NPB Daily Results and Standings (Week of Apr. 20)
Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-1) pitched a seven hit complete game to lead the Seibu Lions past the Orix Blue Wave 6-1 at Sapporo Dome. Matsuzaka struck out 11 and threw 138 pitches. The Lions' Toru Hosokawa hit a two-run home run and went 4-for-4.
Kazuteru Shimada hit a three-run ninth inning pinch hit home run to slip the Nippon Ham Fighters past the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 3-2 at the Fukuoka Dome. The Hawk loss enabled the Buffaloes to reclaim sole possession of firts place in the Pacific League.
Pacific League
W L T Pct GB
Buffaloes 12 7 0 .632 -
Hawks 12 8 0 .600 0.5
Fighters 9 8 1 .529 2.0
Marines 8 9 0 .471 3.0
Lions 9 11 0 .450 3.5
BlueWave 5 12 1 .294 6.0
The Central League did not have any games and the standings remained the same as on April 21st.
Osamu Hamanaka hit a fifth inning grand slam home run to help the Hanshin Tigers beat the Chunichi Dragons 11-8 at the Nagoya Dome. The Tigers expanded their lead of the Central League to two games in front of the Dragons.
Koji Takagi pitched a four hit complete game to lead the Chiba Lotte Marines to an 11-0 trouncing over the Osaka Kintetesu Buffaloes. The Marines' Rick Short hit a two run home run and went 2-for-3 with three RBIs. The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks hold a half game lead in front of the Buffaloes in the Pacific League. (I almost typed in Nankai Hawks.)
Central League
W L T Pct GB
Tigers 14 7 1 .667 -
Giants 10 7 1 .588 2.0
Dragons 12 9 0 .571 2.0
Swallows 10 10 0 .500 3.5
Carp 8 10 0 .444 4.5
BayStars 4 15 0 .211 9.0
Pacific League
W L T Pct GB
Hawks 13 8 0 .619 -
Buffaloes 12 8 0 .600 0.5
Fighters 9 9 1 .500 2.5
Marines 9 9 0 .500 2.5
Lions 9 12 0 .429 4.0
BlueWave 6 12 1 .333 5.5
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 4 - Nippon Ham Fighters 3:
Winning pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada (3-1) struck out eight Fighter in six innings at Fukuoka Dome. Itsuki Shoda (1-2) took the loss.
Chiba Lotte Marines 3 - Osaka Kintetesu Buffaloes 1:
Nathan Minchey (2-2) pitched seven solid innings for his win at Osaka Dome.
Orix BlueWave 5 - Seibu Lions 4
Chunichi Dragons 4 - Hanshin Tigers 2:
The Dragon's Kosuke Fukudome hit home runs in two consecutive at bats and hit 3-for-4 at Nagoya Dome. Masahiro Yamamoto (1-1) was the winning pitcher and Taiyo Fujita (1-1) took the loss. Eddie Gaillard earned his eighth save.
Yakult Swallows 8 - Yomiuri Giants 6:
Shingo Takatsu became the all-time Japan save leader with his 230th career save at Tokyo Dome. The Giants led the Swallows 6-3 when the Swallows rallied with five runs in the top of the ninth inning.
Hiroshima Carp 7, Yokohama BayStars 4:
The BayStars suffered their eighth straight loss. The BayStars' Shuichi Murata hit his seventh home run.
Central League
W L T Pct GB
Tigers 14 8 1 .636 -
Dragons 13 9 0 .591 1.0
Giants 10 8 1 .556 2.0
Swallows 11 10 0 .524 2.5
Carp 9 10 0 .474 3.5
BayStars 4 16 0 .200 9.0
Pacific League
W L T Pct GB
Hawks 14 8 0 .636 -
Buffaloes 12 9 0 .571 1.5
Marines 10 9 0 .526 2.5
Fighters 9 10 1 .474 3.5
Lions 9 13 0 .409 5.0
BlueWave 7 12 1 .338 5.5
Chunichi Dragons 6 - Hanshin Tigers 0:
Kenshin Kawakami (4-0) struck out seven batters and gave up five hits in seven innings seven at Nagoya Dome. Kei Igawa took the loss for the Tigers. Alex Ochoa hit his sixth homer of 2003. Chunichi and Hanshin are now tied for first place in the Central League.
Yomiuri Giants 5 - Yakult Swallows 4:
Matt Randel pitched five innings allowing two runs and three hits to pick up the win for the Giants at Tokyo Dome. Reliever Junichi Kawahara recorded his fourth save of 2003.
The Hiroshima Carp and the Yokohama BayStars game in in Hiroshima was rained out.
Balloting for the 2003 NPB All-Star games will start on April 25th. The games are scheduled for July 15 & 16 at Osaka Dome and Chiba Marine Stadium.
Central League
W L T Pct GB
Dragons 14 9 0 .609 -
Tigers 14 9 1 .609 -
Giants 11 8 1 .579 1.0
Swallows 11 11 0 .500 2.5
Carp 9 10 0 .474 3.0
BayStars 4 16 0 .200 8.5
Pacific League standings remain the same as April 24th because no games were scheduled.
Seibu Lions 3 - Chiba Lotte Marines 2:
Alex Cabrera hit his sixth and seventh homer runs in back-to-back at-bats to lead the Lions past the Marines at Chiba Marine Stadium. Winning pitcher Koji Mitsui (4-0) yielded two runs, five hits, and five walks in seven innings. Closer Kiyoshi Toyoda picked up his fourth save.
Nippon Ham Fighters 4 - Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes 1:
Carlos Mirabal (3-1) threw 134 pitches for a three-hit complete game win for the Fighters at Tokyo Dome. Kintetsu's Norihiro Nakamura hit a homer in the seventh inning off of Mirabal. D.T. Cromer of the Fighters became the first player in NPB to be ejected in 2003.
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks at OrixBlueWave: Rained out.
Yomiuri Giants 11, Yokohama BayStars 5:
Rookie Hiroshi Kisanuki (1-1) won his first game behind some power hitting at Yokohama Stadium. Takayuki Saito went 4-for-6 including a home run. Roberto Petagine and Tomohiro Nioka both had three RBIs and a homer.
Chunichi Dragons 5 - Yakult Swallows 4 (11 innings):
Kosuke Fukudome hit a home run in the top of the 11th inning as Chunichi slipped past Yakult at Jingu Stadium. Fukudome went 4-for-5. Alex Ramirez hit his ninth and tenth home run of 2003.
Tigers vs. Carp: Rained out.
Central League
W L T Pct GB
Dragons 15 9 0 .625 -
Tigers 14 9 1 .609 0.5
Giants 12 8 1 .600 1.0
Swallows 11 12 0 .478 3.5
Carp 9 10 0 .474 3.5
BayStars 4 17 0 .190 9.5
Pacific League
W L T Pct GB
Hawks 14 8 0 .636 -
Buffaloes 12 10 0 .545 2.0
Marines 10 10 0 .500 3.0
Fighters 10 10 1 .500 3.0
Lions 10 13 0 .435 4.5
BlueWave 7 12 1 .368 5.5
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 7 - Orix BlueWave 3:
Mitsuru Honma had three RBIs and hit to lead the Hawks past the BlueWave at Kobe's Yahoo BB Stadium. Winning pitcher Kazumi Saito went seven innings to limit the BlueWave to two runs and three hits. Orix manager Leon Lee lost his first game, and Sahaharu Oh became the 12th manager to win 900 games in NPB. Lee played 1,255 games and hit .308 from 1978 to 1987 in Japan. Oh's managerial victories are with the Yomiuri Giants and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks.
Chiba Lotte Marines 2 - Seibu Lions 1:
Marines' pitcher Naoyuki Shimizu struck out four batters and allowed three hits in eight innings at Chiba Marine Stadium. Shimizu gave up a home run to Scott McClain. Masahide Kobayashi picked up his seventh save.
Osaka Kintetesu Buffaloes 7 - Nippon Ham Fighters 1:
Hisashi Iwakuma pitched a one run, four hit complete game win over the Fighters. The Buffaloes' Yuji Yoshioka had a ninth inning home run and two RBIs.
Yakult Swallows 21 - Chunichi Dragons 3:
Atsunori Inaba hit 4-for-5 with five RBIs a homer for the Swallows' at Jingu Stadium. Swallows hitters had 20 hits against Chunichi. Yakult scored 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Masato Hanada was the winning pitcher. Shinichiro Koyama was credited with 13 runs in 1 2/3 innings and now has a 17.55 ERA.
Hanshin Tigers 13 - Hiroshima Carp 10:
The Hanshin Tigers scored nine runs in the bottom of the eighth to beat the Carp at Koshien Stadium. The Carp led 10-4 lead after the top of the eighth inning.
Yokohama BayStars 4 - Yomiuri Giants 0:
Takanori Suzuki, Katsuaki Furuki, and Takeshi Nakamura had sixth inning homers to break the BayStars' nine-game losing streak at Yokohama Stadium. Domingo Guzman picked up the win on a eight strike out, six hit complete game shutout.
Central League
W L T Pct GB
Tigers 15 9 1 .625
Dragons 15 10 0 .600 0.5
Giants 12 9 1 .571 1.0
Swallows 12 12 0 .500 2.5
Carp 9 11 0 .450 3.5
BayStars 5 17 0 .227 8.5
Pacific League
W L T Pct GB
Hawks 15 8 0 .652 -
Buffaloes 13 10 0 .565 2.0
Marines 11 10 0 .524 3.0
Fighters 10 11 1 .476 4.0
Lions 10 14 0 .417 5.5
BlueWave 7 13 1 .350 6.5
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The Hanshin Tigers trounced the Yokohama BayStars 9-3 for their fourth win in a row. Osamu Hamanaka hit two homers and went 3-for-5 with five RBIs at Koshien Stadium. The Tigers gained sole possession of first place in the Central League.