Series Wrap: Dragons vs Baystars @Yokohama Stadium, 14 May - 16 May; Oh-no; hooray for Romero

A rain shortened series in Yokohama which ended shared, was perhaps a good result given a, at least for this season, uncharacteristically poor start from Yudai Ono. Enny Romero would bounce back to give the Dragons a win in the following fixture to leave mixed feelings over a "whatever" kind of series.

• Game 37: Dragons 2-8 Baystars
• Game 38: Dragons 3-2 Baystars

Game 37

Yudai Ono and Katsuki Azuma slid after the rain-out on Wednesday with pitchers on opposite sides of the spectrum regarding their fortunes this year. Azuma, last year's rookie of the year had been having trouble finding his form, while Ono had rediscovered his. 

DeNA took the lead in the 4th after a Jose Lopez 2-run dinger that cancelled out Ryosuke Hirata's timely two-base RBI in the 3rd. Pain however would be ultimately inflicted from an unlikely source in Baystars catcher, Hikaru Ito who slogged a 1-1 pitch over the left field fences for a grand slam. 

For those that don't get the reference.

It would get worse for Ohno, as he gave up another solo homer to Toshiro Miyazaki before leaving the game at the end of the 6th innings having conceded 7 runs all from homeruns. Nobumasa Fukuda would put in a consolation jack in the 7th but it would ultimately be for nought as the Dragons were unceremoniously routed.

福田ライトスタンドへのホームラン pic.twitter.com/u10mtooasx

— みずき (@mizu45dragons) 2019年5月15日

Fukuda and Yota Kyoda would have multi-hit evenings while Hiroto Fuku mopped up 2 innings after Ohno left the game.

Game 38
Enny Romero's last time out was a narrow win over the Carp in relatively unconvincing fashion. This time around, he looked more in control throwing down 7 innings for one earned run in a high quality start.

The Dragons took the lead in the 1st but the Baystars wouldn't let off as Kazuki Kamizato struck his 4th homer of the season to level the scores in the bottom of the 6th. Nobumasa Fukuda's RBI single in the 7th in front of his hometown crowd would give the Dragons the lead while a Ryosuke Hirata buxom looking homerun in the 8th provided insurance.

平田のホームランで追加点！！
平田満遍の笑みでロメロはガッツポーズ#dragons pic.twitter.com/DXEaONtLfL

— コウ#41 (@dra_asao41) 2019年5月16日

The insurance would be requried as Hiroshi Suzuki kept to recent shaky form. He was able to get out of a jam with a runner on third following a run leaked after a grounder to first, when he struck out Yamato to end the game and claim his 12th save of the season.

Shuhei Takahashi would claim another modasho for the year while Fukuda claimed another multi-hit game. Romero got through 7IP whiffing 5 while Joely Rodriguez provided the link-up between the starter and closer with a scoreless inning.

Overall, a good bounce back win. I have a feeling that Ohno's start was just "one of those days" and he'll be back to form in his next start which is due to be against the Carp at Miyoshi Stadium on Tuesday. Romero attributed his better form to working on his stuff with pitching coach Hideyuki Awano and executing what he wanted to improve on in the game.