Regular Season: Dragons vs Baystars @Hamamatsu & Toyohashi, May 24th & 25th; Regional agony, one Kajitani away from victory

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 2^nd inning while Yamashita batted in a second RBI soon after. Lopes struck a single in the 5^th 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 5^th 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 6^th. Yokohama’s Lopes however was having none of it and restored parity in the 7^th with a solo homer, 5-6.

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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 3^rd, 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 11^th save of the season.

One positive did come out of the game, as Doara completed his back flip to the applause of the fans.

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 2^nd. Kajitani, carrying Yokohama to victory after victory since his return, hit a solo homer into the stands in the 3^rd to make it 0-2.

Ishikawa’s double in the 4^th 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 7^th, 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 9^th 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 3^rd 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.

Regular Season: Dragons vs Giants @Nagoya, May 20th – 22nd; Donoue on a winner, Ohshima going to town

After a disappointing romp in Osaka, the Dragons came back to Nagoya for another round of the “Mr Baseball Classic” against the Yomiuri Giants. The Dragons have the better of the record so far in the 6 battles having taken 4 wins a draw and a loss, including a sweep of Giants at the Tokyo Dome.

 Raul Valdes would come up against Giants ace, Tomoyuki Sugano for the start of the series on Friday and both pitchers would keep things awfully quiet. Valdes had a scare in the 5th inning as he loaded up the bases with no outs. The veteran would however keep his nerve as he dismissed Kobayashi, Sugano and Chono in succession. The Cuban would then pitch out a full, scoreless 9-innings, but unluckily for the Dragons, so would Sugano and Mathieson. With the tie locked at 0-0 extra innings were to be relied on to dig out a result and in the 11th inning it would be the Giants to break through as with runners on 2nd and 3rd, Fukutani threw a wild pitch to see the first run of the game. A terrible way to concede. Ohta would then add another to the inning before the chance to counter was given to the Dragons. Sawamura however kept his nerve and made the save to end the game at 0-2 to the Giants.

 This loss made it 3 in a row for the Dragons, and three very close games at that. Araki was the man with the bat today as he hit 3 and Ricardo Nanita contributed with 2. Valdes fanned 11 batters, walking 2 and conceding 8 hits in a remarkable 9 innings where he was very unlucky to not get the win. Scott Mathieson would end the game as winning pitcher, while the loss was handed to Fukutani; his first of the season.

 Game 8 against the Giants this season would prove to be much better reading for Dragons fans. Jordan Norberto, who debuted as a starter the last time the Giants came to Nagoya, would start while Nobutaka Imamura, winless in two against the Dragons, approached the mound for the Yomiuri faithful.

Naomichi Donoue would be the man to get things started as he hit a solo homer into the left stands to get the Dragons underway.

 The Giants replied in kind however through Ohta who hit his second homerun at the Nagoya Dome this season to even things up.

 Luis Cruz then threatened to take the game away as his solo homer into the right stands took the lead for the Giants in the top of the 7th.

 However in the bottom of the same inning, Kei Nomoto would once again make a telling contribution as his sac-fly allowed Hirata to get home to make things 2-2. With bases loaded, Tani took to the task and his single gave the Dragons the lead for the second time of the day. Yamaguchi was now brought in for the Giants, but it was to be too late as a rhythm was found with the bat. Ohshima and Viciedo helped stretch the winning scoreline to 5-2. Fuku now replaced Jordan at the mound and it would be to the advantage of the Giants Shinnosuke Shegenobu hit a single RBI off the youngster. His withdrawal for Fukutani wouldn’t stop Hayato Sakamoto hitting another RBI to move them within a point of equalizing. In the bottom of the 8th though, Atsushi Fujii would help to crush Tokyo hopes as his RBI opened the gap to two again at 6-4. The indomitable Shinji Tajima was tossed the rock to close out the game, and the record holder did his job superbly, keeping the Giants out of the hunt and ending the game with a 6-4 win.

Jordan got his 3rd win of the season as Araki rocketed away with another 3 hits to his name. The Kumamoto native must be looking to get those 2000 career hits this year! The second of the infield pairing, Donoue also made a telling contribution with his homer and a hit.

Taking a moment to talk about Kei Nomoto however, the 31 year old has been in great form as a pinch-hitter as is currently averaging .364. Not bad. Certainly doing what Fukuda and Morino couldn’t do earlier in the season.

Sunday night’s clash would be another good one for the Dragons (and one I had the opportunity to laud over one of my co-workers) as Kazuki Yoshimi went looking for his first win.(I believe I made a mistake in a previous report regarding this, my apologies) while Takagi went in search of his 4th.

 Luis Cruz would be the one to take the leadership role as he steered Chono home to open the scores in the 3rd. It would take until the bottom of the 4th for the Dragons to have their revenge as Ohshima slapped his second homer of the season into the right stand

. Donoue would also help add to the score and get the Dragons in front with his single that allowed Nanita to score. Nanita would then turn provider in the 6th as a poor throw from Garrett Jones allowed Ohshima to score. The mayhem would continue, with Donoue being the root of it, as he hit two home with bases loaded to blow the score out to 5-1.

 That would prove to be enough for the Dragons to get their win as Hiroto Fuku closed out the game to secure Chunichi’s 6th win against the Giants this season. If only we could play them every week! Yoshimi claimed his first win of the season (apologies for claiming this in an earlier game, I was wrong) while Donoue’s 3 RBIs solidified his growing status among Dragons fans as the man for the short-stop role and lower-order hitter.

 Two great wins strung together to overcome the 3 straight (but close) losses. A great compliment to the team and well, it’s always good to beat the Giants in any case. I worl in Tokyo and it’s always nice to be able to gloat a little in the office.

Regular Season: Dragons vs Tigers @Koshien, May 17th – 19th; Close but no cigar

After what we can call a fairly “meh” series in terms of results against the Carp it was now time to switch focus to another dosey-doe with the Tigers.

The first game would be a show of youth against experience with Yu Sato lining up against Randy Messenger. Sato would be hoping to build on his first career win against the Baystars.

The Dragons would be the one to set the wheels rolling and in a spectacular way. On a full-count in his first at-bat of the evening, Ryosuke Hirata pulled a ball into the left stands to bring up his 5^th homer of the season.

Already close to half of his total last season (11). Haraguchi would however come back to haunt the dragons in the 2^nd as he evened things up while Takayama pushed the scored into Hanshin’s favour at 3-1. Hirata would be at the centre of good things again in the 8^th as his hit brought the Dragons back within reaching distance. Pinch-hitting specialist, Kei Nomoto would then step-up to put the Dragons on an even footing with a timely single in the 9^th to even the scores at 3-3.  That wouldn’t be the end of the fun however, as with bases loaded, Atsushi Fujii was given the chance to put the Dragons in front and the switch-hitter obliged with a sac-fly into left field. Some mayhem ensued as Endo was then found out at second to end the inning. Koji Fukutani was in the heat-seat once more for the bottom of the 9^th but he was able to keep the Tigers quiet and seal a close 3-4 win in the picturesque Koshien stadium.

Donoue and Hirata were the key men with the bat as the captain snagged two RBIs while Donoue racked up 2 hits. Tajima took home winning honours for his scoreless inning while Dolis for the Tigers took the loss.

The game would also be marked by the 25^th consecutive game where Shinji Tajima remained scoreless. A magnificent milestone for the relief pitcher as he set a new Central league record. Tajima has been in top form and has shown experience and verve where his partner, Matayoshi hasn’t.

Up next, the game would feature another youth vs experience battle on the mound as a winless Daisuke Yamai took on Hanshin’s 22 yo. Yuya Yokoyama.

Haraguchi would continue his haranguing form against the Dragons as his RBI sent Itayama home in the bottom of the 2^nd. The Dragons would reply in the 4^th when Nanita helped send Hirata home to even things up at 1-1. The lead wouldn’t last long however as in the bottom of the same inning, Yamai loaded up the bases. A wild pitch was followed by a dead ball against Yamato that clearly showed the veteran is struggling with his control.  Toritani would however hit a sac-fly to allow a single runner home to reclaim the lead at 2-1. The Tigers furthered their lead in the 5^th with a solo homer from Gomez which would prove to be Yamai’s last inning of the night.

The Dragons wouldn’t go out without a whimper though as in the top of the 8^th with Fujii and Araki on base, Hirata hit a single to move Chunichi within a run of evening the tables. With runners in promising positions and Viciedo and Nanita to come, there was hope of a come-back, but it was to be for naught as both fell victim to Yuya Ando. That would prove to be the end of the scoring as Fujikawa was brought in by the Tigers to make the save and claim an important win.

Yamai’s inability to do anything of use has to ring alarm bells. How many losses is he going to have to get before Tanishige decides to get rid of him? I know injuries are bad, but surely there has to be someone that will do a better job? Games with Yamai starting are all but a default loss at present.

Hirata was the main man with the bat as he snaffled an RBI and two walks for his trouble. Apart from the captain, there were minimal contributions across the board with most of the top order taking a hit.

The last game of the series was to be another close encounter of the baseball kind as Shintaro Fujinami faced off again Shunta Wakamatsu .  

Yamai found himself de-registered from the team for the first time this season, while catcher Takuma Kato was brought in to bolster the catching stocks.

Scoring would start in the 1^st with the big Cuban, Dayan Viciedo helping Ohshima home to open the scores at 1-0. Fujinami’s control was clearly lacking as he walked Donoue and threw a wild pitch to allow Hirata to score to extend Chunichi’s lead. The lead however would be taken away from the Dragons in the bottom of the 6^th as Toritani and Fukudome hit a single and a double respectively to put the scores at 2-2.  In the bottom of the 9^th with extra inning looming, Matayoshi was given the ball to replace Fuku after the latter saw Fukudome off, but it was to a be a folly of a decision as the pitcher loaded up the bases and allowed a single to Haraguchi to end the game with a walk-off win to the Tigers.

A game of much finer margins that was probably, unfortunately, lost at the death thanks to some off colour clutch pitching. Viciedo did his job and how as he claimed 3 hits and a walk in his 4 at-bats while Sugiyama as well contributed two hits a walk plus a sac-hit to end a very productive game.

A win combined with two close losses away from home isn’t the worst way to end the week. The Dragons had their chances to win in the last two games but simply couldn’t produce at the right moments. Up next await the Giants; let’s see what we can do against them. 

On a bit of side news, former Dragons slugger, Matt Clark has made the trip back to Japan to play for the Orix Buffaloes for the rest of the season. I wish him all the best. 

Regular Season: Dragons vs Carp @Nagoya, May 13th – 15th; Yoshimi's first win, Viciedo shows off his dongs

The Hiroshima Carp have been somewhat of a bogey side for the Dragons so far this season, and it would be no different in this series as the unappetising fish stated their playoff credentials in a heated 3 battles at the Nagoya dome.

The first game of the series saw Hiroshima’s Toda up against Raul Valdes.

The Dragons would be on top early as the big man from Cuba, Dayan Viciedo, knocked his 12^th homer of the season into the stands to claim an early 2-0 lead.

 The Carp would however respond in kind in the 4^th innings with a 2-run dong from Kokuya to even things up.

Chunichi would however reclaim the lead in the 7^th inning as Nomoto, pinch-hitting for Tani, squeezed in a two-base hit to send Katsura home to score to make it 3-2. The Dragons continued to lead going in to the 9^th inning but a double given up to the veteran, Arai saw the scores equalled and Fukutani blowing his save. Going into extra innings, Matayoshi was charged with keeping the Carp at bay but after wild pitch brought Nishikawa to 3^rd base with 2 outs, a rare Donoue fumble from a Tanaka hit allowed the Carp to take the lead, 3-4. Matayoshi was then withdrawn for Okada, but the lefty couldn’t stop Maru from raking two bases to put the Carp 3 runs to the good at 3-6.  The Dragons would attempt to fight back in the bottom of the 10^th, but their valiant efforts would be for naught as Nakasaki kept his nerve to close out the game.

A disappointing game that was lost to the relief pitchers. Fukutani continues to show inconsistency and is not the stone-wall closer he has the potential to be just yet.  Matayoshi’s 2^nd loss of the season is a bit of a worry too as the always reliable one-two punch of he and Tajima has looked a little shakier lately, at least the Matayoshi half has anyway.

On Saturday , the onus was on the Dragons to bounce back after a poor start to the series. Jordan Norberto started things off for Chunichi while Akitake Okada started for the Carp.

Ohshima would be the one to open the scores in the 3^rd inning as his hit through centre allowed runners on second and third to come home to score to make it 2-0. The Carp would then strike back through a double from Kikuchi and a single from Suzuki to equalize the scores in the 4^th. The Carp the took the lead through a double from Kokuya to put the Carp into a 2-4 lead. Maru extended the Carp lead with a sac-fly in the top of the 7^th but single from Nomoto in the bottom of the inning gave the Dragons hope of turning the tide, Subsequent hits from Ohshima and Araki in the same inning evened up the scores at 5-5 to mark a sold Chunichi comeback and in the top of the 8^th, Viciedo would seal a great come from behind win with a solo homerun.

Tajima walked away from the game with his first win of the season while Fukutani claimed the save to cap off a wonderful turn-around. Ohshima was the batter to put his name in lights as his 3 RBIs from 2 hits proved to be the most productive results from the line-up. Kei Nomoto made it two RBIs in two against the Carp as a pinch-hitter, proving to be a good option in the “Tatsunami” role.

The final game, a lovely Sunday afternoon in Nagoya would be the decider to see who would grab the series win. Charged with the duties of bringing home the bacon for their sides was Kazuki Yoshimi for the Dragons and Kyouhei Nakamura for the Carp.

Suzuki opened the scored in the 2^nd with a 1-run double while Abe added to his good work shortly after with a sac-fly to put the Carp 0-2 up. Araki’s double would get the Dragons going in the 3^rd  while Ryosuke Hirata put the Dragons into the lead as his hit sent Ohshima and Araki home to score, 3-2.  Abe would reply in the top of the 4^th as he scored Brad Eldred to even up the scores.  Unfortunately for the Dragons and Carp faithful, try as they might, neither side was able to one-up the other even after extra innings. A 3-3 draw was the result  on the night, but the Dragons can perhaps consider themselves lucky as the Carp out-hit them by double.

Yoshimi was left searching for his first win of the year while no batter in particular stood out of the marathon 12 innings. Viciedo was however kept very quiet he went 5/0 to end the night with no contribution with the bat whatsoever.

A pretty "ehhhh" series but overall the batting still needs addressing. Yoshimi getting his first one of the year was the highlight along with Viciedo's two dongs. Still, have to take the good with the bad and at least the series wasn't lost.

Regular Season: Dragons vs Baystars @Yokohama, May 10th – 12th;Tsutsugo on fire, Yamai remains ill

Before we get into the meat, here are the potatoes. Dayan Viciedo claimed the first monthly MVP award over a host of good competitors. Great stuff from the big man.

Following the sweep of the Giants, the Dragons found themselves still in Kanto as they took on the Baystars in Yokohama. A surprise starting berth awaited 2015 #2 draft pick, Yu Sato whom to my knowledge has been mostly used as a long reliever in the 2-gun. Nonetheless, Sato joined the ever changing “starting rotation” to get his first go in the bigs.  Moscoso started on the mound for the Baystars to start off the weekly round of games.

The scoring would start early with Hirata sending Ohshima home after a cracking single to draw first blood. DeNA would strike back in the 2^nd however as Hirata’s Samurai Japan team-mate, Tsutsugo whacked a solo homer to even things at 1-1.

Hirata would once again pull on his RBI gloves in the third however, powering home Ohshima into score once again to retake the lead, 1-2. A frenetic to and fro would follow but be broken when Nanita and Hernandez got to base, taking advantage following a Donoue sac fly to extend the lead to 1-3. Nanita fortuitously added to the score as a fumble from Kajitani in the outfield allowed what should have been a single to turn into a double allowing Viciedo to score, 1-4. Hernandez went to town on the next pitch as he sent one flying into the stands to record a 2-run homer and blow out the score to 1-6.

Young Tanaka of DeNA was left shellshocked having conceded 3 in very quick succession.  The Baystars would leave proceedings with a bit of bite as Shirasaki hit a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the 8^th with Tsutsugo nailing his second homer of the night in the 9^th to end things at 3-6. 

Sato claimed his first professional win on his debut. In fact, he is the first rookie since a certain 18 year old by the name of Kenshin Kawakami to get his first pro win in his first appearance. Hopefully he can go on to emulate the former Braves pitcher.  Ohshima was my man of the match however as he scored twice and managed 3 hits in 5 ABs. Has certainly been performing well of late.

Game two of the series would not have quite the highs and lows of the first unfortunately. Daisuke Yamai, still searching for his first win of the season took starting duties today while Kenta Ishida started from the ‘stars.

Scores were opened in the 2^nd inning as a Tsutsugo triple was followed by a Lopes sac-fly to open the scores at 1-0. Yamai continued in typical 2016 Yamai style, and in the 5^th inning, with the bases loaded, a wild pitch allowed Shirasaki to score to extend the lead to 2-0. Try as they might the Dragons batting line-up just couldn’t find the kick that propelled them against the Giants and the game fizzed out into a 2-0 win for Yokohama.  Nanita and Hernandez were kept dead quiet as Ohshima, Hirata, Viciedo and Donoue were the only ones to register hits on the day. Nanita marked an end to his 20 game streak of hits as well.

As for more bad, Daisuke Yamai lost his 10^th game in a row as a starter…surely something has to give.

The last game of the series started off slowly but quickly accelerated to provide great entertainment. Yohei Ohshima was the first to get on base after facing 14 pitches where he finally got a walk out of Sunada. An Araki hit and another walk to Hirata followed to load the bases which allowed Viciedo to take control as he hit two home to take the lead for the Dragons, 0-2. A single from Donoue in the same inning took the Dragons to a good early lead, 0-3. The Baystars wouldn’ take it lying down as a double from Kajitani followed by a single from Tsutsugo put DeNA back in contention at 2-3.  The scores would remain the same until the 6^th Sunada once again loaded up the bases but it was Ohshima to be the main man as his hit to second stranded Wakamatsu, but allowed Donoue to score, 2-4. Araki’s following single would again increase the lead to make it 2-5. It would however be another instant reply from the ‘stars as Otosaka, pinch-hitting for Shirasaki, hit a double to put one on the scorecard, 3-5. Shimozono would then make things even on the night with a 2 run home, 5-5.

 It would however end in heartbreak in extra innings for the Dragons as Kuramoto, with bases loaded, hit a single to score Kajitani and claim a walk-off win for the Baystars. A tale of bad luck and a lack of nerve in the final moments for Matayoshi as he gave up 2 hits and 2 walks in the final inning.  Yamasaki ended as the winning pitcher for Yokohama having pitched a single inning.

Araki gets the plaudits in the last game with his 4 hits including an RBI. The veteran is in great nick and may well bring up his 2000 hits this season at his current pace. 

A series loss against the cellar dwellers coming off a fantastic sweep of the Giants goes to show what the Dragons are made of really. We’re not a dominant team but on our day we’re as good as anyone else. Unfortunately there may not be enough good days this season to see us to the play-offs but on current value there’s more there than there was at the beginning of the season. Injuries to starting pitchers will however be a strong spine to the opening quarter of the season narrative.