NPB Roundup - 9/21: Giants beat the Tigers to tie for first in the CL
Posted 09-21-2008 at 09:24 AM by Gwynar
Central League
After losing the first two games of the series, the Chunichi Dragons managed to salvage the final game of a 3-game series by beating the Hiroshima Carp, 4-2.
The Dragons scored all four of their runs in the top of the first off Colby Lewis. Kazuhiro Wada capped off the inning with a 2-run home run, his 14th of the season.
Kazuki Yoshimi turned in a strong performance for the Dragons, tossing 6.1 innings while giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 9 hits while striking out 3. The bullpen also did their job throwing 2.2 shutout innings.
The Dragons will now begin a 3-games series with the Yakult Swallows at the Nagoya Dome. The Carp continue their homestand and will entertain the red hot Yomiuri Giants for a 4-game series.
Yakult Swallows vs. Yokohama Bay Stars -- RAINED OUT
If you had told people that the Yomiuri Giants would be tied for first with the Hanshin Tigers on September 21st back in early July, they probably would have brushed you off and laughed. After all, 13 games separate the 2 teams back then. But now, after reeling off 10 straight victories (something the Giants haven't done since 1992), the Giants find themselves in a tie with the Hanshin Tigers for first. Talk about an implosion for the Tigers.
The Tigers scored the first run of the game when Tomoaki Kanemoto hit his 23rd home run of the year in the top of the 2nd. Kanemoto hit his second home run of the game in his next at bat in the top of the 4th to give the Tigers, what appeared to be at the time, a comfortable 2-0 lead. But it wasn't meant to be for the Tigers.
The Giants answered back in the bottom of the 5th with 8 runs, the final three of which came on Seung-Yeop Lee's 7th home run of the season. Shinnosuke added the 9th run in the bottom of the 6th with his 21st homer of the season.
The Giants will now begin a four game series against the Carp while the Tigers will play host to the Yokohama Bay Stars. These next four games against the Carp will be just as important to the Giants if they want to hold onto their newly acquired first place position. And it might not be easy for the Giants as they are 8-11-1 against the Carp this season.
NOTE: Alex Ramirez collected his 1,338th hit against Scott Atchison in the bottom of the 5th, the most for a foreigner in the CL. Ramirez's first hit came on March 30th, 2001 when he played for the Yakult Swallows. He tied Wally Yonamine the previous night with his 1,337th career hit.
Ramirez pumping his first after collecting his 1,338th career hit
Pacific League
The Seibu Lions beat the Softbank Hawks, 10-5.
The game was relatively close up until the 9th inning when the Lions exploded for 6 runs by sending 9 players up to bat. And the final blow came off the bat of Takeya Nakamura with his bases loaded 43rd home run of the season. The 9th inning may have been prevented had it not been for two errors errors that set the table for the meat of the lineup.
The Hawks' hope for the postseason continue to dimish and they only have themselves to blame as they are now 2-8 over their last 10 and 3-13 in the month of September.
The Hawks will play host to the Nippon Ham Fighters for a 2-game series.
The Lions will play host to the Rakuten Eagles for a 2-game series.
The Nippon Ham Fighters beat the Orix Buffaloes, 10-5.
After being held to only 1 run the previous night, the Fighters banged out 22 hits and scored 10 runs. Eiichi Koyana (4-for-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 1 R, 1 K) and Shinji Takahashi (3-for-5, 3 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB) led the offensive charge for the Fighters. Three other players also had multi-hit performances: Atsunori Inaba (4-for-6, 1 R), Satoshi Nakajima (2-for-2, 1 R), and Makoto Kaneko (3-for-5, 1 R).
The win helped push the Fighters to a half game back behind the third place Marines.
The Buffaloes will play host to the Chiba Lotte Marines for a 2 game series.
Chiba Lotte Marines vs. Rakuten Eagles -- RAINED OUT
Etoh high-fives teammates after hitting his 7th homer of the season
After losing the first two games of the series, the Chunichi Dragons managed to salvage the final game of a 3-game series by beating the Hiroshima Carp, 4-2.
The Dragons scored all four of their runs in the top of the first off Colby Lewis. Kazuhiro Wada capped off the inning with a 2-run home run, his 14th of the season.
Kazuki Yoshimi turned in a strong performance for the Dragons, tossing 6.1 innings while giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 9 hits while striking out 3. The bullpen also did their job throwing 2.2 shutout innings.
The Dragons will now begin a 3-games series with the Yakult Swallows at the Nagoya Dome. The Carp continue their homestand and will entertain the red hot Yomiuri Giants for a 4-game series.
Code:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
CHU 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 2
HIR 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 12 0
WP: Kazuki Yoshimi (9-3) SV: Hitoki Iwase (32)
LP: Colby Lewis (14-7)
HR: CHU: Kazuhiro Wada (14). HIR: None.
Chunichi Dragons
IP BF NP H HR K BB HBP ER R
Kazuki Yoshimi W 6.1 26 83 9 0 3 0 0 1 2
Akifumi Takahashi 0.1 2 13 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Takuya Asao 1.1 4 19 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Hitoki Iwase S 1.0 5 16 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
Hiroshima Carp
IP BF NP H HR K BB HBP ER R
Colby Lewis L 7.0 26 96 4 1 9 1 0 4 4
Mike Schultz 1.0 3 17 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Koji Hiroike 0.0 1 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tomohiro Umetsu 1.0 2 12 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Code:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E YOK YAK WP: LP: HR: YOK: YAK:
The Tigers scored the first run of the game when Tomoaki Kanemoto hit his 23rd home run of the year in the top of the 2nd. Kanemoto hit his second home run of the game in his next at bat in the top of the 4th to give the Tigers, what appeared to be at the time, a comfortable 2-0 lead. But it wasn't meant to be for the Tigers.
The Giants answered back in the bottom of the 5th with 8 runs, the final three of which came on Seung-Yeop Lee's 7th home run of the season. Shinnosuke added the 9th run in the bottom of the 6th with his 21st homer of the season.
The Giants will now begin a four game series against the Carp while the Tigers will play host to the Yokohama Bay Stars. These next four games against the Carp will be just as important to the Giants if they want to hold onto their newly acquired first place position. And it might not be easy for the Giants as they are 8-11-1 against the Carp this season.
NOTE: Alex Ramirez collected his 1,338th hit against Scott Atchison in the bottom of the 5th, the most for a foreigner in the CL. Ramirez's first hit came on March 30th, 2001 when he played for the Yakult Swallows. He tied Wally Yonamine the previous night with his 1,337th career hit.
Code:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
HAN 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 5 7 0
YOM 0 0 0 0 8 1 0 0 x 9 9 1
WP: Koji Uehara (5-4)
LP: Minoru Iwata (9-9)
HR: HAN: Tomoaki Kanemoto (23, 24). YOM: Seung-Yeop Lee (7), Shinnosuke Abe (21)
Hanshin Tigers
IP BF NP H HR K BB HBP ER R
Minoru Iwata 4.1 19 83 5 0 2 1 1 4 5
Ryo Watanabe 0.1 1 6 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Hirotaka Igusa 0.0 1 5 0 0 0 1 0 1 1
Scott Atchison 1.1 8 38 4 2 2 0 0 3 3
Kenta Abe 1.0 3 13 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Yutaka Tamaki 1.0 3 17 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
Yomiuri Giants
IP BF NP H HR K BB HBP ER R
Koji Uehara 4.1 19 83 5 2 5 0 0 2 2
Tetsuya Yamaguchi 2.0 7 29 1 0 2 0 0 0 0
Takahiko Nomaguchi 1.0 6 30 2 0 1 0 0 0 1
Soichi Fujita 0.0 3 8 2 0 0 1 0 2 2
Daisuke Ochi 1.0 3 15 0 0 3 0 0 0 0
Code:
W L T WPCT GB Hanshin Tigers 76 53 1 .589 - Yomiuri Giants 76 53 2 .589 - Hiroshima Carp 64 63 4 .504 11 ----------------------------------------- Chunichi Dragons 63 64 5 .496 12 Yakult Swallows 58 66 3 .468 15.5 Yokohama Bay Stars 43 83 1 .341 31.5
Ramirez pumping his first after collecting his 1,338th career hit
Pacific League
The Seibu Lions beat the Softbank Hawks, 10-5.
The game was relatively close up until the 9th inning when the Lions exploded for 6 runs by sending 9 players up to bat. And the final blow came off the bat of Takeya Nakamura with his bases loaded 43rd home run of the season. The 9th inning may have been prevented had it not been for two errors errors that set the table for the meat of the lineup.
The Hawks' hope for the postseason continue to dimish and they only have themselves to blame as they are now 2-8 over their last 10 and 3-13 in the month of September.
The Hawks will play host to the Nippon Ham Fighters for a 2-game series.
The Lions will play host to the Rakuten Eagles for a 2-game series.
Code:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
SEI 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 10 12 2
SOF 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 5 7 1
WP: Takayuki Kishi (12-4) SV: Alex Graman (31)
LP: Rick Guttormson (4-7)
HR: SEI: Akira Etoh (7), Takeya Nakamura (43). SOF: None.
Seibu Lions
IP BF NP H HR K BB HBP ER R
Takayuki Kishi W 8.0 30 114 5 0 4 0 0 1 2
Atsushi Okamoto 0.1 6 23 1 0 0 3 0 1 3
Tomoki Hoshino 0.0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Alex Graman S 0.2 2 7 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Softbank Hawks
IP BF NP H HR K BB HBP ER R
Rick Guttormson L 7.0 28 115 7 1 5 2 0 4 4
Takayuki Tsunohara 0.2 3 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Akihiro Yanase 1.0 10 31 4 1 2 1 0 0 6
Makoto Sato 0.1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
After being held to only 1 run the previous night, the Fighters banged out 22 hits and scored 10 runs. Eiichi Koyana (4-for-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 1 R, 1 K) and Shinji Takahashi (3-for-5, 3 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB) led the offensive charge for the Fighters. Three other players also had multi-hit performances: Atsunori Inaba (4-for-6, 1 R), Satoshi Nakajima (2-for-2, 1 R), and Makoto Kaneko (3-for-5, 1 R).
The win helped push the Fighters to a half game back behind the third place Marines.
The Buffaloes will play host to the Chiba Lotte Marines for a 2 game series.
Code:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
HAM 0 0 1 1 0 5 0 1 2 10 22 0
ORI 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 7 0
WP: Yataro Sakamoto (6-1)
LP: Kazuya Motoyanagi (2-7)
HR: HAM: Eiichi Koyano (5). ORI: Mitsutaka Goto (12).
Nippon Ham Fighters
IP BF NP H HR K BB HBP ER R
Kazuhito Tadano 3.0 16 64 5 1 1 2 0 5 5
Yataro Sakamoto W 3.0 10 34 1 0 1 0 1 0 0
Yoshinori Tateyama 2.0 6 25 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Michael Nakamura 1.0 4 12 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
Orix Buffaloes
IP BF NP H HR K BB HBP ER R
Chihiro Kaneko 3.2 22 74 9 0 1 2 0 2 2
Makoto Yoshino 1.0 3 9 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Ryota Katsuki 0.1 4 15 2 0 0 0 1 2 2
Akio Shimizu 0.0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
Kazuya Motoyanagi L 0.0 1 6 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 1.0 6 24 3 0 2 0 0 1 1
Kazuo Yamaguchi 2.0 10 33 3 1 0 1 0 1 1
Hidetaka Kawagoe 1.0 6 21 3 0 1 0 0 2 2
Code:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E RAK LOT WP: LP: HR: RAK: LOT:
Code:
W L T WPCT GB Seibu Lions 75 56 4 .573 -- Orix Buffaloes 70 65 1 .519 7 Lotte Marines 67 67 1 .500 9.5 ----------------------------------------- Ham Fighters 66 67 2 .496 10 Softbank Hawks 61 69 3 .469 13.5 Rakuten Eagles 57 70 3 .449 16
Etoh high-fives teammates after hitting his 7th homer of the season
Total Comments 3
Comments
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Seung-Yeop Lee(Yomiuri) was really amazing yesterday! He has something mysterical power. His AVG is lower than .250, but he always hit homerun everytime when his team is in very very important game. He did 2002 Olympic Game, 2006 WBC, 2007 Yomiuri's Pennant Race Winning Game, 2008 Olympic Game. He also did so yesterday.Posted 09-22-2008 at 07:17 AM by Wontae Choi 
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Welcome to the site.
Posted 09-22-2008 at 12:17 PM by knucklehead7 
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Welcome to the site Wontae Choi. I take it you are a Seung-Yeop Lee fan.
He did have something of a slow start this year, and was even demoted to ni-gun, but he's really come through lately. Seems like he's in the middle of every big inning for the Giants.Posted 09-23-2008 at 12:36 AM by Gwynar
