 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) AVG with RISP .483 - Shota Suekane (Carp) .462 - Yuta Izuguchi (Giants) .429 - Masaki Mimori (BayStars) .414 - José Osuna (Swallows) .400 - Keita Sano (BayStars) .400 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) Stolen Bases 7 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 7 - Seiji Uebayashi (Dragons) 7 - Masaki Mimori (BayStars) 6 - Takumu Nakano (Tigers) 6 - Yūki Okabayashi (Dragons) PITCHING *To qualify: Minimum innings equal to the number of games played by that pitcher's club. ERA 0.45 - Iori Yamasaki (Giants) 1.03 - Anthony Kay (BayStars) 1.35 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 1.38 - Takahiro Matsuba (Dragons) 1.46 - Andre Jackson (BayStars) WHIP 0.83 - Iori Yamasaki (Giants) 0.85 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 0.86 - Masato Morishita (Carp) 0.89 - Anthony Kay (BayStars) 0.94 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) Innings pitched 53.1 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 51.1 - Masato Morishita (Carp) 50.2 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 45.2 - Takahiro Matsuba (Dragons) 43.0 - Trevor Bauer (BayStars) Strikeouts 39 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 39 - Trevor Bauer (BayStars) 38 - Masato Morishita (Carp) 36 - Iori Yamasaki (Giants) 36 - Haruto Inoue (Giants) Wins 6 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 5 - Iori Yamasaki (Giants) 4 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 4 - Takahiro Matsuba (Dragons) 4 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) Holds 10 - Taisei Ota (Giants) 9 - Koki Saito (Dragons) 9 - Daichi Ishii (Tigers) 9 - Tatsuya Shimizu (Dragons) 8 - 6 players tied Saves 12 - Raidel Martínez (Giants) 12 - Shinya Matsuyama (Dragons) 10 - Suguru Iwazaki (Tigers) 8 - Taichi Ishiyama (Swallows) 7 - Taisei Irie (BayStars)
NPB Players of the Month - March/April 2025 CENTRAL LEAGUE - PITCHER RHP Iori Yamasaki - Yomiuri Giants (2nd time award winner) 5 starts 4 wins 0 losses 1.000 winning percentage 35 innings pitched 32 strikeouts 0 runs allowed 0 earned runs allowed 0.00 ERA CENTRAL LEAGUE - BATTER IF Kazuma Okamoto - Yomiuri Giants (4th time award winner) 27 games 102 official at-bats 31 hits .304 batting average 7 home runs 23 runs batted in .588 slugging percentage .381 on base percentage PACIFIC LEAGUE - PITCHER LHP Chihiro Sumida - Seibu Lions (1st time award winner) 4 starts 4 wins 0 loss 1 complete games 1 complete game shutouts 31 innings pitched 30 strikeouts 2 runs allowed 2 earned runs allowed 0.58 ERA PACIFIC LEAGUE - BATTER IF Ryo Ohta - Orix Buffaloes (1st time award winner) 27 games 107 official at-bats 44 hits .411 batting average 4 home runs 18 runs batted in .542 slugging percentage .475 on base percentage
Tuesday 13 May Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2025-05-13 Carp-Giants went 12 innings BayStars-Tigers finished tied after 12 innings
Hiromi Itoh was on form pitching 8 shutout innings to lead the Nipponham Fighters to a comfortable 7-0 win over the Orix Buffaloes at Es Con Field Hokkaido. Itoh struck out 10 batters while allowing just four hits and two walks to boost his record to 5-1. Yuki Nomura hit his sixth home run of the season on a 2-for-4 afternoon performance at the plate for the Fighters. Yoshiaki Watanabe's sacrifice fly in the the 9th inning scored Hiroto Kobukata to give the Rakuten Eagles a sayonara 4-3 win over the Lotte Marines to snap a four-game losing streak. Ryōsuke Tatsumi hit his first home run of the year to give the Eagles an early 2-0 lead. Daito Yamamoto and Neftalí Soto went yard for the Marines to help knot the game at 3-3 leading up to the walk off. Seibu Lions veteran slugger Takeya Nakamura helped himself to home run number 481 of his career is a losing cause against the SoftBank Hawks in Osaka.
Elehuris Montero singled into centerfield scoring Ryutaro Hatsuki in the 12th inning giving the Hiroshima Carp a 5-4 sayonara win over the Yomiuri Giants. Shosei Nakamura hit his first home run of the season while Shota Suekane launched his sixth of the year for the hometown Carp. Richard Sunagawa, who was acquired by the Giants over the weekend in a 2-for-1 player swap with the SoftBank Hawks, homered in his second at bat for the Kyojin, his first of the year. Trey Cabbage also put one into the bleachers for the visitors. The Hanshin Tigers avoided defeat with a two-out 9th inning home run by Nozomu Takatera off Yokohama BayStars reliever Taisei Irie in the two teams' 1-1 tie after 12 innings at Hard Off Stadium in Niigata. The homer denied the fourth win for BayStars starter Anthony Kay who had allowed three hits over 7 strong innings. Wednesday will be a travel day with the two-game series resuming on Thursday in Yokohama.
Standout rookie Seiya Watanabe hit his first career home run to help the Seibu Lions to a 3-1 defeat of the SoftBank Hawks in Fukuoka where the rarely seen sight of an open roof was on display. Built in 1993, the Fukuoka Dome (currently the Mizuho PayPay Dome) was the first NPB ballpark that was built with a retractable roof. However, because the roof opens from side to side, this design causes the roof to be rarely opened due to costs of electricity to the mechanics of opening the roof. The Dome will host four ルーフオープ games this season with the second scheduled for Thursday. 2024 Pacific League Rookie of the Year Natsuki Takeuchi made his 2025 season debut for the Lions, allowing one earned run on four hits and two walks over 5 innings. His night began rough but he managed to get out of a bases loaded no-outs jam in the 1st inning without conceding a run. Takeuchi was out of action since January with a strained MCL and made four appearance with the ni-gun farm team before Wednesday's debut. Taishi Hirooka hit a two out gyakuten grand slam in the 8th inning for the Orix Buffaloes en route to a 9-5 victory over the Nipponham Fighters at Es Con Field Hokkaido, the only other venue in NPB that has a retractable roof. Orix ace Hiroya Miyagi struck out 7 batters over 6 innings but did not figure into the decision. Franmil Reyes went 2-for-3 and drove in four of the Fighters' five runs including a two-run home run in the 7th. Five-year MLB veteran Spencer Howard made his NPB debut allowing just five hits and walking none over 7 shutout innings for the Rakuten Eagles against the Lotte Marines.
Seiji Uebayashi (in the 1st inning) and Kenta Bright (in the 8th) each hit RBI triples while 21-year veteran Hideaki Wakui pitched 6 shutout innings to lead the Chunichi Dragons to a 2-0 victory over the Yakult Swallows. Yakult's Venezuelan right-hander Pedro Avila allowed just two hits and two walks while fanning 7 batters over 6 innings but had to take the loss despite a strong NPB debut performance.
Shugo Maki hit a two-out single to centerfield scoring Taiki Ishikami from second base to give the Yokohama BayStars a tough 1-0 win over the Hanshin Tigers at Hamasta. The visitors threatened to tie it in the top of the 9th but with two runners on Maki made a great diving stop of Koji Chikamoto's grounder and flipped the ball to shortstop Ishikami to end the game. Andre Jackson pitched 6-2/3 shutout innings and while he did not figure into the decision he managed to lower his ERA to 1.24 Kaito Kozono hit a grand slam in the 6th inning to lead the Hiroshima Carp to a 5-1 win over the Yomiuri Giants and complete a midweek series sweep over the Tokyo club. The bases-clearing bomb was surrendered by Giants starter Iori Yamasaki who suffered his first loss after five decision wins and saw his ERA balloon up to 1.17 on the year.
Kyota Fujiwara went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Neftali Soto hit his fifth home run of the season as the Lotte Marines defeated the Rakuten Eagles 5-2 at the Tokyo Dome to salvage the final game of their three-game series. In his second NPB appearance American southpaw Bryan Sammons pitched 5-2/3 innings to earn his first win in Japan. 23 year old Haruki Hosono made his first start of 2025 but took a no-decision despite hurling 6 shutout innings for the Nipponham Fighters against the Orix Buffaloes.
Sky Perfect TV Sayonara of the Month - March/April 2025 CENTRAL LEAGUE OF Shunsuke Tamura - Hiroshima Carp (1st time award winner) Sunday 5 April Mazda Stadium, Hiroshima Tamura hit a dramatic pinch-hit walk-off solo home run off Yasuaki Yamasaki to right-center field in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Hiroshima Carp an 8-7 victory over the Yokohama BayStars. The first-pitch home run to open the 11th marked the 28th time in NPB history that a pitcher lost a game after throwing just one pitch. PACIFIC LEAGUE C Yūya Gunji - Nipponham Fighters (1st time award winner) Friday 11 April Es Con Field Hokkaido, Kitahiroshima Gunji hit a dramatic walk-off two-run home run off Hiroshi Kaino into the right field bleachers in the bottom of the 12th inning togive the Fighters a 2-0 win over the Saitama Seibu
Naoki Yoshikawa slugged a three-run home run in the 8th inning to give the Yomiuri Giants a come-from-behind 4-2 victory over the Chunichi Dragons at the Tokyo Dome. Riku Masuda also homered for the Kyojin, a solo blast in the 4th inning off Dragons rookie starter Yumeto Kanemaru. The left-handed Kanemaru was making his second career start and had a strong outing despite a no-decision: Just the one earned run allowed on three hits and no walks over 6 innings. He struck out 7 batters. Seiji Uebayashi produced both of Chunichi's runs with two solo blasts and now has 5 on the year. Tyler Austin hit a two-run home run in the 8th inning en route to a 8-6 win for the Yokohama BayStars over the Yakult Swallows at Meiji Jingu. Trevor Bauer had a rough night on the mound for the BayStars allowing six runs on seven hits and two walks over 6 innings. He allowed two home runs including one to Tetsuto Yamada, the 302nd bomb of Yamada's career. Bauer left the game with his team down 6-3 but he avoided his fourth loss of the year when the BayStars rallied with two runs in the 7th and three in the 8th. Soma Uchiyama also took Bauer deep while Shugo Maki and Shion Matsuo also homered for Yokohama.
Sachiya Yamasaki tossed his first complete game shutout since 2017 leading the Nipponham Fighters to an 8-0 win over the Lotte Marines in Chiba. Yamasaki allowed no walks while striking out 7 to earn his second win of the season while dropping his ERA to 0.94 Chusei Mannami led the Nipponham attack going a modasho 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Tatsuki Mizuno crushed a three-run home run, his third homer of 2025.
Saturday 17 May Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2025-05-17 Lions-Buffaloes went 10 innings Marines-Fighters postponed (rain)