Carp batter Swallows with most runs since 19
The Hiroshima Carp are rocking the Central League boat, and the Yakult Swallows played the role of victim on Thursday night at Jingu Stadium.
Jun Hirose cracked a two-run homer and a grand slam as third-place Hiroshima built a 13-run lead and hung on to win a 16-12 slugfest that lifted them a game above the Swallows in the CL and served notice that these fish are not food.
It was the first two-homer game for Hirose since 2006, and he set a career high for RBIs with six on the same day as the birth of his daughter. The 33-year-old’s slam, his fifth homer this season, highlighted an eight-run fourth as the Carp notched a Japan-high 21 hits.
One of Eishin Soyogi’s four hits was a double and he drove in four, and new addition Brad Eldred had four hits, while Takahiro Iwamoto had a two-run homer in the seventh to help pad the lead.
Kenta Maeda (10-3) yielded six runs, three earned, over five innings before exiting, and Takeru Imamura finally silenced the Swallows in the ninth to close it out.
DRAGONS 4, TIGERS 1
Masahiko Morino put Chunichi up with an RBI single in the sixth inning, and Motonobu Tanishige blasted a two-run shot in the eighth to ice another victory over Hanshin at Nagoya Dome.
Jorge Sosa -- not Hitoki Iwase -- closed it out in the ninth after putting two runners on as the Dragons improved to 10-3-1 vs. the Tigers at Nagoya Dome. Hanshin has dropped eight straight at the dome.
GIANTS 6, BAYSTARS 4
Ryuichi Kajimae drew a bases-loaded walk after Yoshinobu Takahashi was plunked to tie the score as Yokohama helped Yomiuri come back to win at Tokyo Dome.
Shinnosuke Abe added an RBI single to pad the cushion for the Giants, who have won both games out of the gate following the All-Star break.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
LIONS 2, MARINES 1
Takeya “Okawari-kun” Nakamura blasted his PL- best-tying homer, a solo blast in the second, and Takumi Kuriyama added his first longball at Seibu Dome since July 11 last year for enough offense for Seibu to edge front-running Lotte and moved into third.
Third-year lefty Yusei Kikuchi (1-0) tossed five innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and a walk with six Ks to win his first game this season -- his last win was Sept. 8 vs. Lotte.
FIGHTERS 5, HAWKS 3
Seldom-used reserve Atsushi Ugumori slugged seven-plus seasons’ worth of homers for him -- two -- and drove in three runs, and Tomoya Yagi (6-2) went 6.2 strong innings as Nippon Ham topped SoftBank for the second straight game and moved into a tie for first with Lotte.
Ugumori’s second blast, the fourth of the 2004 eighth-round draft pick’s career, provided the winning margin as the Fighters -- at .544 -- trail the Marines by just percentage points. All four of Ugumori's career longballs have come against SoftBank.
BUFFALOES 1, EAGLES 0
Lefty Kei Igawa (2-3) held Rakuten to two hits and no runs over seven innings -- despite walking five -- as Orix downed the Eagles for the second straight night at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Naotaka Takehara’s scoring fly ball in the fourth was the only run as set-up man Yoshihisa Hirano and closer Mamoru Kishida closed it out with a scoreless inning each.
[Edited by: jgibson on Jul 27, 2012 7:12 AM]
Re: Fish are fierce, not food â¦
[ Author: Guest: Claudio | Posted: Jul 27, 2012 5:20 AM
]
Talking about a personal vengeance! Alex Ramirez is hitting .625 (10 for 16), with 3 homers and 6 RBI's when playing against the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome this year. They're probably not missing him too much because they're winning, but that must hurt!
Re: Fish are fierce, not food â¦
[ Author:
jgibson | Posted: Jul 29, 2012 3:11 PM
| Posts: 927
| Registered: Feb, 2011
]
hey, C.R. ... as i meant to write on the FB page, i don't think he sees it that way -- he just wants to be successful on every pitch. since he played at yakult, too, he might have some special place in his bat for that club as well. but mainly, i think he enjoys hitting vs. anyone, anywhere....
Previous Topic
The Hiroshima Carp are rocking the Central League boat, and the Yakult Swallows played the role of victim on Thursday night at Jingu Stadium.
Jun Hirose cracked a two-run homer and a grand slam as third-place Hiroshima built a 13-run lead and hung on to win a 16-12 slugfest that lifted them a game above the Swallows in the CL and served notice that these fish are not food.
It was the first two-homer game for Hirose since 2006, and he set a career high for RBIs with six on the same day as the birth of his daughter. The 33-year-old’s slam, his fifth homer this season, highlighted an eight-run fourth as the Carp notched a Japan-high 21 hits.
One of Eishin Soyogi’s four hits was a double and he drove in four, and new addition Brad Eldred had four hits, while Takahiro Iwamoto had a two-run homer in the seventh to help pad the lead.
Kenta Maeda (10-3) yielded six runs, three earned, over five innings before exiting, and Takeru Imamura finally silenced the Swallows in the ninth to close it out.
DRAGONS 4, TIGERS 1
Masahiko Morino put Chunichi up with an RBI single in the sixth inning, and Motonobu Tanishige blasted a two-run shot in the eighth to ice another victory over Hanshin at Nagoya Dome.
Jorge Sosa -- not Hitoki Iwase -- closed it out in the ninth after putting two runners on as the Dragons improved to 10-3-1 vs. the Tigers at Nagoya Dome. Hanshin has dropped eight straight at the dome.
GIANTS 6, BAYSTARS 4
Ryuichi Kajimae drew a bases-loaded walk after Yoshinobu Takahashi was plunked to tie the score as Yokohama helped Yomiuri come back to win at Tokyo Dome.
Shinnosuke Abe added an RBI single to pad the cushion for the Giants, who have won both games out of the gate following the All-Star break.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
LIONS 2, MARINES 1
Takeya “Okawari-kun” Nakamura blasted his PL- best-tying homer, a solo blast in the second, and Takumi Kuriyama added his first longball at Seibu Dome since July 11 last year for enough offense for Seibu to edge front-running Lotte and moved into third.
Third-year lefty Yusei Kikuchi (1-0) tossed five innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and a walk with six Ks to win his first game this season -- his last win was Sept. 8 vs. Lotte.
FIGHTERS 5, HAWKS 3
Seldom-used reserve Atsushi Ugumori slugged seven-plus seasons’ worth of homers for him -- two -- and drove in three runs, and Tomoya Yagi (6-2) went 6.2 strong innings as Nippon Ham topped SoftBank for the second straight game and moved into a tie for first with Lotte.
Ugumori’s second blast, the fourth of the 2004 eighth-round draft pick’s career, provided the winning margin as the Fighters -- at .544 -- trail the Marines by just percentage points. All four of Ugumori's career longballs have come against SoftBank.
BUFFALOES 1, EAGLES 0
Lefty Kei Igawa (2-3) held Rakuten to two hits and no runs over seven innings -- despite walking five -- as Orix downed the Eagles for the second straight night at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Naotaka Takehara’s scoring fly ball in the fourth was the only run as set-up man Yoshihisa Hirano and closer Mamoru Kishida closed it out with a scoreless inning each.
[Edited by: jgibson on Jul 27, 2012 7:12 AM]