Home run celebrations becoming commonplace in Japanese game
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks infielder Kenji Akashi briefly went viral across baseball late last week when he hit a three-run sayonara home run and celebrated with a backflip onto home plate. Well, near home plate, as he had to go back and actually step on ...
Pacific League MVP Hotaka Yamakawa has signed a new contract with the Seibu Lions, the Saitama club said Wednesday. The 27-year-old first baseman, who led Nippon Professional Baseball in home runs this year, will receive an estimated annual salary of ¥110 million ($973,000), nearly tripling ...
Yoshihiro Maru and Hotaka Yamakawa spent the year putting up career numbers to help propel their clubs to league championships. For their last order of business in the 2018 season, they picked up some hardware for themselves. Maru, the Hiroshima Carp's star outfielder, was named Central ...
Japan home run king Hotaka Yamakawa learning hard lessons against MLB pitching
Hotaka Yamakawa may be Japan's premier home run hitter, but this past week has taught him how much more he has to learn. After leading both of Japan's elite leagues this year with 47 home runs, the 26-year-old Seibu Lions first baseman was looking to ...
Giants' Tomoyuki Sugano receives CL pitching accolade for stellar September
Two days after throwing a no-hitter to clinch the Central League Climax Series' first stage, the Yomiuri Giants' Tomoyuki Sugano was named the league's pitcher of the month for September and October on Tuesday. Although he is a strong candidate to win his second straight ...
Hotaka Yamakawa and Tomoya Mori each knocked in two runs, with Mori driving home Yamakawa with the game winner as the Seibu Lions rallied from six runs down to beat the Orix Buffaloes 7-6 in 10 innings on Tuesday night. Mori, who had doubled in ...
Lions' Shinsaburo Tawata rebounds from loss with six-hit shutout against Buffaloes
Shinsaburo Tawata bounced back from his worst start of the season with a six-hit shutout as the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions beat the Orix Buffaloes 7-0 on Saturday. Coming off his first loss of the season, Tawata (7-1) struck out five and walked one but ...
Hanshin Tigers right-hander Randy Messenger won his third monthly MVP award and 12th-year Yomiuri Giants infielder Hayato Sakamoto was one of two first-time winners, Nippon Professional Baseball announced Wednesday. Messenger, the first foreign pitcher in NPB to make four straight opening-day starts, was selected as ...
The Seibu Lions came from behind to beat the Orix Buffaloes 7-4 on Sunday to run their season-opening win streak to eight games. The Buffaloes small-balled their way to a 2-0 lead, giving starter Taisuke Yamaoka the edge in a pitchers' duel with Seibu's Brian ...
Japan trounces South Korea in inaugural Asia Professional Baseball Championship final
Samurai Japan's young players grabbed their manager, Astunori Inaba, and threw him in the air once and then twice, before seemingly needing a few seconds to regroup before sending him up once more. It was about the only thing that didn't go smoothly for Japan ...
Samurai Japan beats South Korea in 10-inning thriller in Atsunori Inaba's debut as manager
Atsunori Inaba's first game in charge of Samurai Japan had a little bit of everything. There were big plays, clutch hits and rallies in the bottom half of both the ninth and 10th innings. The icing on the cake was Tatsuhiro Tamura's sayonara double ...
Giants' Tomoyuki Sugano receives third CL monthly pitching award of season
Yomiuri Giants right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano was named Central League pitcher of the month for the third time this season on Wednesday, when NPB announced its final monthly honors for 2017. Ryuhei Matsuyama of the Hiroshima Carp was named the CL's monthly MVP — for position ...
