The Hanshin Tigers have vacated Koshien Stadium for another summer high school tournament (which you can livestream here!). They have completed their first week on the road, and although they do not feature in this week’s recaps, you’ll see at the bottom of the post that they had a better week than any other NPB team.
Tuesday: Down to their final inning, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters hit back-to-back jacks (Chusei Mannami and Ariel Martinez) against Chiba Lotte Marines’ closer Naoya Masuda to win on the road, 3-2.
Wednesday: The battle of Tokyo saw the Yomiuri Giants take Yakult Swallows’ starter Keiji Takahashi deep four times (Lewis Brinson, Hayato Sakamoto twice, and Kazuma Okamoto) and added another against a reliever (Okamoto again) in a 9-2 rout at Tokyo Dome.
Thursday: Okamoto hit two more home runs, while Giants starter Shosei Togo threw a 149-pitch complete game against the Swallows in a 2-1 win. In the Pacific, Marines infielder Taiga Hirasawa hit two home runs to help his team beat the Fighters 7-5.
Friday: There were three walk-off wins on this day. Saitama Seibu Lions outfielder Junichiro Kishi hit a home run off Orix Buffaloes’ reliever Shota Abe to give his team a 3-2 win. In Hokkaido, Ariel Martinez was once again the difference maker as he hit a bases-loaded sac fly in the bottom of the 11th to lead his Fighters past the SoftBank Hawks 5-4. In the Central, Ryuhei Matsuyama of the Hiroshima Carp hit an infield single with the bases loaded to score the deciding run against the Giants.
Saturday: Down 6-2 after four innings, the Hawks scored three runs in three straight innings to trounce the Fighters, 11-6. In a rare (at least this week) pitchers’ duel, Tatsuya Imai of the Lions threw eight innings of two-run ball, fanning 10, but got hung with the loss as Buffaloes’ rookie Shunpeita Yamashita threw 6 2/3 innings of one-run baseball to lower his ERA to 1.73 on the year. The Buffaloes won, 2-1.
Sunday: Kazuma Okamoto ended the week the same way he started it: by hitting balls over the fence in multiples. On this night, he whacked three, giving him a total of eight on the week. He was supported by home runs from Sho Nakata (the 300th of his career) and Hisayoshi Chono, en route to a 13-0 drubbing of the Hiroshima Carp.
Good Week: Tigers (5-1)
Rough Week: Baystars (1-4-1)
