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08/15/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Saito Wins 14th Straight: Sheets Burns Swallows"
Hanshin Wins Second in a Row 3-2 Over Yokohama
Yokohama Bay Stars centerfielder Tatsuhiko Kinjo became the first player in team history to slug homers from each side of the plate Wednesday at Sappro Dome, but a two run double by Hanshin third baseman Atsushi Kataoka, inserted into the cleanup spot for this game, in the sixth inning enabled the Tigers to go back to the hotel with the W in pocket in a 3-2 victory. The Osaka favorite sons have now won two in a row after dropping four consecutively.
Starters Domingo Guzman for the Stars and Keiichi Yabu for Hanshin were hooked up in a dandy until the third, when shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto opened the inning by beating out a roller toward second and went to second on a sac bunt. Second baseman Makoto Imaoka continues to be clutch, as he redeemed Fujimoto with a single to left to make it 1-0.
However, Kinjo evened it in the fourth, leading off batting lefthanded and belting a 90mph fastball into the rightfield seats to make it 1-1.
Yabu gave himself a thrill in the fifth, as Yokohama second baseman Hitoshi Taneda singled to right with one down and, one out later, catcher Ryoji Aikawa laid down a bunt. Yabu picked the ball up and threw it down the rightfield line. Taneda didn't break stride and rounded third and headed to the plate. But rightfielder Taichiro Kamisaka, backing the play up, hustled to the ball and threw a strike to first baseman George Arias, who winged it to catcher Toshihiro Noguchi and Taneda was dead meat. By the way, Aikawa was credited with a hit. Go figure.
Hanshin then organized its winning rally in the sixth, as Imaoka and centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi both singled to right. One out later, Kataoka hooked a 91mph 3-2 fastball into the rightfield corner and Imaoka and the speedster Akahoshi were off to the races, each scoring without a play and the Tigers were on top 3-1.
Hanshin had another chance to put a run on the board in the eighth, as Imaoka doubled to right and was sacrificed to third. Leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto walked. But Kataoka popped out to short and Arias fanned to put that uprising to rest.
Lefthander Jeff Williams was summoned from the pen to close it out. Kinjo was the first hitter up and, from the righthand side, lifted a long fly ball to deep left. Kinjo didn't think it would get out, but it made it into the first couple of rows for his fourth hit and a bit of history to reduce his side's deficit to 3-2. Williams then put the boot in and blew away the following two men and induced a groundout from slumping Tyrone Woods to turn out the lights.
Hanshin has now won 19 games against the Stars this season, the first time in nine years it has so victimized that squad. The team record for mastering an opposing nine is 21, which they did against Yakult in 1970. Furthermore, with the win, the Tigers' magic number is 24.
Imaoka was 3-4 in this game to raise his average to .362.
Kinjo is a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year, as, after two disastrous previous campaigns that saw his average sink beneath .200, his 4-4 night elevated that mark to .322. He has struckout just 40 times in 427 total plate appearances. He still needs to work on his walks, since he has walked only 25 times and has merely an okay OBP of .363.
For Hanshin, Arias was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .251.
For Yokohama, Woods, who is now zero for his last eight with five strikeouts, went 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .246.
Pitching Lines:
Hanshin:
Yabu (W, 8-2) IP 6.0 BF 21 PC 81 H 5 HR 1 K 6 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.69
Riggan IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 31 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.57
Williams (S, 22) IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 16 H 1 HR 1 K 2 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 1.51
Yokohama:
Guzman (L, 4-10) IP 6.0 BF 24 PC 99 H 6 HR 0 K 5 BB 0 R 3 ER 3 ERA 5.12
H. Yamada IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 16 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.35
Takeshita IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 9 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.79
Tomori IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.73
Tazaki IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 13 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.57
E: Yabu
2B: Kataoka, Kinjo, Imaoka
HR: Kinjo 2 (11)
RBI: Kinjo 2, Imaoka, Kataoka 2
WP: Guzman
GIDP: T.N. Suzuki (4-6-3)
LOB: Hanshin 5, Yokohama 2
Season Series: Hanshin 19, Yokohama 3
Game Time: 2:50
Attendance: 37,000
Umpires: K. Kobayashi (HP), Tomoyose (1B), Suginaga (2B), Nishimoto (3B)
Saito Reaches Sweet Sixteen and Johjima 25 to Sink Lotte 7-0
Kazumi Saito, whose career had been hindered by injury, tossed his first ever shutout Wednesday at Fukuoka Dome, blanking the Chiba Lotte Marines on ten hits for a new Daiei team season record 16th victory 7-0. Catcher Kenji Johjima smacked his 25th homer, a three run clout, in support of his batterymate.
The Hawks obtained the only tally they would need in the first, as centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu singled to right and stole second. Third baseman Munenori Kawasaki singled to left and just like that, it was 1-0.
Lotte endeavored to return serve in the second when first baseman Kazuya Fukuura singled to center, but third baseman Rick Short bounced into a 4-6-3 double play. However, catcher Tomoya Satozaki and former number one draft choice Takashi Kita each singled to right to get the threat percolating again. Unfortunately, second baseman Kazuya Harai grounded to second to extinguish the revolt.
In the third, Daiei settled into the driver's seat when Kawasaki walked with one out and second baseman Tadahito Iguchi singled to center. First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka singled to right to usher Kawasaki in. Johjima mortared a pitch from Lotte starter Hiroyuki Kobayashi deep into the leftfield bleachers and it was 5-0 birds of prey.
Next time up, the Hawks posted another pair, as rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara singled to right and, one out later, Muramatsu cannonaded one off of the rightfield wall for a double. One out later, Iguchi singled to left to plate both runners and Saito could just focus on throwing strikes at 7-0.
In the sixth, Saito hit a batter and permitted a single to center by Fukuura, but struckout the side around those moments of unpleasantness to extricate himself from the inning.
Lotte made some noise in the seventh but couldn't turn it into anything. With two outs, leftfielder Jun Inoue steamed a double down the leftfield line. Shortstop Makoto Kosaka singled to left. Rightfielder Saburo Omura walked and the sacks were packed. But DH Jose Fernandez, who could have gotten his team back in this game, grounded to second to snuff that fire out.
Now in the ninth and having thrown more than 140 pitches, Inoue checked in and Johjima asked for a forkball. Saito shook him off and it almost cost him the shutout, as Inoue rocketed it high off the 18 foot wall in left for a double. Saito went back to the splitter against Kosaka and fanned him for his 14th straight triumph, tying him with teammate Shinohara's same 1999 feat.
Daiei is now a season high 24 games over .500. This was also Oh's 600th victory as the clubs field boss. His total record with the side stands at 600-564-17.
If Saito, who was the first player that manager Sadaharu Oh drafted when he took over the Hawks in 1995, can win 20 games this season, he will be the first to attain that since Hankyu's Yoshinori Sato in 1985. The record for most consecutive wins by a pitcher is 20, which was pulled off by Nankai hall of famer Kazuhisa Inao.in 1957.
While Saito's 16 wins is the most since the ballclub was handed over to Daiei, when they were owned by Nankai, Inao racked up 42 in 1961.
For Lotte, Short was 0-4 and is at .271. Fernandez was 0-4 with three strikeouts and is at .263.
For Daiei, leftfielder Pedro Valdes was 0-3 with a walk and is at .301. DH Julio Zuleta was 0-3 and is at .295.
Pitching Lines:
Lotte:
H.Y Kobayashi (L, 4-9) IP 3.2 BF 21 PC 78 H 8 HR 1 K 3 BB 2 R 7 ER 7 ERA 3.56
T.H. Hashimoto IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.35
Yabuta IP 1.1 BF 5 PC 28 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.49
T. Inoue IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 16 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.91
S. Fujita IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.48
Daiei:
K. Saito (W, 16-2) IP 9.0 BF 38 PC 151 H 10 HR 0 K 11 BB 2 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.49
SB: Muramatsu, M. Kawasaki 2, Iguchi
2B: S. Omura, Muramatsu, J. Inoue 2
HR: Johjima (25)
RBI: M. Kawasaki, Iguchi 2, Matsunaka, Johjima 3
WP: H.Y. Kobayashi
HBP: S. Omura (K. Saito), Torigoe (S. Fujita)
Balk: H.Y. Kobayashi
GIDP: Short (6-4-3), Muramatsu (6-4-3)
LOB: Lotte 11, Daiei 6
Season Series: Lotte 5, Daiei 14
Game Time: 3:14
Attendance: 48,000
Umpires: Tamba (HP), Nagami (1B), Kodera (2B), Higashi (3B)
Buffaloes Stumble on Five Run Seibu Fifth in 8-5 Defeat
The Seibu Lions were down 4-2 in the fifth when they used three extra base hits and exploited Ken Kadokura's control going south to come up with five runs to cook the Buffaloes 8-5. Mitsutaka Goto was credited with the victory despite surrendering four runs on five hits in 6.1 innings to even his record at 7-7.
The Lions pulled ahead in the first, as centerfielder Tatsuya Ozeki singled to center with one away and leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada walked. First baseman Alex Cabrera singled to center, Ozeki holding at third, to load the bases. One out later, rightfielder Hiroyuki Oshima, who has been contributing big lately, torched a forkball down and away for a double into the leftfield corner to bring in Ozeki and Wada for a 2-0 Seibu advantage.
Kintetsu made a comback in the second, when Osamu Hoshino, subbing for the injured Norihiro Nakamura, bashed a Goto delivery into the rightfield bleachers with rightfielder Koichi Isobe, who had reached on a walk, aboard and it was 2-2.
The Buffs then brought out the heavy artillery in the fourth, when DH Hirotoshi Kitagawa lambasted one into the leftfield seats and leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes jackhammered one into the rightcenterfield stands to make it 4-2 Kintetsu.
The Lions didn't get down, but instead GOT DOWN in the fifth. Rookie third baseman Hiroyuki Nakajima powdered a slider into the leftcenterfield stands. One out later, second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi walked. Shortstop Kazuo Matsui singled to left. Ozeki, just back from the minors after a long slump, tripled up the rightcenterfield gap for two RBIs. Wada fileted one down the leftfield line and Ozeki trotted in. Cabrera was intentionally walked. Kadokura plunked pinch hitter Taketoshi Goto to load the bases. Scott McClain, pinch hitting for Oshima, singled sharply to left and Wada and Cabrera made a beeline for the dish to open a 7-4 Seibu lead.
In the seventh, Cabrera got a first pitch forkball about knee high and on the outer half of the plate and, Juan Gonzalez style, reached out for it and hooked it into the leftfield bleachers to widen it to 8-4 Lions.
Reliever Shinji Mori and and closer Kiyoshi Toyoda took it from there, scattering two hits over the final two innings to preserve it for Goto.
Nakajima is 8-20 with three homers since being called up from the minors August 3rd.
For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 1-4 with an RBI and is at .274.
For Seibu, Cabrera was 2-3 with a walk and an RBI and is at .326. McClain was 1-1 with an RBI and is at .235.
Pitching Lines:
Kintetsu:
Kadokura (L, 5-2) IP 4.1 BF 23 PC 97 H 7 HR 1 K 6 BB 4 R 7 ER 7 ERA 3.72
H. Koike IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 10 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.08
Arime IP 2.0 BF 7 PC 25 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 9.00
Fujisaki IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 13 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
Seibu:
M.Goto (W, 7-7) IP 6.1 BF 26 PC 108 H 5 HR 3 K 3 BB 2 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.79
S. Mori IP 1.2 BF 5 PC 13 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.19
Toyoda IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 19 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.40
2B: H.Y. Oshima, K. Wada, Yoshioka, Isobe
3B: Ozeki
HR: O. Hoshino (11), Kitagawa (12), Rhodes (38), H.Y. Nakajima (3), Cabrera (37)
RBI: Kitagawa, Rhodes, O. Hoshino, Ozeki 2, K. Wada, Cabrera, H.Y. Oshima 2,
McClain, H.Y. Nakajima
IBB: Cabrera (Kadokura)
HBP: T.T. Goto (Kadokura)
GIDP: Masuda (4-6-3), T. Itoh (6-4-3)
LOB: Kintetsu 5, Seibu 4
Season Series: Kintetsu 12, Seibu 11
Game Time: 3:17
Attendance: 36,000
Umpires: Nakamura (HP), Sakaemura (1B), Kakigizono (2B), Yanagita (3B)
Tanishige Three Run Homer Topples Giants 5-2
Chunichi Dragons catcher Motonobu Tanishige jacked a three run homer in the eighth off of Yomiuri Giants reliever Yuya Kubo and then second baseman Masahiro Araki piggybacked on that with a solo roundtripper to dissolve a two all tie and give the Nagoya crew a 5-2 victory. Chunichi starter Masahiro Yamamoto won his third game of the season against the kyojin and his 30th altogether to raise his record to 6-4.
Kimiyasu Kudoh started for Yomiuri and was solid, allowing a run on seven hits over seven to get a no decision.
Chunichi were able to grab an edge in the first, as rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome worked a walk and blazed home on a double to leftcenter by third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami to make it 1-0.
Yomiuri responded immediately, as first baseman Akira Etoh propelled a Yamamoto offering beyond the leftfield wall to even it at 1-1. One out later, rightfielder Chris Latham doubled to leftcenter and Yamamoto intentionally walked third baseman Kenji Fukui to get at Kudoh, who temrinated the inning by striking out.
Chunichi squandered a two on, one out and two out bases loaded chance in the third and then saw Kudoh hit his stride thereafter. Yamamoto was also piling up outs and there was no further significant action until Kudoh ceded the ball to reliever Yukinaga Maeda in the eighth, who got two outs, and then Kubo. The first hitter Kubo faced was first baseman Omar Linares, who singled to right. Centerfielder Alex Ochoa drilled a shot off the centerfield wall for a double. Tanishige was next and got a low fastball and launched it into the centerfield stands. Kubo then left a ball up and out over the plate to Araki and he put it in the leftfield bleachers to make it 5-2 Dragons.
Kazuhiro Kiyohara was assigned pinch hitting duty to open the ninth and he said hi to the folks in the leftfield seats and Yamamoto was yanked in favor of Hitoki Iwase. Iwase was touched for a pair of hits, but he also struckout two and induced a pinch hit popout from Yoshinobu Takahashi to save it for Yamamoto.
How dominant has Yamamoto been against his Tokyo rivals in 2003? How about a 0.79 ERA. Another case of horses for courses. He is third all time among Dragons hurlers in Giant killing, number one being Shigeru Sugishita with 38 and Senichi Hoshino with 35.
The dinger was Kiyohara's first since July 22nd.
Giants shot caller Tatsunori Hara believes that Kubo, who has bounced between starting and relief roles during his first CL campaign, may have lost his focus and that is why he is leaving balls up and getting too much of the plate.
For Chunichi, Ochoa was 1-4 and is at .275. Linares was 1-4 with three strikeouts and is at .259.
For Yomiuri, Latham was 2-4 and is finally above the Mendoza Line at .208. Leftfielder Roberto Petagine was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .288.
Pitching Lines:
Yomiuri:
Kudoh IP 7.0 BF 29 PC 124 H 7 HR 0 K 5 BB 2 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.87
Y. Maeda IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.78
Kubo (L, 4-4) IP 0.1 BF 5 PC 19 H 4 HR 2 K 1 BB 0 R 4 ER 4 ERA 4.34
Chunichi:
M. Yamamoto (W, 6-4)IP 8.0 BF 30 PC 112 H 5 HR 2 K 7 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.12
Iwase (S, 3) IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 15 H 2 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.26
SB: Tanishige
2B: Tatsunami, Latham 2, Ochoa
HR: Eto (14), Tanishige (10), Araki (3), Kiyohara (16)
RBI: Kiyohara, Etoh, Tatsunami, Tanishige 3, Araki
IBB: Fukui (M. Yamamoto)
LOB: Yomiuri 6, Chunichi 7
Season Series: Yomiuri 10, Chunichi 12
Game Time: 3:26
Attendance: 40,500
Umpires: Sasaki (HP), Nako (1B), Honda (2B), Uemoto (3B)
Orix' Pitching Bullied Again 10-4
Nippon Ham first baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto displayed exactly what a big fly was in culling three RBIs Wednesday at Tokyo Dome while red hot DH Kazuteru Shimada and pinch hitter Yoshinori Ueda each drove in two runners to steamroller the Orix Blue Wave 10-4. Orix leftfielder Roosevelt Brown homered for the Kobe side.
First baseman Kazuhiko Shiotani leadoff the game with a bomb into the rightcenterfield stands for a lightning 1-0 Orix lead.
Nippon Ham's rally in the bottom of the inning fizzled due to a double play ball, but Orix got something out of similar circumstances in the second. With one out, rightfielder Ryutaro Tsuji was hit by a pitch. One out later, shortstop Mitsutaka Goto singled Tsuji in to make it 2-0 Orix.
The Blue Wave doubled that in the third when centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani walked and Brown connected for his 22n homer, which left to rightcenter, to enhance that advantage to 4-0.
In the fifth, Orix had men on second and third with one away, but reliever Naoyuki Tateishi, substituting for starter Hiroyuki Sekine, whiffed the next two hitters to neutralize that problem.
Orix starter Hiroshi Kobayashi then fell apart in the sixth to allow the Fighters back in it, as rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi walked and, one out later, leftfielder Angel Echevarria singled to right. Kimoto singled to right to redeem Tsuboi, Echevarria reaching third on the play. Kobayashi unleashed a wild pitch and Echevarria hustled in. Shimada singled to center to plate Kimoto. One out later, centerfielder Tsutomu Ishimoto walked. Ueda whistled one up the rightcenter alley to make it 5-4 Fighters. It was only then that manager Leon Lee went to the bullpen for Kazuya Motoyanagi, who struckout Tsuboi to prevent any further home invasions.
Orix had a prospective uprising sabotaged by a twin killing in the seventh, Nippon Ham third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara must have believed that called for more insurance, as he opened the bottom of the frame with a tour of the leftfield bleachers. Echevarria rammed a shot down the leftfield line for two bases. Kimoto singled to right. Shimada grounded to Goto, who, in aiming to hastily go to the plate, dropped it for an error as Echevarria crossed. The runners were advanced by a sac bunt. Ishimoto walked to load the bases. Catcher Shinji Takahashi singled to right to drive in Kimoto and it was 8-4 Nippon Ham.
In the eighth, Ogasawara beat out an infield hit. Echevarria forced him out on a grounder to second. Hichori Morimoto was sent to pinch run for Echevarria. Kimoto then obliterated a Satoshi Tokumoto delivery, crashing it off of a billboard above the upper deck 482 feet away in rightcenter, the longest jack of his career, for the final margin of victory 10-4.
For Orix, Brown was 1-4 with two RBIs and is at .330. Second baseman Jose Ortiz was 2-3 with a walk and is at .242.
For Nippon Ham, Echevarria was 2-5 and is at .247.
Pitching Lines:
Orix:
Kobayashi (L, 1-6)IP 5.2 BF 27 PC 112 H 6 HR 0 K 2 BB 5 R 5 ER 3 ERA 6.00
Motoyanagi IP 0.1 BF 5 PC 18 H 3 HR 1 K 1 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 6.81
H. Ogura IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 23 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.97
Tokumoto IP 1.0 BF 6 PC 30 H 2 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 6.34
Nippon Ham:
Iwamoto IP 3.1 BF 18 PC 61 H 6 HR 2 K 4 BB 3 R 4 ER 4 ERA 6.75
Tateishi IP 1.2 BF 7 PC 31 H 1 HR 0 K 3 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.54
Sekine (W, 5-4) IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 27 H 2 HR 0 K 2 BB 3 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.27
A. Shimizu IP 0.2 BF 1 PC 1 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.84
Date IP 1.1 BF 5 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.67
Tateyama IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.52
2B: Furuki, Tsuboi, Miwa, Ortiz, Y. Ueda, Echevarria
HR: Shiotani (7), Brown (22), M. Ogasawara (24), Kimoto (7)
RBI: Shiotani, Brown 2, Goto, M. Ogasawara, Kimoto 3, K. Shimada 2, Y. Ueda 2, S.
Takahashi
WP: Tateishi, H. Kobayashi
HBP: Tsuboi (H. Kobayashi), R. Tsuji (Iwamoto)
GIDP: Echevarria (5-4-3), T. Yamasaki (4-6-3), Brown (4-6-3)
LOB: Orix 8, Nippon Ham 10
Season Series: Orix 8, Nippon Ham 11 2 Ties
Game Time: 3:42
Attendance: 19,000
Umpires: Shinya (HP), Maeda (1B), Tsugawa (2B), Akimura (3B)
Sheets Homer Ties it in Ninth and Carp Takes it in 12
Hiroshima Carp shortstop Andy Sheets tied up the game with a two out, two run homer in the top of the ninth inning Wednesday at Meiji Jingu Stadium off of Yakult Swallows closer Shingo Takatsu to setup an eventual 12 inning victory 5-3. Toshikazu Sawazaki earned his fourth win while reliever Tatsuki Yamamoto accepted his second kuroboshi.
Rookie Yuhei Takai started for Yakult and was phenomenal, going seven innings of two hit, one run ball on just 83 pitches. However, Takai began complaining of back pain in the fifth and ultimatley had to be removed when it worsened.
Ken Takahashi begin things on the mound for Hiroshima, matching Takai goose egg for goose egg before being taken over the wall by catcher Atsuya Furuta to commence the fifth and the very next man, first baseman Todd Betts, who expressed himself with a shot into the rightcenterfield stands to make it 2-0. One out later, centerfielder Tetsuya Iida made it to first on an infield hit and was sacrificed to second. Third baseman Akinori Iwamura singled to right to show Iida in for a 3-0 lead.
It stayed that way until the seventh, when Carp centerfielder Koichi Ogata wacked a Takai pitch into the leftfield bleachers to get within 3-1.
Takatsu seemed to have his sinker working when he struckout second baseman Takuya Kimura and got pinch hitter Akihiro Higashide to ground to second. But Ogata singled to right to bring up Sheets, who put good wood on an 86mph fastball down and over the middle of the plate and transgressed the friendly confines in left to gridlock it at three apiece. Takatsu told reporters after the game that he was trying to spot it on the outside corner, but missed.
Then in the 12th, pinch hitter Itsuki Asai singled to center and went to second on a sac bunt. Catcher Kazuyoshi Kimura outran a dribbler toward short. Pinch hitter Jun Hirose singled to right with the first Carp lead of the night 4-3. Takuya Kimura singled to left to load the bases. Hiroshima helmsman Koji Yamamoto ordered up a squeeze and pinch hitter Shuji Nishiyama laid it down to plate Kimura and make it 5-3. Closer Katsuhiro Nagakawa worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the stanza and that was all she wrote.
For Hiroshima, Sheets, who has homered in four straight, went 1-5 with two RBIs and is at .330.
For Yakult, leftfielder Alex Ramirez was 0-5 with two strikeouts and is at .334. Betts was 1-4 with a walk, an RBI and two strikeouts and is at .298.
Pitching Lines:
Hiroshima:
K. Takahashi IP 7.0 BF 27 PC 88 H 5 HR 2 K 7 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.45
Nishikawa IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 1 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.95
Oyamada IP 1.2 BF 7 PC 27 H 2 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.43
Sawazaki (W, 4-1) IP 2.0 BF 7 PC 21 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.21
Nagakawa (S, 20) IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.15
Yakult:
Takai IP 7.0 BF 23 PC 83 H 2 HR 1 K 5 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.09
H. Ishii IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 22 H 1 HR 0 K 3 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.86
Takatsu IP 1.0 BF 7 PC 25 H 3 HR 1 K 1 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.14
H. Sato IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.29
Ryo. Igarashi IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 15 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.09
Tatsuki Yamamoto (L, 1-2) IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 3 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.61
Kawabata IP 0.0 BF 3 PC 15 H 3 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.92
Yamabe IP 0.2 BF 2 PC 9 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.25
SB: Fukuchi, Okagami
HR: Furuta (17), Betts (14), Ogata (19), Sheets (19)
RBI: Nishiyama, Ogata, Sheets 2, J. Hirose, Iwamura, Furuta, Betts
Balk: Oyamada
GIDP: T. Kimura (6-4-3)
LOB: Hiroshima 7, Yakult 6
Season Series: Hiroshima 8, Yakult 9 1 Tie
Game Time: 3:52
Attendance: 22,000
Umpires: Shikita (HP), Watada (1B), Manabe (2B), T. Kobayashi (3B)
Team Reports
Orix Outfield coach Nobutoshi Shimada has been reprimanded and fined $250 by the Pacific League office for what he said to first basem umpire Akimura that caused him to be ejected.
In the News
Matsui Settles in to MLB
See story at: Sporting News Article
Japanese Prospects: Who's Next?
See story at: Toronto Star Article
Pierce County, Kita-Kyushu Teams Split Twin Bill
See story at: Tacoma Tribune Article
Japanese, Koreans Prosper in Baseball, Filipinos Groping for Their Sports Niche
See story at: Sun-Star Article
Today's Pictures
Cabrera Reaches Out and Crushes Something
Tuffy Rhodes Shows the Meaning of Long Gone
