Swallows’ CL lead falls to 3.5 as Dragons win
The Yakult Swallows are making things hard on themselves. The Chunichi Dragons are looking a lot more like the defending Central League champions.
Kazuki Yoshimi held the front-running Swallows to a run over seven innings, and the Chunichi bullpen made it stand up in a 3-2 win over Yakult on a day the Dragons announced they won't offer skipper Hiromitsu Ochiai a contract for next season.
The 57-year-old manager, who led the Dragons to CL titles in 2004, 2006 and 2010 and a Japan Series title in 2007, is still trying to guide Chunichi to back-to-back CL crowns for the first time in club history. He got a little closer in the opener of a four-game series at Nagoya Dome.
The Swallows, who have had little wind beneath their wings since the All-Star break, and the Dragons are tied with 60 wins, but Yakult has seven fewer losses.
Yoshimi (15-3) allowed a run in the first inning, but gained better control as the game wore on and won his seventh straight decision. He leads the CL in wins, despite a late start to the season, and ERA at 1.60.
Tony Blanco made Chunichi’s first hit count on the scoreboard, knocking home a run that sparked three straight hits for a three-run rally in the sixth inning. Motonobu Tanishige’s two-out double off the wall in left center scored the hard-chugging Blanco and put the Dragons on top 2-1, and Takehiro Donoue slapped a single to left to make it 3-1.
Takuya Asao allowed a single and two hard-hit outs in a scoreless eighth, while Hitoki Iwase sweated through a jam -- allowing a run on three hits -- but preserved the lead for his 31st save.
The Swallows are 9-4-3 vs. the Dragons.
BAYSTARS 4, CARP 3
Tatsuhiko Kinjo keyed a three-run third with a two-run single as Yokohama KO’d Hiroshima's Kenta Maeda after four innings in a win at home.
Maeda (9-10), last year’s Sawamura Award winner, surrendered four runs (three earned) on seven hits and a walk in his shortest start of the season. Three Yokohama relievers held Hiroshima hitless over the final four innings.
Swallows’ CL lead falls to 3.5 as Dragons win
The Yakult Swallows are making things hard on themselves. The Chunichi Dragons are looking a lot more like the defending Central League champions.
Kazuki Yoshimi held the front-running Swallows to a run over seven innings, and the Chunichi bullpen made it stand up in a 3-2 win over Yakult on a day the Dragons announced they won't offer skipper Hiromitsu Ochiai a contract for next season.
The 57-year-old manager, who led the Dragons to CL titles in 2004, 2006 and 2010 and a Japan Series title in 2007, is still trying to guide Chunichi to back-to-back CL crowns for the first time in club history. He got a little closer in the opener of a four-game series at Nagoya Dome.
The Swallows, who have had little wind beneath their wings since the All-Star break, and the Dragons are tied with 60 wins, but Yakult has seven fewer losses.
Yoshimi (15-3) allowed a run in the first inning, but gained better control as the game wore on and won his seventh straight decision. He leads the CL in wins, despite a late start to the season, and ERA at 1.60.
Tony Blanco made Chunichi’s first hit count on the scoreboard, knocking home a run that sparked three straight hits for a three-run rally in the sixth inning. Motonobu Tanishige’s two-out double off the wall in left center scored the hard-chugging Blanco and put the Dragons on top 2-1, and Takehiro Donoue slapped a single to left to make it 3-1.
Takuya Asao allowed a single and two hard-hit outs in a scoreless eighth, while Hitoki Iwase sweated through a jam -- allowing a run on three hits -- but preserved the lead for his 31st save.
The Swallows are 9-4-3 vs. the Dragons.
BAYSTARS 4, CARP 3
Tatsuhiko Kinjo keyed a three-run third with a two-run single as Yokohama KO’d Hiroshima's Kenta Maeda after four innings in a win at home.
Maeda (9-10), last year’s Sawamura Award winner, surrendered four runs (three earned) on seven hits and a walk in his shortest start of the season. Three Yokohama relievers held Hiroshima hitless over the final four innings.