Japan spent the past week lamenting the end of rainy season, which usually lasts through the middle of the month. Temperatures soared high, and with that increase came some of the best baseball we have seen all season! (OK, it was just another week, but trust me, the evenings of great baseball helped take their minds off the blazing hot days they had endured.) Here are some of the best moments of the past seven days.
Tuesday: The showdown between ace pitchers Masato Morishita (Hiroshima Carp) and Hiroto Saiki (Hanshin Tigers) did not disappoint. Both pitchers threw deep into the game (Morishita 8, Saiki 7) without giving up a single run. Morishita, in fact, became the 20th pitcher in NPB history to throw an immaculate inning as he fanned the bottom-third of the Tigers order on nine pitches in the fifth. The game went to extras knotted at zero, but the Tigers scored three runs in the top of the tenth, as five straight players reached base, and took the game 3-0. They would win the next day as well, but the Carp avoided the sweep on Thursday.
Wednesday: For the first time in eight tries this year, the Chiba Lotte Marines won a game at Es Con Field Hokkaido by a 9-6 score over host Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. They scored five runs in the top of the sixth, using a walk, four hits, and an error to take the lead for good. This came two innings after Fighters’ slugger Franmil Reyes slugged his second grand slam of the season. He became the first Fighters player in five seasons to get two in a year, with the last player being Sho Nakata back in 2019. Unfortunately for Reyes, neither of his grannies led to a Fighters victory.
Thursday: Saitama Seibu Lions rookie pitcher Natsuki Takeuchi continues to be a rare bright spot in an otherwise dismal season for his team. On this day, he threw eight shutout innings in a 4-0 victory over the potent Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, scattering four hits and not walking anyone while striking out six. He now sports a 1.10 ERA on the year to go with his perfect 5-0 record. No other Lions pitcher has started his career with wins in five straight decisions since Kento Sugiyama did so in 1993.
Friday: The best pitcher in Japan right now is not Roki Sasaki (who is injured and is without an ETA on his return). Rather, Chunichi Dragons’ 21-year-old fireballer Hiroto Takahashi might own that title outright. He has thrown 23 straight shutout innings against the first-place Carp, including nine on this night. He finished the game with a Maddux, shutting his foes down on 99 pitches. Five guys reached base, but only two made it into scoring position. The Dragons won 2-0 and took the whole weekend series from the Carp. Click on the standings link below to see just how tight the race is in the Central now!
Saturday: The Tigers broke a 14-game streak of losing when being scored on first. It was not a huge deficit they overcame (just 0-1) and they did not blast their way to victory (narrowly beating the Yokohama DeNA Baystars 2-1) but it gave manager Akinobu Okada his 515th win as manager of the Tigers, which is top in team history. Suddenly-hot third baseman Teruaki Sato provided the game-winning RBI with a single in the bottom of the sixth. Baystars first baseman Tyler Austin extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a solo home run in the top of the fourth, but that streak ended the next day in a 6-5 walk-off loss to the Tigers (the video below is for Sunday’s game).
Sunday: The Yomiuri Giants continued their push to the top of the CL standings with a 7-3 victory over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows at Jingu Stadium. Outfielder Yoshihiro Maru became the 63rd player in NPB history to reach 3000 total bases in his career, and the fourth active player on that list (alongside Hayato Sakamoto, Takeya Nakamura, and Hideto Asamura). Also on this day, the Chiba Lotte Marines asserted their dominance over the Lions, bringing their season head-to-head record to 11-0 with a 9-2 win on this day and a weekend series sweep. No team has ever started a season with more than 13 straight wins against one opponent, but the Marines could set a new record if they sweep the Lions at home on July 30-August 1.
Good Week: Marines (5-1), Giants (4-1), Dragons (4-1), Buffaloes (3-0)
Rough Week: Carp (1-5), Swallows (1-5), Lions (1-4), Fighters (1-4)
- NPB Standings
- Central League Hitting Leaders
- Central League Pitching Leaders
- Pacific League Hitting Leaders
- Pacific League Pitching Leaders
