Inter-league: Dragons vs Buffaloes @Kyocera Dome, June 7th - 9th; Dragons feast on dodgy Buffalo

Series three of inter-league play took the Dragons back to Osaka to play the talented but inconsistent Orix Buffaloes. It wouldn’t be the first time the Dragons played at the Orix home park as they faced off against the Tigers in the opening series of the season in the same place. Viciedo was on fire in his debut series and hit 3 consecutive homeruns to announce himself in Japan. Would the same ballpark produce the same results?

A few interesting duals among the two teams with old faces on both sides. Former Baystars and Dragons slugger Tony Blanco would be occupying the Orix batting line-up while former Buffalo trainee Taiki Mitsumata would start from the bench for the Dragons.

Game 1 and Shinnosuke Ogasawara was given his 2nd start of his career to see if he could claim his first pro win after he got “Fukutani-ed” in his debut against the Hawks. The Buffaloes would front up with Yuki Nishi who has only claimed 2 wins in this season from 10 starts.

Chunichi would start the scoring in the 2nd inning as consecutive hits from “El Duo del Diablo,” that being Viciedo and Nanita gave Chunichi a chance and it was Fukuda’s sac-fly that saw the scoreboard tick over to 0-1. The Dragons extended their lead in the 3rd with Ohshima hitting an RBI double followed by Viciedo’s base hit to move the score to 0-3. Itoi would pull one back for the Buffaloes in the bottom of the inning while another RBI single in the 4th from Adachi put Orix within one, 2-3. Ogasawara was withdrawn after 5 innings for Daisuke Sobue and the youngster would have to put faith in his relievers again to secure his first win. It was unfortunately not to be as Shinji Tajima, uncharacteristically for this season, gave up a single to Nishino in the 9th to even up the scores and send the game into extra innings.

It would take until the top of the 12th before the Dragons started to beat down on the weary Buffaloes. With bases loaded, Takahito Kudo’s 2 RBI single put the Dragons into a 3-5 lead while Sugiyama’s double drove 3 home to put the boys from Nagoya into an unassailable 3-8 lead. Fuku was given closing duties in the bottom of the 12th and young lefty gave up only one hit as the Dragons claimed the win.

Ogasawara will have trust issues with his bullpen after his last two games, but the youngster played well. Officially, however, the winner was Toshiya Okada who got his 3rd win of the season. 14 hits today from the line-up with a lot of them coming late on. Ohshima, Viciedo, Nomoto and Sugiyama topped the hit charts with two each.

Game 2 would be a much lower key affair with Shunta Wakamatsu and Takahiro Matsuba doing the dance on the mound. Nakajima of the Buffloes bludgeoned a Wakamatsu ball into the stands in the 2nd inning to give the Osaka team the lead.

Viciedo struck back with a solo homer in the 4th, but his 15th homerun of the season wouldn’t help the Dragons to victory as the scores stayed the same at 2-1 to the Buffaloes.

Matsuna fanned 8 bats in his 8 innings showing some good control. He ultimately kept the Dragons to 2 hits the entire game despite 2 errors in the field. Hirano claimed his 12th save of the season as the Buffaloes closer tries to come back to the form that earned him so many plaudits some years ago.

Game 3 would be a good contest with Raul Valdes and Chihiro Kaneko going head to head.

Viciedo wasted no time as he donged his 5th homer in the Kyocera Dome this year in the 1st inning scoring Araki along the way to make it 0-2.

The Buffaloes struck back through a Nishino RBI single in the 3rd but a homerun from Nanita in the 4th put the lead back to two.

Donoue would continue the scoring as he struck an RBI single while Ohshima would follow suit with one of his own. The mayhem continued in the 4th with Araki joining the party to make it 1-6. Viciedo continued to contribute with the bat in the 7th through a sac-fly while Atsushi Fujii’s 2nd solo homer of the season put the Dragons 1-8 up.

In the 8th inning, Valdes would load the bases allowing Itoi to swing and send two home, but the introduction of Ogawa stemmed the tide. Daisuke Sobue was brought in for the 9th and finished up the game, 3-8 in the Dragons favour.

The slap hitters of Ohshima, Araki and Kamezawa claimed two hits each today while Valdes pitched 7 1/3 innings with 3 earned runs, 2 walks and 2 Ks.

A great series for Dragons fans but many will be scratching their heads about the result in the middle given the dominance of the sandwich. Dayan Viciedo showed that he loves playing in the Kyocera dome with his 5th dong in 6 games at the stadium. Ogasawara was perhaps a little unlucky not to claim his maiden win once again but the 18 year old still has plenty of time to break his duck. He looks good so far, just hope we can nurture him right.

On the Farm: Chunichi Dragons v Orix Buffaloes (April 22nd - 24th)

ODELAY-HI-HOOO

It's time for a slightly delayed, but another, farm report! For the first time in a while the 2-gun team was able to have a 3 game series and it was up against the Buffaloes again, this time in Nagoya. The Buffaloes have been pretty bad in the Pacific League and the Western League with the Dragons having the best of most of the match-ups in the latter.

It wouldn't be all that straightforward for the Dragons this time around as they recorded a win and two losses. There would however be a couple of rare homers through this series to give me a little bit more to write about.

Game 1 was to mark the return of Raul Valdes who has been out of reckoning since sustaining an injury either early this year or late last year. The 38 year-old Cuban and former Phillie, is probably not going to see a whole lot of first team action this year, but looked very good on his return. 23 year old Hiroki Kondo would however go some way to taking the limelight away from Valdes with his key performance with the bat.

Pitching

Valdes back in business.

Valdes threw down a strong 5 innings where he only gave up 2 hits and a walk while fanning 3 to keep things scoreless. A strong comeback. Yuu Satoh took up a relief inning and also kept things scoreless, giving up 2 hits and fanning 1. Achira continued his great form with a scoreless inning while Ogawa took two strikeouts in 2/3 of an inning. Kaneko fanned 3 in his full inning and Yamamoto, also coming back from injury, threw out his one batter to end the game.

Kondo in fine form.

Batting

Kei Nomoto would be the first to tee off against Umida in the 5th, sending one of two Dragons homeruns over the fence. As mentioned, Hiroki Kondo continued his great form in the 2-gun as he hit a marvelous homerun in the 7th against Tsukada and grabbed a hit to continue building up his burgeoning reputation. Akasaka would also raise some eyebrows as he made the best two at-bats as he scored 3 from 2 hits. Hitoshi Tamura, the veteran, also picked up a hit and a walk in his 4 at-bats.

A 5-0 win were the spoils in a fairly dominant performance from the bullpen and a some good hitting from some key batters. Nomoto and Kondo have certainly been pushing for first team selection and I wouldn't be surprised if the latter is offered a full-time contract before the year is out.

Game 2 marked another return to a man on the comeback trail as Tomoya Yagi, a former Buffalo, made his first start of the year. This was also a game where Shinnosuke Ogasawara was given a relief role for the first time in his 2-gun career. It is worth mentioning that Hikaru Itoh, the starting catcher for Orix last year and Takahiro Okada another usual starter were in the line-up for the Buffaloes. Kondo would rock some worlds again, but it would the Orix who would leave victorious.

Yagi, more goat than man.

Pitching

Yagi didn't cover himself in glory as he gave up 4 runs, including a 2-run homerun to Okada, and 6 hits in only 3 innings. Ogaswara didn't do much better as the youngster continues to adjust. The lefty gave up 3 runs including a home run to Sugimoto plus 5 hits and a walk in 4 innings. Nomura would be another returning from injury as he saw off 3 batters taking one strikeout as Ohba finished things as he gave up one hit but kept things scoreless in the final inning.


Batting

Kamezawa promoted

The only real positive and scoring moment was from Kondo as he hit a 2-run homerun in the 4th against Matsuba. Kondo also managed to milk a walk as he did just about all he could to try and push the Dragons along. Kamezawa hit two and stole a base to help build his case for a return while no other batters really stood out in an unfortunate loss.

Not a great game for the team as a whole but Kamezawa and Kondo ensured it wasn't an amazing embarrassment, 2-7.

In Game 3 the ball would be put in the safe hands of Junki Ito who is 2-0 this season in the Western League so far. It would however end up being a bit of a massacre as Orix ran out 4-11 winners. Things would start well for the Dragons as they put up 2 runs on the board in the first two inning, but a 3-run homerun from Hikaru Ito in the 3rd off Ito's pitching gave the Buffaloes the lead. A Tamura double would put the Dragons ahead in the 4th. In the 5th Hamada gave up 2 runs and a Nishikawa blow-out in the 7th, where he leaked 5 runs, ensured a pretty bad loss.

Nishikawa a bust?

Pitching

Junki Ito would only throw three innings as he gave up 4 hits and 2 walks along with Itoh's homer to finish off very shakily. Considering how good he has been of late, it's a surprise that he was taken apart so quickly. Hamada picked up where Ito left off as he gave up two runs in his 2 innings. Yamamoto would keep things quiet in his 1 inning as he struckout one and gave up a single hit. Nishikawa however would face 7 batters however and only manage to take two outs as he haemorraged  5 runs. Ohba took the last out of the inning and kept the Buffaloes quiet in the 8th as he took 2 strikouts but gave away 3 walks and a hit. Nomura pitched out the 9th inning in 11 balls taking 3 straight outs.

Batting

Nomoto continues to impress

Kei Nomoto picked up 3 hits today including an RBI and a walk in a fantastic display at the number 5 batting spot. Kondo only managed a walk today despite his consecutive homers. Tamura picked up 2 RBIs and a walk to add to his good performance in the previous game. Kamezawa grabbed another 2 hits and a walk in his 4 at-bats in what would be enough to earn himself a recall to for the series against the Baystars. Abe would be one of the worst of the day as he made an error and struck out three times.

A big 4-11 win for the Orix and a pretty disappointing loss for the Dragons. Some good performances from Tamura, Kondo and Kamezawa in there however helped alleviate some of the heavy feelings about the series.

On the Farm: Chunichi Dragons v Orix Buffaloes (April 12th & 13th)

Oooooh..give me a home where Ogasawaras doth roam, and the youths and the veterans
plaaaayyyy...

One Ogasawara?

Two Ogasawaras?
Oh my medication!

That's right, it's time for another farm update! We only have two games this round again as poor weather cancelled the final fixture. The Dragons 2-gun team has been in pretty good nick this year and they remain perched on the top of the table in the Western League.

The two games this week are the only farm games scheduled for the week so I can relax a little bit and focus on the weekend games (and the Hiroshima report) for the rest of the week.


We were back in Nagoya for these games and it would be a good series for the Dragons as they walked away with 2 wins in 2 to continue their time at the top of the table. A sold 7-2 win would accompany a more modest 6-5 win as the Chunichi batters continue to show prowess that we could only dream of with the first team at the moment.

Game 1 of the round would be played in decent weather with Junki Ito taking up the mound as part of the regular rotation with 20 year old, Koki Saito taking to the mound for Orix. It was to be a bad day for Saito but a very good one for Ito as the latter kept his composure to see out the win.

Pitching

Ito looks on.

Not too much to say about the pitching today, not in any detail at least, as only two pitchers took the mound today for the Dragons. Junki Ito was the man today as he pitched out 8 innings. It was only in his 7th that he conceded 2 runs as the young man showed what he's made of. Ito ended his bracket with lots of fours. 4 hits, 4 strikeouts, 4 walks. He faced 33 batters and threw just a touch over 100 balls in a very good effort from the youngster. A few more of these kinds of performances might have Tanishige having a closer look at him in future.

Toshiya Okada took the 9th inning and took a strikeout from the 3 batters he faced.

Batting

古本? More like 振本 amirite?

Some very good performances from the batting line-up overall as there were plenty of hits. The Greatest Hits collection would come from Furumoto who, fielding in the right today, hit two with two RBIs in his 4 at-bats. Yusuke Matsui would show why he was called up to the firsts not so long ago as he hit and scored twice as well as claiming an RBI. Hernandez and Nomoto would both end with two hits a piece as well. One significant statistic goes to Masato Matsui who managed to reap 3 walks and a sacrificial hit in his 4 at-bats. Not bad. Other RBIs went to Kondo, Watanabe, Mizowaki and Abe as the Dragons ran out deserved winners.

The development players have played consistently well for for Michihiro Ogasawara's side, and he must surely be happy with how the team is going.

Other interesting news to come out of the game was a first appearance for "development" player, former Baystars and Samurai Japan outfielder, Hitoshi Tamura. The veteran had been looking for work after he was released by Yokohama, and the Dragons extended a helping hand. Tamura was once a team-mate of our manager, Tanishige back when they played together at Yokohama. Tamura came in as a pinch-hitter but was unable to contribute.

Game 2 and subsequently the final game of the series would be a much closer affair as both teams were quick out of the blocks to pile on the runs. Dragons would take advantage in the 1st by piling on 3 runs after Orix added one at the top of the inning. Orix would continue to take advantage of Tatsuro Hamada's pitching and went 3-5 to the good by the top of the 3rd. Once Hamada was removed from the mound, Achira calmed things down and counter-attack would start in the 4th to make it 4-5. Now keeping the Buffaloes quiet, the equalizer came in the fourth inning, 5-5. The Dragons would have the last laugh with a walk-off double from Hernandez in the 9th inning.

The starting pitchers today would be the aforementioned Hamada and for the Buffaloes, Daiki Aoyama.

Pitching

Takuma Achira - あちらへどうぞう

Well, Hamada's form in pre-season is looking all the more miraculous as he got yoinked after 2 1/3 innings after giving up 5 runs to the Buffaloes. He gave up 7 hits and a walk to pile on the misery in what has been a terror year so far. An error from Mizowaki in the field didn't help either but I suppose if we're to be positive, he didn't walk too many today?
Achira would come into to calm things down and he pitched 2 full innings only giving up a single hit and 2 walks. Kaneko took over with 1 1/3 innings and took one  strikeout, conceding a hit and a walk. Muto as well would have 1 1/3 innings to show his stuff and allowed one hit and threw two strikeouts against his 5 batters. Toshiya Okada would have another chance to shape up as he conceded a hit and managed a strikeout in his 2/3 of an inning against 4 batters. Daisuke Sobue would walk away with the win however after he pitched the 9th inning and the last part of the 8th, taking two strike and giving up a walks and two hits.

Apart from Hamada, the bullpen really put the halt on the Orix attack and helped the batters as much as they could to turn the game around.

Mr No-motto continues his good touch

Batting

Kei Nomoto was at his industrious best as he took to the Buffaloes with 4 hits including 2 RBIs. A perfect outing from a man that has hit some good form of late. 6/8 against the Buffaloes this series. Not bad at all. Watanabe would also show more of what he has to offer as he chipped in with two hits, a walk and an RBI. Kondo, another trainee, kept his run of hits going as he hit one and walked once.  Hernandez and Yusuke Matsui would be the other RBI hitters today and it was the diminutive Domincan that would hit the winning RBI, a double in the final bracket in a sayonara win.

All in all a good couple of wins to keep the team on top. No significant movement between the rosters at present. Although with  3 straight losses for the first team, it's possible someone might get a call-up.