Highlights: Lotte Marines at Seibu Lions Seiji Kawagoe hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Seibu Lions 4-3 win over the Lotte Marines, the second consecutive night Seibu won on a Sayonara homer following Takeya Nakamura’s 9th inning game-ender against the Orix Buffaloes on Thursday. Toshiya Sato gave the visiting Marines a first inning lead with his sixth home run of the season, a three-run shot off Lions starter Tatsuya Imai. But Lotte would end up leaving 12 runners on base through the first six innings and paid the price for their lack of production. Hotaka Yamaka began the Seibu comeback in the fourth inning with his Pacific League-leading 31st homer of the year, and Shuta Tonosaki singled home Aito Takeda in the fifth to make it 3-2. Tonosaki scored the tying run off reliever Tayron Guerrero in the eighth when he drew a one-out walk, stole second and ultimately scoring on a wild pitch. Burch Smith made his first appearance in relief since July 9, working three innings three innings of long relief before Kaima Taira shut down Lotte in the ninth and closer Tatsushi Masuda worked the 10th in his first game since July 10 before Kawagoe sent the home fans happy.
Yutaro Sugimoto's three-run home run capped off a four-run sixth inning as the Orix Buffaloes came from behind to defeat the Nippon-Hasm Fighters 5-2 in Osaka. Another round of the Tokyo Series kicked off with Yomiuri Giants' rookie starter Kenshin Hotta allowing just one run on two hits and two walks over seven innings while the offense provided run support with four home runs including two from Gragory Polanco as the Kyojin defeated the Yakult Swallows 9-5 The Giants were actually leading 9-1 in the ninth before José Osuna connected with the bases-loaded to make the score look respectable. Takumi Oshiro and Zelous Wheeler also went yard for Yomiuri while Domingo Santana hit his tenth of the season for the Swallows. The only bright moment for the Swallows was their mascot, Tsubakuro, being recognized for appearing in his 2,000th game. Link to highlights: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/game/2021006040/video/player/7819530
The National High School Baseball Championship - commonly referred to as "Summer Koshien" - begins its 104th tournament on Saturday. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_High_School_Baseball_Championship 49 schools are competing to be crowned champions of Japan. The tournament lasts for 14 days (excluding rainy days and rest days). Yahoo/SportsNavi will stream every game of the tournament and is not geoblocked. The opening ceremonies are currently going as I post this. https://sports.yahoo.co.jp/livestream/vk/hsb/games/live
Highlights: Hanshin Tigers at Hiroshima Carp A very somber moment of silence preceded the game as the 77th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima was remembered. Closer Suguru Iwazaki entered the 9th inning with his Hanshin Tigers leading 5-2 and instead of picking up his 26th save he walked away with his fourth loss of the year. It was rotten luck for Tigers starter Shintaro Fujinami who struck out seven over 6-1/3 innings while allowing two runs on a walk, five hits and two hit batsmen. Hanshin took a 1-0 lead on a Ryutaro Umeno RBI single in the second inning. Kairi Shimada and Koji Chikamoto - who each reached base three times and scored twice - singled to open the third, Teruaki Sato walked, Shimada scored on a groundout and Aderlin Rodriguez made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly that brought in Chikamoto. With two outs in the fourth, Shimada tripled, Chikamoto reached on a dead ball and Sato doubled them both home to put the Tigers up 5-0. The Carp began their comeback in the bottom half of the fourth. Ryan McBroom was hit by a pitch to open the inning and scored on a double play. Ryoma Nishikawa began the seventh inning with a single and was eventually brought home on Takayoshi Noma’s third single of the game. And then in the ninth Kaito Kozono, Tsubasa Aizawa and Takashi Uemoto each singled to start the game-winning rally with Kozono cutting the deficit to 5-3 after scoring from Uemoto's single. Alzawa and Uemoto then scored to tie the game when a bad hop got past Iwazaki, and Shogo Akiyama’s single to right saw Akiyama cross home with the sayonara run to give the Carp a memorable victory.
Shugo Maki's line drive to right field that Yuki Okabayashi nearly grabbed allowed Taiki Sekine to score the only run of the game in the ninth inning to give the Yokohama BayStars a 1-0 victory over the Chunichi Dragons in Nagoya. The result left in vain the outing of Chunichi's southpaw starter Shinnosuke Ogasawara who fanned seven while allowing four hits and no walks over eight strong innings.
Brandon Laird hit a two-run pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning (his 15th homer of the season) on a 3-0 pitch from Yoshinobu Mizukami to lift the Lotte Marines to a 2-1 win over the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions. Seibu's lone run came off the bat of Hotaka Yamakawa, a second inning blast and number 32 of the year for the Lions cleanup batter. The Orix Buffaloes beat the Nippon-Ham fighters 3-1 in Osaka but the highlight of the night was perhaps when Orix's Yutaro Sugimoto was hit with a pitch thrown by Eito Tanaka in the third inning. The two exchanged a few words as both benches emptied, and Fighters manager Tsuyoshi "Big Boss" Shinjo went and apologized to Sugimoto who couldn’t help but laugh.
Highlights: Yomiuri Giants at Yakult Swallows A seventh inning rally kick-started by Takumi Oshiro's one-out solo home run gave the Yomiuri Giants a 7-4 win and a sweep of the three-game weekend series over the Yakult Swallows. Yoshihiro Maru and Kazuma Okamoto each hit solo home runs in the first inning to give the visitors a 2-0 lead. But the very in-form Domingo Santana blasted a grand slam in the fourth inning to put the Swallows into the lead. It was Santana's 11th homer of the year and his fourth dong in four games. The Giants staged their comeback three innings later as the Swallows required three relievers to get out of the seventh inning. Following Oshiro's home run and with two runners on base, Naoki Yoshikawa hit a grounder past second base that rolled all the way to the outfield fence allowing Shingo Ishikawa and Takumi Kitamura to score. Adam Walker’s RBI single scored Yoshikawa to complete the rally. Highlights are in the following link: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/game/2021006052/video/player/7831824
Hotaka Yamakawa slugged his 33rd homer of the year - a three-run blast in a six-run fourth inning - as the Seibu Lions eased past the Lotte Marines 10-4. 25 year old Shoto Kataoka is in his rookie season with the Nippon-Ham Fighters' ichi-gun after spending the last two seasons with the farm team. Sunday was his 17th appearance in NPB, and in his 13th plate appearance he finally achieved his first professional base hit, duly celebrated by 'Big Boss' Shinjo. Kataoka would finish with two hits and two runs scored as the Fighters avoided getting swept by the Orix Buffaloes, winning 5-3.
BATTING Average .355 - Go Matsumoto (Fighters) .314 - Masataka Yoshida (Buffaloes) .299 - Hiroaki Shimauchi (Eagles) .297 - Taisei Makihara (Hawks) .295 - Hiroto Kobukata (Eagles) On-Base Percentage .429 - Masataka Yoshida (Buffaloes) .395 - Go Matsumoto (Fighters) .392 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Lions) .378 - Hiroaki Shimauchi (Eagles) .375 - Hideto Asamura (Eagles) OPS 1.044 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Lions) .932 - Masataka Yoshida (Buffaloes) .849 - Go Matsumoto (Fighters) .839 - Hiroaki Shimauchi (Eagles) .821 - Hideto Asamura (Eagles) Home Runs 33 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Lions) 18 - Hideto Asamura (Eagles) 15 - Brandon Laird (Marines) 14 - 3 players tied RBIs 69 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Lions) 60 - Hideto Asamura (Eagles) 57 - Masataka Yoshida (Buffaloes) 57 - Hiroaki Shimauchi (Eagles) 50 - Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) AVG with RISP .464 - Go Matsumoto (Fighters) .373 - Masataka Yoshida (Buffaloes) .355 - Yuma Mune (Buffaloes) .320 - Yutaro Sugimoto (Buffaloes) .319 - Hideto Asamura (Eagles) Stolen Bases 29 - Akito Takabe (Marines) 21 - Go Matsumoto (Fighters) 17 - Haruki Nishikawa (Eagles) 16 - Hiroto Kobukata (Eagles) 12 - 3 players tied PITCHING ERA 1.80 - Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Buffaloes) 2.05 - Koudai Senga (Hawks) 2.48 - Kona Takahashi (Lions) 2.59 - Kazuya Ojima (Marines) 2.72 - Naoyuki Uwasawa (Fighters) WHIP 0.97 - Takayuki Kishi (Eagles) 0.99 - Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Buffaloes) 1.015 - Koudai Senga (Hawks) 1.017 - Nao Higashihama (Hawks) 1.07 - Masahiro Tanaka (Eagles) Innings pitched 130.0 - Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Buffaloes) 119.2 - Kona Takahashi (Lions) 115.1 - Masahiro Tanaka (Eagles) 112.2 - Naoyuki Uwasawa (Fighters) 110.1 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) Strikeouts 135 - Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Buffaloes) 129 - Roki Sasaki (Marines) 115 - Koudai Senga (Hawks) 97 - Naoyuki Uwasawa (Fighters) 97 - Masahiro Tanaka (Eagles) Wins 10 - Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Buffaloes) 9 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 8 - Kaito Yoza (Lions) 8 - Koudai Senga (Hawks) 8 - Enny Romero (Marines) Holds 30 - Kaima Taira (Lions) 25 - Taiki Tojo (Marines) 23 - Yoshinobu Mizukami (Lions) 19 - Tayron Guerrero (Marines) 16 - 3 players tied Saves 25 - Yoshihisa Hirano (Buffaloes) 25 - Naoya Masuda (Marines) 22 - Tatsushi Masuda (Lions) 20 - Yuki Matsui (Eagles) 15 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks)
BATTING Average .322 - Keita Sano (BayStars) .321 - Yohei Ohshima (Dragons) .318 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .312 - Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) .300 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) On-Base Percentage .450 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .378 - Yasutaka Shiomi (Swallows) .372 - Yohei Ohshima (Dragons) .370 - Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) .367 - Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) OPS 1.156 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .867 - Keita Sano (BayStars) .865 - Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) .862 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) .859 - Yasutaka Shiomi (Swallows) Home Runs 37 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) 22 - Yusuke Ohyama (Tigers) 22 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 21 - Yoshihiro Maru (Giants) 19 - Adam Walker (Giants) RBIs 98 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) 71 - Yusuke Ohyama (Tigers) 65 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 61 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) 60 - Teruaki Sato (Tigers) AVG with RISP .353 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) .341 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .338 - Yasutaka Shiomi (Swallows) .3209 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) .3205 - Ryosuke Kikuchi (Carp) Stolen Bases 22 - Yasutaka Shiomi (Swallows) 22 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 17 - Takumu Nakano (Tigers) 15 - Naoki Yoshikawa (Giants) 14 - Kairi Shimada (Tigers) PITCHING ERA 1.38 - Koyo Aoyagi (Tigers) 2.11 - Yuki Nishi (Tigers) 2.72 - Yasuhiro Ogawa (Swallows) 2.84 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 2.87 - Shosei Togo (Giants) WHIP 0.85 - Koyo Aoyagi (Tigers) 1.01 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 1.02 - Yuki Nishi (Tigers) 1.05 - Yudai Ohno (Dragons) 1.13 - Yuya Yanagi (Dragons) Innings pitched 126.2 - Masato Morishita (Carp) 117.1 - Koyo Aoyagi (Tigers) 116.1 - Yūya Yanagi (Dragons) 116.0 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 115.1 - Yuki Nishi (Tigers) Strikeouts 100 - Keiji Takahashi (Swallows) 98 - Yūya Yanagi (Dragons) 96 - Koyo Aoyagi (Tigers) 95 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 94 - Hiroto Takahashi (Dragons) Wins 12 - Koyo Aoyagi (Tigers) 9 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 8 - 5 players tied Holds 32 - Atsuki Yuasa (Tigers) 26 - Edwin Escobar (BayStars) 25 - Hiromu Ise (BayStars) 23 - Tatsuya Shimizu (Dragons) 20 - 2 players tied Saves 27 - Scott McGough (Swallows) 26 - Taisei Ota (Giants) 25 - Suguru Iwazaki (Tigers) 23 - Raidel Martínez (Dragons) 23 - Yasuaki Yamasaki (BayStars)
Losing during Summer Koshien can be tough to accept. To lose on a sayonara hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded… 市立船橋 デッドボールでサヨナラ勝ち興南 ナイスゲーム‼️ #市立船橋 pic.twitter.com/KYPTmyLm9p— 700yard (@Ffi5a700yard111) August 8, 2022
劇的豪快弾🚀🔥🔥🔥#近藤健介 殊勲のサヨナラスリーラン‼️ソフトバンク•ワイモバイルなら追加料金なし▶️https://t.co/Ic2VzF1PlY #lovefighters pic.twitter.com/A5Xnzvxg5N— ベースボールLIVE (@baseballlive_JP) August 9, 2022 Highlights: Seibu Lions at Nippon-Ham Fighters Kensuke Kondoh hit a three-run home run off closer Tatsushi Masuda in the bottom of the ninth inning to overturn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 victory for the Nippon-Ham Fighters over Seibu Lions on Tuesday at the Sapporo Dome. It marks the first time in 24 years that a Japanese player for the Fighters has hit a come-from-behind Sayonara homer since Yukio Tanaka on 21 June 1998. Hotaka Yamakawa looked like he would be the hero for the Lions when his single to left scored Sosuke Genda from second base to give the visitors a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth. Yamakawa's RBI chased Nippon-Ham starter Hiromi Itoh from the game, the Fighters' ace allowing five hits and two walks along with the three earned runs in 8-2/3 innings. Itoh had earlier given up a two-run home run in the fifth inning to Takeya Nakamura who now sits one homer shy of from becoming just the 12th player in NPB history to hit 450 home runs. Nakamura is also one RBI away from his 1,000th RBI of his career.
Shuta Ishikawa displayed awesome dominance throughout an eight inning shutout performance in Chiba allowing just three base runners as the Softbank Hawks beat the Lotte Marines 3-0. The Yokohama BayStars took Game 1 of a key three-game series against the Hanshin Tigers to cut Hanshin's hold on second place in the Central League to half-a-game with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory. Shota Imanaga picked up the complete game win thanks Taishi Ohta's RBI single to left field that scored Hiroki Minei from third for the sayonara win.
How popular has the Fox Dance as performed by the Nippon-Ham cheerleaders become this season? As noted by the TV announcers in the above video, the song and dance has made its way to 'Summer Koshien'. The band from Sapporo Ohtani Junior & Senior High School played "What Does The Fox Say?" during its game against Nishōgakusha University. (Nishōgakusha advanced after winning 3-2 on a 9th inning sayonara base hit.) It's even made its way to the CPBL in Taiwan. The Rakuten Monkeys consulted with the Nippon-Ham Fighters who even sent them fox ears for the 'Rakuten Girls' to preform in at their games. 昨日、楽天ガールズが披露した🦊きつね🦊ダンスは非常に反響が良くて、本日も🏟️スタジアムで盛り上がりました🥰事前にファイターズに相談したところご快諾の上、キツネの耳までご提供いただきました。大変ありがとうございました🙏#きつねダンス#ファイターズ #RakutenMonkeys#RakutenGirls pic.twitter.com/CsHD842mXD— Rakuten Monkeys (@RakutenMonkeys) August 6, 2022
The first round of Summer Koshien ended today and the first game of the second round is currently underway as of this posting. Kagoshima Shogyo (Kagoshima) 1-2 Meishu Hitachi (Ibaraki) The rest of the second round will continue each day until Sunday. Live broadcast streams: https://sports.yahoo.co.jp/livestream/vk/hsb/games/live https://vk.sportsbull.jp/koshien/ I personally have had a bit of issues with the yahoo stream, few problems with the sportsbull link. The first game usually begins at 8am Japan (7pm ET / 4pm PT). Each game afterwards begins roughly 30 minutes following the conclusion of the previous game. DAY 6 - Thursday 11 August Sendai Ikuei (Miyagi) 10-0 Tottori Commercial (Tottori) Takamatsu Commercial (Kagawa) 14-4 Sakuchosei (Nagano) Meitoku Gijuku (Kochi) 1-2 Kyushu International University (Fukuoka) Shimonoseki International (Yamaguchi) 5-0 Tomishima (Miyazaki) DAY 7 - Friday 12 August Meihō (Ōita) 7-5 Ichinoseki Gakuin (Iwate) Hachinohe Gakuin Kousei (Aomori) 5-6 Aikodai Meiden (Aichi) Tsuruoka East (Yamagata) 3-8 Ohmi (Shiga) Kaisei (Nagasaki) 4-2 Tenri (Nara) DAY 8 - Saturday 13 August Arita Industrial (Saga) 3-5 Hamada (Shimane) Kyushu Gakuin (Kumamoto) 14-4 Teikyo 5 (Ehime) Chiben Wakayama (Wakayama) 3-5 Kokugakuin Tochigi (Tochigi) Tsuruga Kehi (Fukui) 8-6 Shiritsu Funabashi (Chiba) DAY 9 - Sunday 14 August Yokohama (Kanagawa) 2-3 Seiko Gakuin (Fukushima) Nishōgakusha Daifu (East Tokyo) -vs- Yashiro (Hyogo) Osaka Toin (Osaka) -vs- Seibou Gakuen (Saitama)
Highlights: Rakuten Eagles at Orix Buffaloes Last season Yoshinobu Yamamoto put up numbers in wins, ERA and strikeouts that not only won him the Pacific League's Triple Crown, his stats also led the entire NPB in those categories. It was the first time since the reorganization of Japanese baseball in 1950 that a pitcher had won the NPB Triple Crown and the first time it had been achieved in the nation's professional ranks since Hiroshi Nakao accomplished the feat in the old JPBL in 1948. No pitcher has ever achieved back-to-back Triple Crowns and Yamamoto - who has thrown a no-hit no-run game this season - is, once again, leading the Pacific League in all three stats. On Wednesday against the Rakuten Eagles, Yamamoto added to his league-leading totals in two of the three categories. In an impressive eight inning stint he allowed no runs, struck out 11 and was in line of picking up win number 11 thanks to Torai Fushimi's RBI single in the fifth inning that scored Seiichiro Ohshita to give the Orix Buffaloes a 1-0 lead. At 115 pitches Yamamoto sat out the ninth having only allowed five hits and no walks. His replacement was Buffaloes closer Yoshihisa Hirano, the P.L. leader in saves with 25. With one out Takero Okajima stepped to the plate and, you know what happens next. It was just the second home run allowed by Hirano in his 38 appearances this season. The Eagles would win it in the 10th when pinch hitter Atsuki Mutoh drew a bases-loaded walk off Jacob Waguespack forcing home Itsuki Murabayashi with the game-winning run. A tough no-decision for Yamamoto and a tough loss for the Buffaloes who are overtaken by the Eagles for third place in the P.L. standings.
Two other pitchers who have tossed no-hitters this season are Nao Higashihama of the Softbank Hawks and Roki Sasaki, the 20 year old Lotte Marines ace who threw a Perfect Game back on April 10. The two met in a pitching duel on Wednesday and it was Higashihama who came away with the victory as the Hawks beat the Marines in Chiba 4-3. Higashihama went seven innings allowing one run on four hits, two walks while striking out six. Sasaki fanned ten and walked none over six innings but gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits dropping his record to 6-3.
Sho Nakata blasted a ninth inning solo home run into the left field bleachers off Chunichi Dragons closer Raidel Martínez to give the Yomiuri Giants a 2-1 victory at the Vantelin Dome in Nagoya. Haruhiro Hamaguchi pitched eight strong innings allowing just three hits and a walk with eight strikeouts but needed run support in the bottom of the eighth to break open a scoreless game to earn the victory in a 3-0 win over the Hanshin Tigers. Yasuaki Yamasaki struggled a bit in the ninth but picked up his 24th save as the Yokohama BayStars vault over the Tigers into second place in the Central League.
Highlights: Seibu Lions at Nippon-Ham Fighters A two-out RBI single into left field by veteran catcher Yushi Shimizu scored pinch-runner Takuya Nakashima to give thew Nippon-Ham Fighters a 10 inning 3-2 walk-off victory over the first-place Seibu Lions on Thursday. Shimizu said in his Hero interview that it was the first sayonara hit he ever achieved in his life. The hit came off the 112th pitch thrown from Seibu starter Wataru Matsumoto, who allowed five hits and two walks in his 9-2/3 innings of work. He also struck out seven. The Lions opened the scoring in the first inning when Tomoya Mori drove Sosuke Genda home from second base with an opposite field double to right. The Fighters took the lead in the fifth when Yuki Nomura tripled and scored on Yuma Imagawa's ninth home run of the year. Brian O'Grady doubled with one out in the seventh and scored on Shuta Tonosaki's sharp single to left to knot the score at 2-2. Neither team threatened until Nomura doubled with one out in the 10th. Imagawa was intentionally walked with two outs to set up Shimizu's game winner.