With a week left to play of interleague ball, and all but one make-up game to be played at Pacific League parks, it looks like a surprise PL could take the title of best interleague record. Here is a look at some important games, milestones, and achievements from the past six days of NPB action!
Tuesday: Many players hit round numbers: Daichi Suzuki of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles collected his 1500th career hit, Takumi Kuriyama of the Saitama Seibu Lions got the 400th double of his career, and Tetsuto Yamada of the Yakult Swallows swatted his 300th career double. But the big story on this day was the Yomiuri Giants and their twelve-hit inning against the Chiba Lotte Marines. This included nine straight hits – and resulted in an 11-spot, as they bounced the visitors by an 18-2 tally.
Wednesday: Elier Hernandez, a mid-season acquisition of the Giants, posted hits in his first eight career games in Japan, setting a record for non-Japanese Giants. He also became the 20th player in Giants’ history to get three hits or more in three straight games, which is a club record. The Giants lost the game, though, by a 4-3 margin.
Thursday: For the first time in club history, the Eagles swept the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium, winning 4-1 on this night. The Tigers suffered their first three-game sweep of the year, and took a six-game home losing streak into the weekend. (They atoned for it by sweeping the Lions.) In Giants news, third baseman Hayato Sakamoto recorded his 2372nd career hit, moving him into 12th place on the all-time list, past Hiromitsu Ochiai.
Friday: For the second time this season, a Central League pitcher spun a no-hitter. This time, it was Hiroshima Carp righty Daichi Ohsera, who spun it against the Marines. He became the fourth in interleague, the fifth in Carp history, and the 90th player in Japanese baseball history with a no-no. This was the very first no-hitter at Mazda Stadium, and it took him 129 pitches. He said after the game that the number of pitches thrown was perfect, as his wedding anniversary is January 29 (1/29).
Saturday: A couple more pitchers achieved greatness on this day, though not to the degree of Ohsera. Cy Sneed became the last of the 12 Opening Day pitchers to get his first win of the year. He threw six innings of one-run ball as the Swallows defeated the Eagles by a 6-3 score. Down the street at Tokyo Dome, Orix Buffaloes pitcher Kyosuke Saito became the first pitcher in the history of the PL to get his first career win at Tokyo Dome against the Giants while still a teenager. The defending PL champs downed the Giants 5-0. (The Giants scored just one run all weekend.)
Sunday: Yokohama DeNA Baystars slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo reached four-figures in career hits, becoming the 318th player in NPB history to hit 1000+. His team beat the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 5-1. Also reaching the 1000-mark (in innings pitched) was Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters lefty Takayuki Katoh. He threw seven shutout innings but did not factor into the decision in a 1-0 loss at Jingu against the Swallows. Not enough ones and zeroes for you? Well, that win took place in the Swallows’ 10,000th game. They became – you guessed it – the 10th team to reach that mark.
With rainy season looming, perhaps we are fortunate to be playing at PL parks this week, where four of the six teams have roofs. Come next week, there could be as few as one game of interleague left to play! All good things must come to an end, I suppose.
Good Week: Eagles (5-1), Swallows (5-1), Buffaloes (5-1)
Rough Week: Lions (0-6)
- NPB Standings
- Central League Hitting Leaders
- Central League Pitching Leaders
- Pacific League Hitting Leaders
- Pacific League Pitching Leaders
