4/7/2004
4/7/2004
| Hosokawa Having the Week of His Life With Fourth and Fifth Homers in 12-4 Lions Victory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture Orix
Blue Wave righthander Makoto Suzuki, who had been improving steadily since
last August, reverted to his frightful pre-all star break form and was
righteously punished by the
Seibu Lions Wednesday at Seibu Dome 12-4. Lions catcher Toru Hosokawa is also in the process of doing a Wally Pipp number on the injured incumbent starter at the position, Koji Noda, as he connected for a pair of homers to put himself atop the Pacific League heap in that category. Seibu centerfielder Shogo Akada, subbing for the injured Tatsuya Ozeki lately, is doing likewise, batting .385 and driving in four runs after going yard lefty stylee for the first time in his life. The beneficiary of all this offensive floridity was Lions starter Fumiya Nishiguchi, who pitched well for six innings before getting buffeted a bit in the seventh, in the end permitting four runs on five hits in seven innings. At least he is hinting that he may be recapturing the form that allowed him to win in double figures seven years running before deteriorating in 2003. DH Hiroyuki Shibata inaugurated the first by walking,
but was out attempting to steal. Akada, who had started
Orix responded with a big fly to center from first baseman Jose Ortiz in the second to equalize it at 1-1. However, in the home episode, third baseman Hiroshi Hirao rammed a double to leftcenter and, one out later, shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to left to bring him in with a 2-1 advantage. Two more Lions would toe the dish in the fourth, as first baseman Jose Fernandez doubled to leftcenter with two outs and rumbled around on a single to center from leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada. Hirao walked. Oshima doubled to leftcenter to slingshot Wada in and grow the Seibu lead to 4-1. In the fourth, Hosokawa socked one into the leftfield seats. Second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi singled to center and was sacrificed to second. Akada singled to center and Takagi crossed to put the score at Lions 6, Blue Wave 1. There were more firewowrks in the fifth. With Hisashi
Tokano on the hill, Oshima mashed one into the
Another inning, another homer, Fernandez doing the honors on this occasion, the sixth, to dead center to tear it to 9-1. Orix was able to rebound, albeit inadequately, in the
seventh on walks to leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani and rightfielder Roosevelt
Brown and a single to left from Ortiz for an RBI. One out later, DH Takeshi
Yamasaki fricaseed one to leftcenter for an RBI double. Catcher Takeshi
Hidaka grounded to second and Ortiz crossed
Rookie Tatsuo Kato was inserted to begin the seventh and promptly walked both Nakajima and Hosokawa. Following two strikeouts, Akada tripled up the rightcenter gap and it was 11-4. Fernandez grounded to Kazuhiko Shiotani at third, who booted it and Akada rushed in with a 12-4 lead. Orix only had three baserunners the rest of the way,
shortstop Mitsutaka Goto striking out to end it in the ninth.
E: Muramatsu, Shiotani, M. Suzuki
Season Series: Orix 0, Seibu 3 Game Time: 3:18
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| Gulin, Iguchi Pull Daiei by Kintetsu 5-3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Osaka Lindsay Gulin's fastball
only topped out at, get this, 82mph in this game, but he was so resourceful
in
mixing up his pitches and locations that they weren't able to get enough of a handle on him to hurt him with a knockout blow and thus, despite surrendering ten hits in six innings, he contained the Kintetsu Buffaloes on three runs in six innings for his first win in Japan. Meanwhile, the Daiei Hawks order burned 38 year old Buffs starter Shinichi Kato for two homers and five earned runs. Kintetsu had two on and two outs in the first, but
Gulin lured red hot first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa into striking
Kintetsu shortstop Masahiro Abe doubled with one out
in the second, but a groundout and flyout later, Gulin had
The Buffs could have rid themselves of Gulin in the fourth, but blew it. Kitagawa leadoff with a walk. Rightfielder Koichi Isobe singled to left. Abe, though, bounced into a 6-4-3 double play. Catcher Akihito Fujii singled to right to invite Kitagawa to the plate. Centerfielder Naoyuki Omura singled to center. Leftfielder Hiroaki Onishi, however, grounded out and it remained 2-1 Hawks. Not for long, though, as the birds of prey made the
most of their opportunity in the fifth. Third baseman Homare Inamine started
it with an infield hit and was sacrificed to second and then went to third
on a groundout. Kawasaki walked. Kato endeavored to spot a fastball down
and away but left it in Iguchi's happy zone and the MLB wannabe
Kintetsu had some luck against Gulin in the sixth and
it made things close. Kitagawa singled to right and, one out
Daiei reliever Shinji Kurano was done up for two singles
with two outs in the seventh, but obtained the third out. Kintetsu did
nothing in the eighth. In the ninth, Akio Mizuta retired the first two
he saw and then Fumitoshi Takano singled to right. Third baseman Norihiro
Nakamura silded to the plate with a stick big enough to tie this thing
up.
SB: P. Valdez, N. Omura, A. Fujii
Season Series: Kintetsu 1, Daiei 2 Game Time: 3:32
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| Echevarria Two Run Blast, Four RBIs Backs Kanemura's Second Win for Nippon Ham 6-1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Makuhari, Chiba Prefecture Satoru
Kanemura is one fine pitcher and Wednesday he won his second in three decisions,
limiting the Chiba Lotte Marines to two hits over 7.1 innings as the Nippon
Ham Fighters took the bloom off the Lotte rose with their second straight
victory 6-1. The always mediocre Yasuhiko Yabuta started for the losers
and absorbed his what will undoubtedly be the first of many defeats to
come by giving up three runs in five innings. Fighters DH Angel Echevarria
spearheaded the attack for the victors with a two run homer and four RBIs.
Lotte had the first real opportunity to interrupt a scoreless tie in the fifth when centerfielder Jun Inoue walked and rightfielder Saburo Omura singled to left and both men moved up 90 feet on a groundout to first. But shortstop Makoto Kosaka fouled out to third and second baseman Koichi Hori flied out to center to keep it 0-0. The Fighters batsman then got in synch and spanked Yabuta in the sixth. Centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo got an 86mph fastball and unleashed a bullet to the centerfield wall for a double. Third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara singled to right on a 3-2 breaking ball to propel Shinjo home. Echevarria conked a slider way into the leftfield bleachers and it was 3-0. They had another, though briefer, flurry in the seventh, as shortstop Makoto Kaneko singled to center and rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi, who is perhaps on the verge of superstardom, guided one into the rightfield corner and sped around to third as Kaneko scored to make it 4-0 Fighters. Lotte could have gotten back into this thing in the
eighth, but didn't get what they should have out of their effort.
Echevarria then put on his insrance salesman's hat
in theninth, as Tsuboi walked and Shinjo singled to right while Ogasawara
walked to present him with a bases loaded, one out chance. He pounded the
ball off the leftfield wall
Lotte would produce a meaningless Matt Franco single in the ninth, Itoh concluding the festivities with a strikeout of Hori. Nippon Ham has now won two in a row for Lotte's first back to back losses of the 2004 campaign. However, the home team came in not that far above the Mendoza Line collectively at the plate, so if that continues, winning consistently is going to be a problem. The Fighters have the opposite conundrum: .300 hitting and not much pitching.
2B: Y. Tanaka, Shinjo, Hori, Echevarria
Season Series: Lotte 1 , Nippon Ham 2 Game Time: 3:32
shinjo hit an 86mph fastball for his double, a real bullet. ogasawara then hit a low 3-2 breaking ball for a hit. firs time lotte has lost back to back games. valentine is giving his relief corp Thursday off. echevarria hit a slider out. |
Team Reports
| Kintetsu | |
| Larry Barnes still has some swelling in his wrist, so it is now going | to be at least until the 16th before he might be back in the lineup. |