The Nippon Professional Baseball regular season is back in full swing following an All-Star break in which the Central and Pacific Leagues split the two-game set and Chunichi Dragons slugger Seiya Hosokawa won the Home Run Derby.
In the Central League, little has separated the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants over the past month. The two clubs remain deadlocked atop the standings at 55-44, though Hanshin has one game in hand, while Yomiuri has an extra tie. The rivals still have eight head-to-head matchups remaining.
Meanwhile, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows’ unfortunate free fall has continued, with the club enduring three separate seven-game losing streaks since the beginning of June. The Yokohama DeNA BayStars have now overtaken them for third place thanks to a 7-1 start to August and sit two games clear of fourth with a 46-52-3 record. The Chunichi Dragons and Hiroshima Carp remain somewhat relevant at four and six games back of third, despite their poor overall records.
In the Pacific League, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks remain firmly in control of the pennant race and have already lowered their magic number to 33. The Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters sit 7.5 games back and hold a narrow lead over the Saitama Seibu Lions for second place, leaving the playoff picture increasingly solidified.
However, the Orix Buffaloes and Chiba Lotte Marines are keeping their slim postseason hopes alive at six and seven games out of third place, respectively. The Tohoku Rakuten Eagles hold the worst record in NPB at 38-60-1.
Also, the High School Summer Koshien is well underway as all first-round matchups have come to an end. The tournament can be streamed for free on SportsBull. Check out one of the best plays from the opening week, a beautiful double play by Hokkaido Prefecture’s Shirakaba Gakuen!
Now, let’s jump into some of the most notable performances across NPB.
Tuesday (8/4)
- Naoya Masuda (Marines) became the 5th pitcher in NPB history to register 250 career saves.
- Sandro Fabian (Carp) smashed a walk-off home run in extras versus the Giants.
- Shuto Ogata (BayStars) fired 7 shutout innings in a 1-0 win against the Tigers.
- Naoyuki Uwasawa (Hawks) tossed 7 scoreless frames in a 1-0 win over the Fighters.
- Jason Vosler (Dragons) homered twice in a 4-3 win over the Swallows. Kaito Muramatsu walked it off.
- Montell Higuma (Swallows) hit two homers in a loss.
Wednesday (8/5)
- Haruto Inoue (Giants) threw 7 scoreless innings in a 4-0 victory against the Carp.
- Chusei Mannami (Fighters) hit his 20th homer in a 7-5 loss to the Hawks.
Thursday (8/6)
- Raidel Martinez (Giants) reached 30 saves for the fifth straight season.
- Dermis Garcia (Tigers) homered for the second consecutive game in a 10-5 win over the BayStars.
- Yumeto Kanemaru (Dragons) fired 7 shutout innings in a 5-0 win versus the Swallows.
- Franmil Reyes (Fighters) belted his 24th jack in a 6-2 victory versus the Hawks.
Friday (8/7)
- Yasunobu Okugawa (Swallows) threw a two-hit complete game shutout against the Giants.
- The Dragons scored 3 runs in the 9th to come from behind against the Tigers, 3-2.
- The Fighters walked off the Eagles.
Saturday (8/8)
- Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (BayStars) hit a walk-off home run in extras against the Carp.
- Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) hurled 8 shutout innings in a 6-0 victory versus the Fighters.
- Taiga Kojima (Lions) lifted a late go-ahead 2-run shot in a 2-1 win over the Hawks.
Sunday (8/9)
- Kohei Arihara (Fighters) struck out 11 batters against the Eagles and recorded his second consecutive complete game shutout.
- Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) hit his first homer of the year to edge the Dragons, 1-0.
- Yugo Maeda (Hawks) tossed 7 scoreless innings against the Lions and improved to 10-0 on the season.
- Joey Lucchesi (Marines) allowed 2 runs over 4 innings in his NPB debut en route to a 7-2 victory.
