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Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
Down 0-3 in the bottom of the 6th inning, a leadoff error and single set the bases for Tony Blanco to tie the game up with a huge 3-run blast to the stunned Fighters fans in the left field stands. That's home run #20 for Blanco, matching Shigeo Nagashima's 1968 pace of hitting 20 in the first 42 games of the season, tied for the third fastest pace. John and Jim from the Japan Baseball Weekly Podcast refer to him as T-60, projecting Tony to hit 60 out this season.
But an early high pace is no guarantee for hitting more out later. Nagashima ended with just 39 home runs in 1968, Alex Cabrera, who hit 20 home runs over the first 38 games in 2001, the second fastest in Japanese baseball history, finished with 49. And the fastest? That was the Giants' Shinnosuke Abe in 2004 when he hit 20 home runs over the first 33 games of the season. But he ended the season with a mere 33 dingers. It's not time to get too excited quite yet.
But it is time to get excited over a rallying 8th inning.
Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.
In the top of the 8th, fifth 'Star pitcher for the night, Kentaro Takasaki, gave up a pop fly home run to Dai-kang Yoh after having retired the first two batters. That gave the Fighters back the lead, and the mood was starting to turn ugly.
But that didn't last long. Yuya Ishii came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th for Nippon Ham, and he had some problems. A leadoff base hit and sacrifice bunt left first base open with Blanco coming to the plate. The Fighters weren't in the mood for another battle against the slugger and gave him an intentional pass. But Hitoshi Tamura wasn't swinging at any junk, and he drew a walk on 5 pitches to load the bases with one out. That brought up Noriharu Yamazaki.
Nori-who? That's not our usual Nori at third base. No, it's utility infielder Yamazaki. And he goes with a 3-1 pitch, placing the ball between the right and center fielders, clearing the bases with a stand-up double. The BayStars take the lead back! We're now up 6-4.
After a fly ball to right moves the runner over to third, Shuto Takajyoh battles a full count to draw a walk. That brings up pinch hitter Alex Ramirez. And Alex comes through again with a single through the left side, putting Yokohama up 7-4.
But the excitement isn't over. Sho Aranami doubles to the right-center field gap, scoring the runner from second, Ramirez holding at third. Nakahata-kantoku was teasing him from the dugout saying, "come on home!" (I have a suspicion that Aranami may have been able to stretch that into a triple, otherwise.)
Nonetheless, the 5-run 8th inning puts Yokohama up 8-4, and there it stayed. Jorge Sosa successfully shut down the #3, 4, and 5 batters in order (but got no save).
After having fallen into 5th place with the 5 game losing streak up to the day before, Yokohama recovered a position to sit in 4th place, percentage points ahead of Hiroshima (who had lost) and half a game behind the resurgent Chunichi Dragons in the Central league.