Another series against the Baystars would take place out in
the countryside catchments of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka and Toyohashi in eastern Aichi.
Toyohashi Ballpark
Hamamatsu Ballpark
In the first matchup in Hamamatsu, Yu Sato, who got his
first win over the ‘Star in the Dragons last visit to Yokohama would be looking
to repeat some magic over the experienced Moscoso.
The game would also mark the first call-up for draftee #1 Shinnosuke Ogasawara who has spent most of the season so far starting in the 2-gun.
Kuramoto would be the
first to break the silence in the 2nd inning while Yamashita batted
in a second RBI soon after. Lopes struck a single in the 5th to send
one home while the Dragons mustered a reply in the bottom of the same through a
Tani sac-fly that allowed Issei Endo to come home to score. Viciedo then got on
top of a Moscoso pitch to send Araki in to make it 2-3. Now one away from
equalizing, Hirata’s double moved the Dragons score past the ‘stars to take the
lead at 4-3. Yokohama would however stay toe to toe with the Dragons though as
they evened things up in the 5th through a Kuramoto single. Now
searching for the decisive winner it would be, who else but Kei Nomoto who
popped up with another RBI as a pinch-hitter to give the Dragons a lead in the
bottom of the 6th. Yokohama’s Lopes however was having none of it
and restored parity in the 7th with a solo homer, 5-6.
The game’s winning run would come in somewhat cruel
circumstances however as a Viciedo fumble from a Kuwahara hit allowed Shirasaki
to run in to score and but DeNA in front. The Baystars relievers successfully
then put the breaks on the Dragons line-up as they snuffled 6 outs in a row in
the final two innings.
Another close loss where the relievers were tested. Ogawa
kept things honest after Sato was relieved in the 3rd, but Fuku let
one go while Matayoshi arguably threw away the tie with his 2 conceded runs. The reliever was relegated to the 2nd team after the game to think about what he has done and work on getting back to form. Suda was awarded the win for the Baystars on the night while Gifu-born Tomoya
Mikami grabbed a hold with Yamasaki claiming his 11th save of the
season.
Toyohashi would be the next venue on the road tour.
Toyohashi isn’t in itself awfully well known, but one of its favourite sons, a
certain Atsushi Fujii, always turns it on when the team visits. Fujii played a
decisive role in the last two games played in his home town and particularly shined in the 2014 fixture with a walk-off homerun. Would he be able
to do it again? Well, he’d have to do it from the bench with Nanita, Ohshima
and Hirata the preferred outfield three.
Takuya Kinoshita would make his debut on the starting roster as the 2015 draft pick got to see what it was like in the big leagues.
Wakamatsu and Ishida would be the starters. Wakamatsu has
been the Dragons most successful pitcher this season, but with batters now
seemingly more comfortable with the pitcher’s change-up(from what I can see,
most batters tend to be waiting for it) he hasn’t had the best run of late.
The catcher Tobashira would be the first to strike as he
scored Kuramoto in the top of the 2nd. Kajitani, carrying Yokohama
to victory after victory since his return, hit a solo homer into the stands in the
3rd to make it 0-2.
Ishikawa’s double in the 4th would then push the
scores to 0-3 as the Dragons struggled to make an impact on the game. A reply
would come in the 7th, but not off a Dragons bat, as a wild pitch
from Ishida allowed Tetsuya Tani to score and make things a more respectable
1-3.
Fujii would make his appearance in the 8th, but there would be no hometown magic today as the veteran struck out to end the inning and most hope of a comeback.
Ishida was outstanding
The final nail in the coffin would come in the 9th with Koji
Fukutani pitching as Kuwahara launched a solo homer into the stands to make it
1-4 on the night. With the game all but over and done with, Yamasaki was called
on and rightfully put the Dragons out of their misery.
Nothing to write home about but certainly the words “there’s
no place like home” have a nice ring to them. Only 5 hits were mustered today,
barely acceptable, but credit needs to go to the Baystars for pitching well.
Wakamatsu took his 3rd consecutive loss totalling 3 losses in all
for the season. Something’s not working and I have a feeling he’s going to have
to work on another breaking ball if we’re going to see something change. There
were rumours he was working on a sinker in off-season but as far as I know we
haven’t seen it yet.
Not a great couple of games, but we’re still early in the
season. It was just a pity we couldn’t give those fans that can’t come out to
watch baseball all that often something happy to go home with. At least they got to see Doara flip successfully twice in a row.
NB: Apologies for having no gifs of the Kuwahara and Kajitani homeruns. I can't find any footage I can lift and the gifs don't seems to exist on nanJ or the other 2-channel baseball forums. The best I can get is this daily wrap-up of homers on NicoNicoDouga. You will need an account to watch it. The Kajtani homerun is at about 7 minutes with Kuwahara's shortly after.
After a good couple of series at home it was time for the
Dragons to make the trip back to Kanto to face off against the DeNA Yokohama
Baystars. The Dragons made quick work of the Baystars in Nagoya earlier this
season, and apart from a bore 0-0 draw, it was all positive for the Chunichi
boys. Now, away from home, how would the team face up?
This was actually a series I had tickets to due to my fan
club membership but due to the stadium being about an hour away from my
workplace and a good 2 hours away from home, I decided against attending this
time around. Regret it already. Nevermind!
Game 24 of our season would be a battle of the recently retired
managers and Tanishige, a legend for the Baystars and the Dragons, came up
against the only foreign manager in the league, Alex Ramirez. Tanishige
started his career in Yokohama and if you look at the league finishes before
and after he left, well, maybe there was a bit of correlation between Tanishige
and success.
Jordan was brought up to take on the Baystars in his 3rd
start for the Dragons this year. Kenta Ishida would be his opposing number,
starting for Yokohama.
The action would start with the Baystars today. Kuwahara
lead-off with a single while Ishikawa was fanned by Jordan. Shotaro Ide hit
what looked like it was going to be a single into the left-field, but a fumble
from Nanita allowed Kuwahara to get on to third base. The dangerman Tsutsugo
would step up next for the ‘stars and a sac fly into the right would be enough
to score Kuwahara and open the scores, 1-0. Jamie Romak was walked the next
ball, but a hit into foul territory from Kuramoto resulted in an easy catch to
end the innings.
The Baystars would continue the scoring in 2nd
inning as Yanagida (not the good one) lead off with a walk. Tobashira was
induced into a ground out before Ishida was fanned by Jordan to leave a runner
on second with two outs. Kuwahara, the scorer in the first inning would be the
next to step-up and it would be a handy hit into left field to send Tobashira
on his way, 2-0.
A quiet few innings followed before the DeNA men had another
breakthrough in the 4th. Kuramoto would get a hit but the poor man’s
Yanagida would fly out to a Jordan change-up. Tobashira took a liking to
another pitch as he moved Kuramoto to 3rd and put himself on 1st.
up would come the pitcher, Ishida and from a hit in the infield, he was able to
safely score Kuramoto and put himself on 1st base, 3-0. Kuwahara and
Ishikawa would subsequently fall victim to consecutive fly-outs to end the
inning.
With batting looking a bit dire, it was time for the Dragons
to turn it on and get back into the game. At the top of the 5th the
magic would start with a Viciedo double. Nanita would oblige his Hispanic
compatriot with a hit of his own into the centre to allow Viciedo to score,
3-1. The rally cry was there, but with Hirata hitting into a double play and
Donoue being struckout by Ishida, the innings was over in quick fashion.
A personnel change would come for Yokohama in the 6th
as Shibata was brought in for Ide, but the new defensive shift couldn’t stop
Shota Sugiyama from clearing the fence to rake a solo homer, 3-2.
Fukuda was
brought in to pinch-hit for Jordan but a ground out was all that would result.
A bit worrying for a guy who was absolutely mashing it in the 2-gun team
earlier in the year. Ohshima would be the next at the plate and the
centre-fielder would treat the visiting fans to a rare occurrence. On a count
of 1-2, Ohshima opened up his shoulders and whacked one into the right stand.
3-3.
Back to even terms in no time at all. Araki and Takahashi would try to
push the score to a winning margin, but it wasn’t to be with both grounding out
to end the inning.
With the Baystars now on the back foot, Fujioka was brought
to the mound to change the flow after a scoreless batting stanza. While he
would find success removing Viciedo, a hit and a walk to Nanita and Hirata put
the pressure on. While Fujioka fanned Donoue, Ramirez was happy to take him off
and replace him with Tanaka. It wouldn’t prove to be the most astute of
decisions as Sugiyama continued to fire as Romak mis-fielded a hit into the
right allowing Nanita and Hirata to score to put the Dragons into a winning
position for the first time of the day. 3-5.
Tani continued the mayhem as he
scored Sugiyama with his double to make it 3-6. Ohshima finished off the inning
as he was struckout by Tanaka.
The force was definitely with the Dragons at this point as
they sought to put the game well out of reach in the 8th. After
Araki and Takahashi failed to put up any resistance, up stepped the big Cuba,
the man, the moment, the dude, Dayan Viciedo. Squaring up his foe, allowing the
count to go to full, El Tank saw his moment and connected sweetly with a
delivery in the middle of the plate. Sensing the homerun immediately, Viciedo
dropped his bat in the “to hell with you bat” style and pumped up as ever
jogged the diamond, 3-7.
It would be the last of the scoring as Tajima closed
out the 9th for no score to cap off an exciting come from behind
victory.
3 big dingers in a great turn
around win for the Dragons and yet another poor showing from the Baystars. Highlights
Game 25 would be a different affair
all together with the ever predictably unpredictable Daisuke Yamai on the
mound. Yasutomo Kubo would pull the strings with the ball for the Baystars.
Both pitchers were winless going into this game. Who would be the first to
break their streak if either?
The scoring would start early
in the bottom of the first. Yamai induced Aranami into a ground out to start
things off. Ishikawa now stepped up to the plate and on a count of 2-1,
launched Yamai into the stands to grab a solo home run to rattle the Dragons
early, 1-0.
Otosaka fell victim to a change
up while Tsusugo got to base. Ide would however give Yamai one of his only 2 strikeouts
of the game to end the inning.
The Baystars continued their
assault in the third. Aranami flew out to centre but Ishikawa took a sneaky
bunt option which caught all by surprise and beat Yamai on the bounce as he ran
through first base. Otosaka next up hit
a double to move runners onto 2nd and 3rd. With Tsutsugo
next up and more than a few worries adding up over Yamai’s pitching, it was no
surprise that the big Yokohama hitter would make something happen. A hit to the short-stop would see Tsutsugo
out at first, but it allowed Ishikawa to run home and score to make it, 2-0.
Ide would be the last batter of the inning as his foul ball was caught by
Viciedo.
Still showing dangerous signs,
something that couldn’t be said of the Dragons line-up, the ‘stars took to the
4th inning. It would be a near carbon copy of the 1st
inning as Kuramoto ground out at second allowing Hyuma to walk-up. Then, on a
count of 1-0, Hyuma dispatched Yamai into the stands just right of the
backscreen to make it 3-0. Yamai was
visibly disappointed as he should be. He hadn’t thrown too bad stuff up to this
point but, well, it only takes one bad ball.
Yamai would unfortunately be at
the end of another dinger in the 6th as after a strike,
Tsutsugo got his 8th homer of
the season in almost the exact same spot as Hyuma. A change-up delivery in the outside
track was punished with authority to put the Baystars 4-0 to the good.
Yamai
would close out the inning with no further messy situations, but conceding 3
homeruns in 6 innings musn’t be a great feeling.
The Dragons would mount a
counter-attack of sorts in the top of the 7th inning with Nanita
leading off with a double. Hirata then managed a single to put runners on 1st
and 2nd. Donoue now stepped up to survey the situation and the
infielder would continue his good form with the bat as he hit a single to let
Nanita run home, 4-1. Sugiyama’s single would then load up the bases with
Morino coming in to pinch-hit for Yamai. The veteran would read his pitches
well and elect to walk to take the score to 4-2. Kubo, who had pitched well,
was withdrawn for Tanaka who up until today had a 0.00 ERA for the season.
Ohshima was able to hit a sack fly off Tanaka to allow Hirata to score to make
it 4-3. Kamezawa was withdrawn for Tani to pinch-hit, but the man in form
couldn’t make anything happen as he ground into a double play to end the
inning.
The bottom of the 7th
inning brought Iwase to the mound and Tani onto second base to replace Kamezawa
who had a fantastic game defensively showing his speed when ground fielding.
Tobashira started off the
proceedings with a single. Kuwahara was brought in to pinch-hit for Tanaka but
couldn’t make the best of his chance as he flew out. Aranami was then withdrawn
for Jamie Romak who was given a walk by Iwase to put runners on 1st and
2nd. Thanks to a rare mis-field from Donoue, Ishikawa then helped
load the bases with what probably should have been the start of a double play.
Otosaka would be the hero as his single scored two batters to move the score to
6-3. Tsusugo would not let up as he also singled to send Ishikawa home, 7-3.
Iwase, not doing his job, was taken off for Achira, the man doing the work in
the 2-gun. And while he loaded the bases after fanning Yanagida, he escaped by inducing
a ground out from Hyuma to end the inning.
The final nail in the coffin
came in the top of the 8th as after Achira dismissed Tobashira,
Kuwahara took a liking to tasty looking middle of the box straight ball and
scored the 4th Baystars homerun of the night, 8-3.
The Dragons tried their hardest
to fight back in the 9th but it would be to no avail as Gifu native,
Tomoya Mikami shut the Chunichi batting line-up down to end the game.
Not a great start lead to a
minor comeback but Iwase not hitting his straps meant that the game was taken
away from the Dragons despite turning the tide. Had it been a different pitcher
maybe it would have been a different story but we’ll never know. There were some good performances with the
bat with Ohshima, Nanita, Hirata, Donoue and Sugiyama all registering two hits
a piece, but it wasn’t a line-up that combined well enough together today.
Credit goes to Kubo for crafting good game at the start of the game to set-up
the win for the Baystars. Major questions still over Yamai’s head with some
wondering why a younger starter isn’t given a chance ahead of him, but as a
stop-gap while Ohno is out, Yamai appears to be the man that Tanishige wants. Credit
I think needs to go to Achira who made his first appearance this season for the
first team and did well despite conceding a homerun. Hopefully he will be considered
for long-relief duties in future. Highlights：
Into Game 26 of the season and
it was to be Oguma, who was one hit away from a no-hitter in his last start
against the Baystars took the mound against the Baystars. Yoshiki Sunada, yet
to claim a win this season was his opponent in the final game of the series
before the Dragons moved to Hiroshima for the weekend games.
Iwase removed from the first team as the only change in registration following his less than average performance.
It was an unusually cagey
opening that would be broken in the third inning by the Baystars. A double from
Tobashira started things before Sunada failed in his attempt to bunt. It wouldn’t
matter however as one of yesterday’s homerun heroes, Masayuki Kuwahara
continued where he left off hitting another one into the bleachers to open the
scores at 2-0. Ishikawa and Otosaka could not add to the bracket and left the
lead at two.
It would be an immediate reply
from the Dragons as Sunada walked Viciedo to begin the innings. Nanita was
beaten by a changeup, but the ever influential Ryosuke Hirata was brought to
the plate. The captain has made his presence known since returning from injury
at the outfielder would add to his homerun tally for the season with a lovely
strike into the left stand, 2-2.
Donoue
would be walked to follow up, but Katsura fly-out and Donoue’s failed steal
ended the inning prematurely.
Oguma kept up his good job as
he kept the Baystars quiet. An error made by Takahashi in the 5th
was the only black mark on an otherwise good defensive performance.
The 6th inning would
be opened up by Takahashi and the young star would well make up for his mistake
in the field, slamming another homerun into the left stand. 2-3 the score!
Viciedo would continue things
with a single and Nanita would add to that with a single that allowed the Cuban
to move to third base.
Obviously sensing danger,
Ramirez decided to substitute in Zach Petrick for Sunada. It wouldn’t stop a
thing as Hirata made another telling contribution by singling Viciedo on his
way home.
Donoue was caught at second to
tally the first out of the inning bringing Iori Katsura to the plate. Katsura
has shown a penchant for homers and today would be no different as he whalloped
a 3-run homerun to send the scores to 2-7!
It was a magnificent bat-flip to
follow as Katsura hit a fantastic no-doubter to continue the heated competition
for the catcher’s spot between he and Sugiyama and had Tanishige grinning ear
to ear.
Oguma continued the mayhem as he hit a double but Ohshima and Araki
couldn’t take advantage.
The last of the scoring would
come in the 7th inning. Nogawa would replace Petrick, and start
things off by walking Shuhei. Lack of control was noticeable as he also walked
Viciedo. Now correcting, Nogawa struck out Nanita and induced a ground out from
Hirata but it was a timely triple from Donoue that sent Shuhei and Viciedo home
to score and make it 2-9.
Hiroto Fuku was given the ball
for the last 2 innings and the young lefty did well to close out the remaining
innings under little pressure. He was able to strike out Romak and Tobashira in
a row while inducing a ground out from Yamashita to end the inning and a
fantastic hard hitting display.
All things went to plan for the
Dragons today and Oguma gained a little more confidence after being battered by
the Carp a week ago. No one can underestimate the influence of Hirata though as
it seemed the whole team took a lift when he started doing his thing.
Overall a very positive series
for the Dragons where we saw plenty of dingers and most importantly a series
win.
