NEWSWORTHY
Ryosuke Hirata hits for the cycle as Dragons clobber BayStars
Ryosuke Hirata hit for the cycle, boosting Daisuke Matsuzaka to his fourth straight win as the Chunichi Dragons routed the Yokohama BayStars 11-5 on Thursday. Hirata, batting leadoff for the Central League's last-place Dragons, opened the scoring with a solo homer off BayStars rookie Masaya ...
Koshien: Annual event has provided a century of thrills
Ah, Koshien. The 100th National High School Baseball Tournament gets underway on Sunday at historic Koshien Stadium near Kobe. Organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation in association with the prestigious Asahi Shimbun, the tourney is the largest sporting event in Japan, on par ...
Bringing back Daisuke Matsuzaka could make sense for Dragons
If there's anything to be learned from the first half of the 2018 baseball season it's that a lot of people still can't get enough of Daisuke Matsuzaka. It's been over a decade since his last turn as the ace for the Seibu Lions and ...
Back-to-back RBI singles in the seventh inning by Alfredo Despaigne and Hotaka Yamakawa lifted the Pacific League to a 7-6 victory over the Central League in the NPB All-Star Series opener on Friday night. With the score tied 5-5 in the seventh inning, Fukuoka SoftBank ...
Giants pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano and six others named to All-Star teams via player voting
Yomiuri Giants right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano was among seven players added Thursday to the Central and Pacific League All-Star teams through player voting. Sugano was selected to the All-Star roster for the seventh time after receiving 385 votes from his NPB colleagues. The 28-year-old leads the ...
Fans vote former major leaguer Daisuke Matsuzaka onto All-Star roster
Former major leaguer Daisuke Matsuzaka said Monday he is eager to play in this summer's All-Star games after Nippon Professional Baseball's announcement that the popular veteran had been voted onto his league's roster by the fans. The 37-year-old Chunichi Dragons right-hander received 394,704 votes and ...
Dragons bullpen blows lead as Daisuke Matsuzaka misses chance to win back-to-back starts
Looking to win back-to-back starts for the first time in nearly four years, Daisuke Matsuzaka was denied the chance when the Orix Buffaloes pounded the Chunichi Dragons' bullpen in a 5-1 interleague win on Wednesday. Lacking the location and command he had a week ago, ...
Daisuke Matsuzaka baffles Tigers to pick up second win of season
Former flame-thrower Daisuke Matsuzaka showed Sunday that execution and location can be a winning combination as he pitched the Chunichi Dragons to a 6-1 victory over the Hanshin Tigers. The 37-year-old former major leaguer located his fastball and cutter well and mixed in some nasty ...
Daisuke Matsuzaka gets first NPB win since 2006 as Dragons beat BayStars
Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched six innings and claimed his first win since returning to Nippon Professional Baseball in the Chunichi Dragons' 3-1 victory over the Yokohama BayStars on Monday. Former major leaguer Matsuzaka (1-2) limited the BayStars to one run on three hits, while issuing seven ...
Kiyomiya shows off power on farm
After a slow start to his first season as a professional, Kotaro Kiyomiya provided fans with a small glimpse of what made him the most sought-after player in last fall's NPB draft. The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters rookie hit his first two pro home runs ...
The Hanshin Tigers kept former major leaguer Daisuke Matsuzaka from earning his first win since his return to NPB in 2015 with a 2-1 victory over the Chunichi Dragons on Thursday. In his second start for the Dragons, the 37-year-old Matsuzaka was tagged with his ...
Now or never for Dragons hurler Daisuke Matsuzaka
Daisuke Matsuzaka stepped into the bullpen for the first time during camp on Friday and threw 32 pitches in his still unfamiliar white No. 99 Chunichi Dragons uniform. "I'm getting better, I was able to throw more than planned," Matsuzaka was quoted as saying to ...
