6/2/2004
6/2/2004
| Box Scores Here; Click on to Numbers on Scoreboard |
|
|
| Kita-Kyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture The Chiba Lotte
Marines were outhomered 3-2 by the Daiei Hawks Wednesday at the bandbox
Kita-Kyushu Stadium, but Lotte just kept rallies going and DH Tasuku Hashimoto
blasted a grand slam in a 15-5 humiliation of the birds of prey. Tomohiro
Kuroki started for Lotte and was pretty much baffling to the Hawks, who
managed only three hits off of him
in five innings of shutout ball for his first win in three years. Kuroki, though, did walk five and that helped lead to an outrageously high pitch count of 115. Junji Hoshino started for Daiei and was awful, going six innings of nine run ball to absorb the kuroboshi. Lotte seized a lead in the first and never let go of it, as first baseman Kazuya Fukuura singled to left with one out and third baseman Matt Franco reached on an infield hit. Centerfielder Benny Agbayani walked to load the bases. Hashimoto steamed a fastball beyond the centerfield wall for his first pro grand slam and a 4-0 advantage. They added another in the second on a single to right by second baseman Chihiro Hamana, a sac bunt, a single to center by leftfielder Jun Inoue and a single to right by Fukuura that propelled Hamana across to make it 5-0. Daiei packed the sacks in the bottom of the inning with one out, but Kuroki struckout the next two hitters to maintain his five run edge. The Hawks produced two walks and a single in the third, but that was interdicted by a double play. In the fifth, Franco lined a one out double off the rightfield wall and Agbayani crashed one off the leftfield fence for an RBI double and Lotte was up 6-0. Their next time up, Fukuura put it in the refrigerator for Lotte. Hamana walked with one out and, one out later, Inoue ripped a shot down the leftfield line to score Hamana. Fukuura lifted a Hoshino offering into the rightfield stands and it was 9-0. Hoshino went to have a shower. In the home time at bat, Daiei first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka walked and catcher Kenji Johjima laid some heavy manners on an 85mph fastball from Shingo Ono and lost it just inside the leftfield foul pole to make it 9-2 Lotte. It was the great backstop's first dinger in three games. DH Julio Zuleta singled to left, as did centerfielder Yudai Deguchi. They advanced on a groundout. Third baseman Takashi Sasakawa grounded to third, the runners holding as the out was made at first. Second baseman Tadahito Iguchi walked to pack the sacks. Shortstop Munenori Kawasaki, though, flied out to center for the third out. Brandon Knight mosied in from the pen to make his first appearance
of the season and was screwed, blued and tattooed. Agbayani walked.
Dan Serafini came on for Lotte to begin the bottom stanza and Daiei leftfielder Pedro Valdez went yard to left on a 2-2 88mph fastball on the outer half of the plate to make it 15-3. In the eighth, Iguchi guided one into the leftfield stands off of Serafini with two outs and it was 15-4 Lotte. Satoru Komiyama was designated the closer for this one in the ninth and substitute rightfielder Kazuhiko Miyaji doubled down the rightfield line and went to third on a groundout. One out later, Zuleta singled to left to hail Miyaji in. Third baseman Mitsuru Honma struckout to turn the lights out in a 15-5 final. Valdez has four homers in his last five games. Bobby Valentine made an interesting remakr that could be construed
as an insult to previous manager Koji Yamamoto: "if I had been coaching
Kuroki the last few years, he never would have suffered the injury he did."
That may be true. The last time Kuroki won a game?
|
|
|
| Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture Rightfielder
Roosevelt Brown pounded a grand slam and first baseman Jose Ortiz kicked
in a two run jack Wednesday at Seibu Dome, as Orix Blue Wave starter Jason
Phillips scooped up his second win of the year with
an 11-2 decision over the Seibu Lions. Phillips went 5.2 shutout innings on three hits. Takashi Ishii started for Seibu and went the same distance that Phillips did, except that he was tagged for eight hits and five runs and was afflicted with a defeat. Orix pulled in front in the second, as shortstop Hidemitsu Saito
singled to right with one away and Ortiz picked on the first pitch he saw
Seibu then notched a tally of their own in their ups, as shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to center with one out and went to third on a single to left by second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi. But there was an error by third baseman Hiroki Fukutome in this sequence and Nakajima scored to make it 2-1 Orix. But in the sixth, Orix leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani singled to right
and, one out later, Saito singled to right. Ortiz singled to right to load
the
Orix then ratpacked Ono in the eighth, as Fukutome was hit by a pitch with one down and Muramatsu singled to right. Hirano walked to juice the bags. One out later, Tani beat out an infield roller and Fukutome crossed. Brown flayed a shot into the rightcenterfield stands and it was 11-1. It was also Brown's first homer in 16 games. Seibu plated a run in the bottom half against Takashi Aiki on a walk to centerfielder Shogo Akada, singles to right by third baseman Yoshihito Ishii and pinch hitter Takahiro Sato, the latter getting the RBI, to make it 11-2. Aiki retired the side in order in the ninth to close it out. Brown said that he is more relaxed now because his family has arrived
in Japan. Just what Pacific league pitchers want to hear: a relaxed
|
|
|
| Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes starter Shinichi Kato
and three relievers limited the Nippon Ham Fighters to three runs on seven
hits Wednesday at Osaka Dome, highlighted also be a strong three inning
performace by the erratic Hector Carrasco, in a 6-3 victory. In the Meantime,
Fighters starter Tsutomu Iwamoto was done up four four runs in 4.2 innings
for the loss.
The Buffs surged to the head of the line in the third, as DH Larry Barnes and third baseman Norihiro Nakamura both walked and rightfielder Koichi Isobe brought major pain to a hanging curve ball on the inner half of the plate and took it into the rightfield bleachers for a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, shortstop Masahiro Abe connected for a homer to left and that became 4-0. But in the sixth, rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi knocked one into the leftcenterfield seats. Kato plunked centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo on the left thumb. Hideo Koike entered from the bullpen. Third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara doubled into the leftfield corner. Out went Koike and in came Carrasco. Following an out, leftfielder Yoshinori Ueda singled to center to make it 4-2 Kintetsu. Second baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto walked. However, Carrasco struck the next two men out to shut the rally down. Carrasco worked a perfect seventh and eighth. Then in the home segment, Isobe doubled down the rightfield line off of Tomokazu Iba. leftfielder Fumitoshi Takano walked. First baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa singled to right to crowd the basepaths. Abe flew to right and Isobe tagged up and checked in for a 5-2 lead. Catcher Akihito Fujii looped one into center. Shinjo was right on top of the ball and fired a strike to second to force Kitagawa, but Takano crossed the plate before the force and Fujii had an RBI (huh?). Whatever th4e rationale for allowing the other run to show up on the scoreboard, it was 6-2. In the ninth, Nippon Ham DH Kazuteru Shimada walked with one out and pinch hitter Tsutomu Ishimoto doubled down the leftfield line. Catcher Shinji Takahashi grounded to first and Shimada scored to make it 6-3. Tsuboi lined to short and it was see you later. Shinjo also made a fine play in the sixth, when he made a leaping catch while craching into the centerfield wall on a drive off thebat of Hiroaki Onishi. But it didn't prevent Nippon Ham from losing its sixth in a row at Osaka Dome or its third consecutive game overall. |
Team Reports
| Daiei | |
| Outfielder Hiroshi Shibahara sat out Wednesday's game with a back
ache.
Hawks 19 year old Brazilian prospect Anderson Gomez broke his elbow delivering a pitch in a minor league game and will be out at least six to seven months. |
Sources inside the Hawks believe that pitcher Toshiya Sugiuchi, who broke both hands in a fit of rage after being knocked out of a game a couple of days ago, will probably be out for the season. They had originally hoped he could return by late August, but now they expect him to miss the whole of the remaining schedule. He will be fined a reported $45,000 for his moronic outburst. |
| Seibu | |
| Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada took Wednesday off to rest his back. He will probably eventually need to have a surgical procedure on it to fix | the problem, which appears minor but still aggravating.
|
| Lotte | |
| First baseman Seung-yeop Lee will be brought back up on Friday. |