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08/22/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Bad Defense, No Offense Spoils Strong Kubota Outing as Team Courts Toritani"
Kubota Four Hits Dragons---and Loses
Hanshin Tigers rookie Tomoyuki Kubota surrendered just four hits to the Chunichi Dragoins Tuesday at Osaka before an overflow house in seven innings, but the Nagoya outfit benefitted from two mental lapses by shortsto Atsushi Fujimoto and bunched those knocks at the right time to back a strong six hit, one run effort by Masafumi Hirai over his 7.2 innings, his longest stint of the year, in a 4-1 Dragons victory.
Katsumi Hirosawa, penciled in at first while George Arias subs for the injured Atsushi Kataoka at first, gave the Tigers a short lived lead when he hammered a Hirai delivery into the centerfield bleachers to make it 1-0.
Kubota was sailing along until the fourth, when he walked Koichi Sekikawa and Fukudome blooped one over the head of Hirosawa for a lucky double. Third baseman Kazuyoshi Tatsunami lifted a sacrifice fly to left and it was a dead heat at 1-1.
Then in the fifth, Hanshin's defense went to hell and the Dragons benefited. Centerfielder Alex Ochoa leadoff with a ground ball to Arias, who booted it. Catcher Motonobu Tanishige singled to left. With second baseman Masahiro Araki at the plate, Hanshin catcher Toshihiro Noguchi tried to pick Ochoa off at second and instead threw it into centerfield and the runners moved up 90 feet. The infield was brought up and Araki bounced it right to Fujimoto. He could have gone to the plate or to third, where he would have had Tanishige dead to rights, but inexplicably went to first and it was 2-1 Chunichi. Kubota then struckout Hirai and, after walking shortstop Hirokazu Ibata, induced a grounder from Sekikawa to prevent any further damage.
Fujimoto attempted to redeem himself in the bottom of the frame by ripping a triple off the rightfield wall, but he then had to hold on a sharp ground ball to second by Kubota. Second baseman Makoto Imaoka, who couldn't buy a hit right now if they were selling them on street corners, flamed a line drive to right. Fujimoto drifted off the bag and then, seeing that rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome was going to catch it hurried back to the base, tagged up, and made for the plate. Fukudome, who lead the CL in outfield assists in 2002, shotgunned a missile right to Tanishige, who had time enough to get himself a ballpark bento before coming back and applying the tag on Fujimoto. Why the heck was this guy running on Fukudome, much less on a liner where he was able to charge the ball? Sheesh!
In the sixth, Fukudome singled to center to kick off another rally. Tatsunami walked. First baseman Omar Linares pounded one off the leftfield wall and Fukudome blazed across. One out later, Tanishige grounded to second to recall Tatsunami to widen it to 4-1 Dragons. Hanshin could only muster a double in the eighth and a single in the ninth the rest of the way and that was your ballgame.
Hanshin is now 3-7 in its last ten games. Yet, its magic number actually went down to 21.
For Hanshin, Arias was 0-4 and is at .240.
For Chunichi, Linares was 1-3 with an RBI and is at .254. Ochoa was 0-4 and is at .277.
Pitching Lines:
Chunichi:
M. Hirai (W, 7-4) IP 7.2 BF 28 PC 81 H 6 HR 1 K 3 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.39
Iwase (S, 4) IP 1.1 BF 4 PC 14 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 1.15
Hanshin:
Kubota (L, 4-4) IP 7.0 BF 29 PC 113 H 4 HR 0 K 8 BB 3 R 4 ER 4 ERA 3.29
Yoshino IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 16 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.77
Ishige IP 1.1 BF 3 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.00
E: Arias, T. Noguchi
2B: Fukudome, T. Noguchi, Linares, A. Yano
3B: Fujimoto
HR: Hirosawa (1)
RBI: Hirosawa, Tatsunami, Linares, Tanishige, M. Araki
SF: Tatsunami
GIDP: Hirosawa (4-6-3)
LOB: Chunichi 4, Hanshin 4
Season Series: Chunichi 9, Hanshin 13
Game Time: 2:45
Attendance: 48,000
Umpires: Ino (HP), Suginaga (1B), Manabe (2B), Watamari (3B)
Yamasaki Slugs 200th to End Orix Slide
Orix ended a six game losing streak thanks to DH Takeshi Yamasaki's recent homer tear that allowed him to rack up the 200th longball of his career in this one to support starter Hiroshi Kobayashi, who had one of his best games of the year, in a 6-2 victory Tuesday at Fukuoka Dome. Shinji Kurano made his first start of the year and didn't too badly, permitting two runs on four hits in five innings, but the bullpen and his offense let him down and he didn't earn a decision.
Daiei pulled in front in the first when centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu hit a little ground ball up the first base line. First baseman Kazuhiko Shiotani gloved it and threw it past second baseman Jose Ortiz, who was covering first on the play, and Muramatsu was credited with a hit and went to second on the error. He went to third on a groundout and then scored on a fly ball to right by second baseman Tadahito Iguchi for a 1-0 lead.
However, in the second, Ortiz walked and Yamasaki belted one into the leftfield stands to put the Blue Wave up 2-1.
Daiei evened it in the third, as rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara outran a grounder toward second and stole second. Third baseman Mitsuru Honma walked. One out later, shortstop Munenori Kawasaki grounded out to short for a force play at second and Shibahara moved to third. Kobayashi struck Iguchi with a pitch to load the bases. Leftfielder Pedro Valdes walked to force in the tying run. Catcher Kenji Johjima now had a chance to do some real major damage to Kobayashi, but he grounded to short and, aside from one other minor threat, that was the last time that the Hawks would make significant trouble for the Orix staff.
Hirokazu Watanabe jogged in from the pen to begin the sixth for Daiei and Orix teed off. Third baseman Koichi Oshima walked and Centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani rammed breaking ball down the zone up the middle for his 1000th lifetime hit. Leftfielder Roosevelt Brown lined a double up the leftcenter alley and both Oshima and Tani sprinted around to make it 4-2. Brown was sacrificed to third. Yamasaki flied out to left and Brown tagged up and crossed. Tatsuya Shindo, who was sent up to pinch hit for
rightfielder Kota Soejima, then went yard to left and it was 6-2 Orix. Shindo, who was once with Yokohama, has now homered in all 11 pro ballparks.
The remainder of the game was a snooze and that was that.
Fukuoka is the hometown of Tani's fiance, olympic judo gold medalist Ryoko "Yawara" Tamura, so the angle that the Japanese press took on his milestone knock was that it was a fitting tribute to her. Yeah, makes me want to gag, too. Tani is the 214th player to 1000 safeties. His first hit was against Lotte on 5/25/1997.
For Daiei, Valdes was 1-3 with a walk and an RBI and is at .307. DH Julio Zuleta was 0-4 and is at .279.
For Orix, Brown was 1-3 with a walk and two RBIs and is at .325. Ortiz was 0-0 with a walk and is at .249. I have no idea why he was taken out of the game, though one would suspect he hurt himself.
Pitching Lines:
Orix:
H. Kobayashi (W, 2-6) IP 7.0 BF 30 PC 129 H 5 HR 0 K 6 BB 3 R 2 ER 1 ERA 5.37
H. Ogura IP 2.0 BF 6 PC 25 H 0 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 5.02
Daiei:
Kurano IP 5.0 BF 19 PC 89 H 4 HR 1 K 1 BB 3 R 2 ER 2 ERA 3.60
H.K. Watanabe (L, 0-1) IP 1.0 BF 7 PC 22 H 3 HR 1 K 0 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 4.50
M. Sato IP 3.0 BF 9 PC 39 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.43
E: Shiotani
SB: Tani, Shibahara
2B: Brown, Hirano
HR: T. Yamasaki (15), Shindo (5)
RBI: Brown 2, T. Yamasaki 3, Shindo, Iguchi, P. Valdes
SF: Iguchi, T. Yamasaki
HBP: Iguchi (H. Kobayashi), Shibahara (H. Kobayashi)
GIDP: M.T. Goto (4-6-3)
LOB: Orix 2, Daiei 7
Season Series: Orix 9, Daiei 13
Game Time: 3:25
Attendance: 48,000
Umpires: Tamba (HP), Yamamura (1B), Kakigizono (2B), Hayashi (3B)
Goto Three Run Homer Starts Winning Seibu Comeback 6-3
Seibu Lions rookie Taketoshi Goto unloaded a pinch hit three run homer in the seventh to bring his team from a 2-0 deficit and they picked up one in the eighth and another pair in the ninth to prevail 6-3 over the Chiba Lotte Marines Tuesday at Sendai Miyagi Stadium in a misty rain. Kiyoshi Toyoda then closed it out in the ninth for his 30th save and to reduce his ERA to a ridiculous 0.44.
Hiroyuki Kobayashi accepted another tough loss after being very solid for six innings before being taken deep by Goto. He has now suffered four stright defeats.
Hsu Ming-chieh started for Seibu and is just trying to keep a grip on a roster spot right now since he has been a huge disappointment the last two seasons. He fashioned 6.1 innings of two run ball on seven hits to seize his third triumph of 2003.
Up through the fifth, the closest anyone had come to putting a run across was when Lotte second baseman Koichi Hori singled to center leading off the fifth and went to second on a sac bunt. But catcher Tomoya Satozaki grounded to third and third baseman Toshiaki Imae struckout to put the kabosh on that.
But Lotte then broke through in the sixth, as leftfielder Akira Otsuka singled to left with one out and centerfielder Jun Inoue walked. They both moved up on a groundout to first and DH Jose Fernandez cashed them in with a single to left for a 2-0 advantage.
Kobayashi, though, coughed up a leadoff single to to left to first baseman Alex Cabrera and, one out later, a single to the same vicinity by pinch hitter Hiroyuki Nakajima. One out later, Kobayashi tried to spot a fastball up and in to Goto, but left it out over the plate and it was crushed crushed down near the leftfield corner and into a gap between the outfield and infield seats for his third pinch hit jack of the campaign to put the Lions ahead 3-2.
Lotte put two men on in the seventh on a single to left by rightfielder Takashi Kita and, following a sacrifice, a walk to backup third baseman Rick Short. Unfortunately, Kosaka flew out to center and Otsuka went down on strikes to waste that opportunity.
Seibu came up in the eighth and, with two outs, saw leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada walk and centerfielder Fumikazu Takanami torque one into the leftfield corner, Wada rumbling all the way in from first, to make it 4-2.
Inoue quickly responded by abusing a Shinji Mori offering and depositing it in the rightcenterfield seats to tighten it up to 4-3, but that would also be Lotte's final hit.
Lotte reliever Hiroshi Tobe nailed Nakajima with a pitch to open the ninth. Following a sacrifice, Goto and second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi both walked to jam the basepaths. Shortstop Kazuo Matsui flied out to center for a sac fly and rightfielder Tatsuya Ozeki singled to left to plate Goto and it was 6-3 Lions. Toyoda then needed only eight pitches to cinch the win.
Seibu's offense appeared to be somewhat sluggish at the outset and that is perhaps understandable, as their bus got stuck in a traffic jam and the start of the game was delayed by 15 minutes as a result.
Got has done well in pinch hit chances, as he is 9-27, a .333 clip.
For Lotte, Fernandez was 1-4 with two RBIs and two strikeouts and is at .260. Short was 0-1 with a walk and is at .271.
For Seibu, Cabrera was 3-3 and is at .333. Third baseman Scott McClain was 0-2 with two strikeouts and is at .238.
Pitching Lines:
Seibu:
Hsu (W, 3-2) IP 6.1 BF 26 PC 80 H 7 HR 0 K 2 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 5.06
Hoashi IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 5 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.40
S. Mori IP 1.1 BF 5 PC 25 H 1 HR 1 K 4 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.21
Toyoda (S, 30) IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 8 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 0.40
Lotte:
H. Y. Kobayashi (L, 4-10) IP 7.0 BF 27 PC 101 H 7 HR 1 K 11 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 3.58
Sikorsky IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 25 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.52
Tobe IP 0.1 BF 3 PC 11 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.15
S. Fujita IP 0.1 BF 3 PC 11 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.23
T. Inoue IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 3 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.76
E: Tahara
2B: Cabrera, Takanami
HR: T.T. Goto (9), J. Inoue (2)
RBI: K. Matsui, Ozeki, Takanami, T.T. Goto 3, J. Inoue, Fernandez 2
SF: K. Matsui
HBP: H.Y. Nakajima (Tobe)
GIDP: T. Sato (4-6-3), Kosaka (4-6-3)
LOB: Seibu 6, Lotte 5
Season Series: Seibu 16, Lotte 6
Game Time: 3:16
Attendance: 15,000
Umpires: Iizuka (HP), Yamamoto (1B), Yanagita (2B), Yoshikawa (3B)
Rhodes Two Run Homer Picks Up a Game for Kintetsu
Kintetsu Buffaloes leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes drilled a two run homer in the sixth inning with his side down 1-0 to provide the winning margin over Nippon Ham at Sapporo Dome 2-1. Buffs starter Ken Kadokura walked or hit everybody and their mother, but Nippon Ham stranded 11 runners in continuing its losing ways in Hokkaido, as the Fighters are 0-8 in ten games (the other two were ties) there this season.
Masaru Yoshizaki started for Nippon Ham and was outstading, going just short of eight innings of two run ball on six hits to drop his record to 8-6.
Nippon Ham presented the first threat of the game in the second when catcher Shinji Takahashi catapulted a shot into the rightcenter gap for a one out double and moved to third on a groundout. Shortstop Makoto Kaneko walked. But second baseman Hiroshi Narahara flew out to right for the third out.
They would have two on with two out in the third and fumble that. Takahashi, thought, commenced the fourth with a bazooka shell into the leftfield bleachers to make it 1-0 Fighters.
They then had two more on with two gone in the fifth on a hit batsman and a walk, but a groundout to first by first baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto wrecked that revolt.
In the sixth and with one away, Kintetsu second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi singled to right. Rhodes got a low fastball that was reportedly clocked only at 80mph and exploded on it, going upper deck in right for a 2-1 Buffs lead.
Kadokura walked rightfielder Ueda with one out in the eighth and was yanked in a favor of Hideo Koike, who got Yukio Tanaka to fly out. Akira Okamoto was then called on and he plunked Takahashi to put the tying run in scoring position. But pinch hitter Kensuke Tanaka flied out to left and, aside from a two out Kazuteru Shimada pinch single in the ninth, the Fighters went peaceably afterward, Toyohiko Yoshida cadging his fourth save when he struckout dangerous third baseman and PL batting leader Michihiro Ogasawara.
For Kintetsu, Rhodes was 2-4 with two RBIs and is at .274.
For Nippon Ham, leftfielder Angel Echevarria was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .249.
Pitching Lines:
Kintetsu:
Kadokura (W, 6-2) IP 7.1 BF 32 PC 130 H 4 HR 1 K 5 BB 6 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.53
H. Koike IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 4 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.95
A. Okamoto IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 10 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.30
T. Yoshida (S, 4) IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 7 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.00
Nippon Ham:
Yoshizaki (L, 8-6)IP 7.2 BF 29 PC 104 H 6 HR 1 K 3 BB 2 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.22
A. Shimizu IP 0.1 BF 1 PC 2 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.70
Shibakusa IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.38
N. Takahashi IP 0.2BF 3 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.00
SB: Yoshioka, M. Abe
2B: S. Takahashi, M. Ogasawara
HR: S. Takahashi (10), Rhodes (39)
RBI: S. Takahashi, Rhodes 2
HBP: M. Ogasawara (Kadokura), S. Takahashi (A. Okamoto)
PB: A. Fujii
GIDP: N.Nakamura (4-6-3)
LOB: Kintetsu 6, Nippon Ham 11
Season Series: Kintetsu 15, Nippon Ham 8
Game Time: 3:20
Attendance: 16,000
Umpires: Sakaemura (HP), Kawaguchi (1B), Nakamura (2B), Tachibana (3B)
Two Petagine Dingers Back Another Excellent Kuwata Effort 5-1
Yomiuri righthander Masumi Kuwata had another strong outing Tuesday while leftfielder Roberto Petagine transgressed the friendly Tokyo Dome confines twice in a 5-1 Giants victory over the Yokohama Bay Stars. Chris Holt started for the Stars and was knocked around for five runs in five innings for his 14th kuroboshi.
Yokohama got on top for a few minutes, as shortstop Takuro Ishii spanked a one out single to center and stole second. Leftfielder Takanori Suzuki singled to center. First baseman Tyrone Woods flew out to right and Ishii tagged up and went home for a 1-0 lead.
However, Petagine came up in the second and demolished a Holt delivery up into the third deck in right, but it was about a foot foul. He then got a fifth pitch 88mph fastball and walloped it into the leftcenterfield stands to level it at 1-1.
That's the way it stayed until the fourth, when third baseman Koji Goto leaned into one and conked it into the rightfield bleachers for a 2-1 Giants advantage. Rightfielder Chris Latham doubled to leftcenter and was sacrificed to third, but they couldn't get him in.
In the sixth, Petagine got the best of a Holt curve ball and nestled it in the centerfield seats to make it 3-1. First baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara singled to center and was pinch hit for by Takahiro Suzuki, who stole second. One out later, Latham piledrove one off the centerfield wall for a triple and an RBI. Hiroshi Yamada replaced Holt. Catcher Yoshinori Murata singled to right and it was 5-1 Giants. Yokohama would rack up just one hit the rest of the way to turn out the lights.
Kuwata's night ended prematurely due to a blister on his middle finger. Now let's see if he can keep these strong starts going.
For Yokohama, Woods was 1-3 with an RBI and is at .246.
For Yomiuri, Latham was 2-4 with an RBI and is at .215. Petagine was 3-3 with a walk and two RBIs and is at .304. He now has second post all star break dingers and this was his second multi-homer game of the season and his 18th in Japan overall. Even though he missed six weeks of the season with knee problems, it looks as if he will have another 30 homer campaign. However, former Hiroshima first baseman Tatsuhiko Kobayakawa noted in an article for Sankei Sports that Petagine's swing has gotten a bit long and that is why he isn't turning on and pulling balls with authority. You could have fooled Yokohama.
Pitching Lines:
Yokohama:
Holt (L, 5-14) IP 5.1 BF 25 PC 97 H 6 HR 3 K 4 BB 3 R 5 ER 5 ERA 4.55
H. Yamada IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 11 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.00
Takeshita IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 16 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.31
Tomioka IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 17 H 0 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.38
Yomiuri:
Kuwata (W, 4-2) IP 7.0 BF 24 PC 95 H 5 HR 0 K 4 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 5.68
Bailey IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 17 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 6.16
Y. Maeda IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 12 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.71
SB: T. Ishii, T.N. Suzuki, T.H. Suzuki
2B: Latham
3B: Latham
HR: Petagine 2 (22), K. Goto (4)
RBI: Woods, Petagine 2, K. Goto, Latham, Y. Murata
SF: Woods
HBP: Kawanaka (Holt)
LOB: Yokohama 3, Yomiuri 6
Season Series: Yokohama 8, Yomiuri 16
Game Time: 2:44
Attendance: 55,000
Umpires: Sasaki (HP), Kiuchi (1B), Kittaka (2B), Uemoto (3B)
Yakult Wins in 11 on Shiroishi Homer
In a crazy, exciting game, the Yakult Swallows were behind early 4-0, came back to take a 6-5 lead, blew that in the eighth and then won it in the 11th when backup second baseman Noriyuki Shiroishi blasted a Yasushi Tsuruta delivery into the rightfield seats to edge the Hiroshima Carp 7-6. Hirotoshi Ishii snagged his fifth shiroboshi after two innings of one hit relief and Shingo Takatsu saved his 25th.
Kevin Hodges started for Yakult and continues to look like a different pitcher from the one who tied for the league lead in wins last season, as the Carp jumped on him in the first inning. Rightfielder Shigeru Morikasa leadoff with a single to center and was erased on a 4-6 force on a grounder off the bat of second baseman Takuya Kimura. First baseman Itsuki Asai walked. Shortstop Andy Sheets singled to right to drive in Kimura. One out later, centerfielder Koichi Ogata singled to right and Asai toed the dish for a 2-0 Hiroshima
lead.
In the third, Kimura singled to center and Asai parked a Hodges pitch in the leftcenterfield seats and it was 4-0 Hiroshima.
The Swallows then put a run on the board in the fourth when shortstop Shinya Miyamoto walked and, one otu later, went to second on a groundout. Third baseman Ken Suzuki singled to left to plate Miyamoto and the scoreboard read Hiroshima 4, Yakult 1 after four complete.
Miyamoto returned in the sixth, creaming one into the leftcenterfield seats to make it 4-2 Carp.
Hiroshima starter Chris Brock retired the Swallows order in the seventh and his night was done, a laudible two run, four hit outing that should have been good enough for a victory. Unfortunately, the Carp bullpen is substandard and disaster was to ensue.
But first, the Carp coalesced for another run in the bottom of the seventh, Asai bopped a hot shot down the leftfield line for a two bagger. Two outs later, Sheets singled to left to improve his team's position to 5-2.
Yasuhiro Oyamada walked in from the pen and I'm sure the Yakult hitters couldn't have been more delighted. Centerfielder Atsunori Inaba singled to center. Rightfielder Mitsuru Manaka steered a pitch into the rightfield bleachers. Oyamada hit Miyamoto and manager Koji Yamamoto went to the bullpen for Shinichi Nishikawa, who did his job, getting Iwamura to chop the ball into the ground, but he beat it out. Yamamoto then went to Toshikazu Sawazaki, who also got a ground ball, but leftfielder Alex Ramirez beat it out and the bases were loaded. Suzuki singled to right and the two speedsters were right on each other's heels to give the Swallows the upper hand at 6-5.
Ryota Igarashi, despite his 95-97mph velocity, has a tendency toward giving up the home run ball and that is exactly what happened in the bottom of the eighth, as third baseman Kenjiro Nomura made it 6-6 with a bomb to left.
Hiroshima had a golden opportunity to go on to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, as pinch hitter Takahiro Arai steamed one down the leftfield line for a leadoff double and Kimura was intentionally walked. Pinch hitter Shuji Nishiyama laid down a sacrifice. Iwamura attempted to go to second, but the throw was late and the bags were juiced with nobody out. But Ishii blew Sheets away and then induced pinch hitter Kojiro Machida to ground into a rare 4-2-3 double play to stifle the rally.
In the top of the 11th, Shiroishi stepped up and got real gone to right for a 7-6 lead. But the bottom half was a pretty nervous affair before Takatsu closed the door. Rightfielder Jun Hirose singled to center and was sacrificed to second. Kimura walked to put the winning run on. But pinch hitter Akihiro Higashide flew out to right and Sheets struckout to liquidate the comeback attempt.
For Yakult, first baseman Todd Betts was 0-5 and is at .291.Ramirez was 1-5 with two strikeouts and is at .330.
For Hiroshima, Sheets was 2-6 with two RBIs and two strikeouts and is at .322.
Pitching Lines:
Yakult:
Hodges IP 6.0 BF 27 PC 87 H 9 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 4 ER 4 ERA 5.95
Tatsuki Yamamoto IP 0.1 BF 2 PC 3 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 2.78
H. Sato IP 0.2 BF 3 PC 11 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.05
Ryo. Igarashi IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 12 H 1 HR 1 K 1 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 3.45
H. Ishii (W, 5-1) IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 21 H 1 HR 0 K 2 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 3.32
Takatsu (S, 25) IP 1.0 BF 5 PC 24 H 1 HR 0 K 1 BB 1 R 0 ER 0 ERA 2.93
Hiroshima:
Brock IP 7.0 BF 26 PC 100 H 4 HR 1 K 7 BB 1 R 2 ER 2 ERA 4.46
Oyamada IP 0.0 BF 3 PC 9 H 2 HR 1 K 0 BB 1 R 3 ER 3 ERA 4.71
Nishikawa IP 0.0 BF 1 PC 3 H 1 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 1 ER 1 ERA 6.53
Sawazaki IP 1.0 BF 4 PC 14 H 2 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.23
S. Tamaki IP 1.0 BF 3 PC 14 H 0 HR 0 K 0 BB 0 R 0 ER 0 ERA 4.06
Tsuruta (L, 2-2) IP 2.0 BF 8 PC 28 H 1 HR 1 K 2 BB 1 R 1 ER 1 ERA 4.80
SB: T. Kimura
2B: Brock, T. Arai 2,
HR: I. Asai (5), S. Miyamoto (6), Manaka (4), K. Nomura (5), Shiroishi (3)
RBI: Manaka 2, S. Miyamoto, K. Suzuki 3, Shiroishi, I. Asai 2, Sheets 2, Ogata, K.
Nomura
IBB: T. Kimura (H. Ishii)
WP: Brock
HBP: S. Miyamoto (Oyamada)
GIDP: Furuta (4-6-3), Machida (4-2-3)
LOB: Yakult 5, Hiroshima 10
Season Series: Yakult 10, Hiroshima 8 1 Tie
Game Time: 3:55
Attendance: 11,000
Umpires: Mori (HP), Watada (1B), Shimada (2B), T. Kobayashi (3B)
Team Reports
YomiuriInjured catcher Shinnosuke Abe was re-examined and while he doesn't need season ending surgery, he also won't even be able to start throwing again for another week or two.
Yakult In a no brainer of a decision, the club is going to retain leftfielder Alex Ramirez, who is leading the Central League in RBIs and is second in homers while also contending for a batting title. According to Hochi Sports, the former Indians prospect has "largely reached agreement" on a two year deal with the Swallows.
HanshinHanshin officials paid a visit to Waseda University shortstop Takashi Toritani's dorm room Tuesday and heard the following demands by the likely top November draft pick: one, he will play shortstop; and two, Akinobu Okada will be the team's defense and baserunning coach. The latter is a pretty ballsy request, but in any event, his wanting to stay at short presents Yomiuri and Yokohama, who are also desirious of picking Toritani up, a big problem. Yomiuri has Tomohiro Nioka, a star at his position, already playing there. There was some earlier talk of trying Nioka in center, but that is now unlikely. And Yokohama has veteran and team leader Takuro Ishii, who has already stated his unwillingness to be moved to second base. Yomiuri team officials say that Toritani would be given a "chance to compete" with the incumbent, which should piss Nioka, who has 24 homers this season, off mightily. Nioka hasn't said anything about wanting to play in MLB one day, so we'll see if this maybe moves him in that direction. In any event, all of that puts Hanshin in the driver's seat since they aren't completely happy with the improved Atsushi Fujimoto due to the latter's mental lapses both offensively and defensively. Seibu wants to put Hiroyuki Nakajima at short next season. They could move him to third, entailing giving Scott McClain and his pop the heave ho. So if I were a betting man, unless Yomiuri throws some outrageous yen at Toritani, Hanshin ends up with him. Yomiuri needs pitching anyway.
DaieiThe controversy in how a comedy program used the image of Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh has escalated, with the ballclub now considering not allowing Fuji TV to bid for rights to broadcast the Japan Series. In addition, the network is now not allowed to talk to the Fukuoka nine's players or staff and they may not be allowed to cover the locker room celebration when Daiei locks up the pennant. A team official also said that just because Fuji has apologized doesn't constitute a satisfactory solution to what they feel is an insult to the former Yomiuri slugger. Banning Fuji from being able to relay series games is expected to cost it "millions of dollars" in lost advertising revenue, especially since the popular Hanshin Tigers will be the Central League representative.
