JapanBall is on tour! Following an awesome week in South Korea, the group is now in Japan for its annual visit. Unfortunately, Typhoon Shanshan has caused some disruptions, but everyone is keeping their spirits high and making the most of their time here. Keep an eye on our Instagram and Facebook for daily updates!
Many games were rained out this week, but there was still a lot of exciting baseball being played, so let’s get into the NPB action, shall we?
Tuesday
The Nippon-Ham Fighters and Rakuten Eagles battled for 12 innings and four and a half hours, but both sides had to settle for a 3-3 tie as Ariel Martinez was thrown out at home plate to end the game. Kazuya Ojima tossed seven shutout innings as the Lotte Marines improved to 15-0 (not a typo) against the Seibu Lions this season.
Wednesday
Reigning PL ROY Shunpeita Yamashita (Buffaloes) hit a personal best of 100 mph as he held the Hawks to just two hits and one run across seven innings. Nippon-Ham Fighters slugger Franmil Reyes hit two homers. The DeNA BayStars beat the Hanshin Tigers behind Katsuki Azuma’s 31st straight quality start, inching closer to the last playoff spot in the CL.
Thursday
The Seibu Lions finally defeated the Lotte Marines after 17 tries, improving to 1-16 against them on the year. Two games were rained out, including the BayStars-Tigers game the JapanBall tour was scheduled to attend…
Friday
Three more games were canceled by Typhoon Shanshan. Roki Sasaki (Marines) had his best start since returning from injury, keeping the first-place SoftBank Hawks scoreless over seven innings with seven strikeouts. His velocity was back up to 98-100 mph on the fastball, but he prioritized the slider. Franmil Reyes (Fighters) extended his hit streak to 21 games. He’s hitting over .400 in August!
Saturday
A pair of come-from-behind home runs stole the show as 40-year-old Takumi Kuriyama hit a late pinch-hit two-run shot to edge the Lions over the Fighters, and third baseman Teruaki Sato crushed a three-run bomb off Shosei Togo to lift the Tigers over their rival Giants. Orix Buffaloes ace Hiroya Miyagi fired eight shutout innings against the Eagles.
Sunday
The JapanBall tour finally made it to the ballpark, seeing the hometown Hiroshima Carp take down the Yakult Swallows by a score of 5-1. Shortstop Masaya Yano hit an inside-the-park homer! He’s now homered in back-to-back games after having zero round-trippers all year before this series. Meanwhile, Tomoyuki Sugano (Giants) was credited with a complete game win as the Giants and Tigers were rained out after seven innings. Hiroshima maintains a 0.5-game lead for first place.
This Week’s Team Records
DeNA BayStars (2-0)
Orix Buffaloes (4-1)
Yomiuri Giants (3-1)
Chunichi Dragons (2-1)
SoftBank Hawks (3-2)
Hiroshima Carp (3-2)
Lotte Marines (3-3)
Seibu Lions (3-3)
Nippon-Ham Fighters (1-3-1)
Rakuten Eagles (1-3-1)
Hanshin Tigers (1-3)
Yakult Swallows (0-4)
- NPB Standings
- Central League Hitting Leaders
- Central League Pitching Leaders
- Pacific League Hitting Leaders
- Pacific League Pitching Leaders
- Yuri’s NPB Pitcher Rankings
