Nobumasa Fukuda twice drove in Ryosuke Hirata, pacing the Chunichi Dragons to a 2-1 win Thursday over the Central League-leading Yomiuri Giants. The Giants entered the game with a magic number of four to clinch their first CL pennant since 2014. The leaders' third ...
Ryosuke Hirata smacks go-ahead homer in seventh to lift Dragons past Carp
A seventh-inning solo homer by Ryosuke Hirata proved decisive as the Chunichi Dragons beat the Central League-leading Hiroshima Carp 7-5 on Saturday. Hiroshima battled back from a run down in the sixth to tie it at 5-5 before Hirata hammered a solo shot — his ...
Leadoff man Ryosuke Hirata drove in three runs on a pair of hits as the Chunichi Dragons beat the Hiroshima Carp 6-5 on Saturday. Coming into the game with a .337 batting average, the third-best mark in the Cenral League, Hirata hit RBIs in the ...
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 ...
Pinch hitter Masanobu Fukuda slaps game-winning single in ninth against Giants
Masanobu Fukuda's pinch-hit single capped a three-run, ninth-inning rally, lifting the Chunichi Dragons to a 4-3 triumph over the Yomiuri Giants on Friday. The Giants led 2-1 after eight innings of a scintillating pitchers' duel between veteran right-handers Shun Yamaguchi of the Giants and Kazuki ...
Japan fills out team for World Baseball Classic
Samurai Japan mostly filled out its roster for the 2017 World Baseball Classic on Tuesday, adding eight players, but no major leaguers, to the 19 names released in December. The new players bring the roster up to 27, leaving one spot to be filled. "My tension ...
Ryosuke Hirata broke a 1-1 tie with a sixth-inning RBI double as the Chunichi Dragons prevented Hiroki Kuroda from recording his 200th career victory in top-flight pro ball with a 4-1 win over the Hiroshima Carp in the Central League on Wednesday. "We didn't want ...
Jordan Norberto blanked the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters over 7⅔ innings and Ryosuke Hirata hit a decisive RBI double as the Chunichi Dragons claimed a 1-0 win to snap their four-game skid on Friday in interleague action. Norberto (4-1), who fanned eight while allowing five ...
Yudai Ono went the distance and Ryosuke Hirata hit a two-run home run in the eighth to lift the Chunichi Dragons past the Seibu Lions 4-2 on Saturday in the interleague action. Ono (3-2) allowed two runs on five hits and four walks, striking out ...
Dragons' Hirata slugs three-run shot in 10th to sink Giants
The Chunichi Dragons rallied in the top of the eighth and ninth innings. The Yomiuri Giants pushed back in the bottom half of the ninth. Chunichi's Ryosuke Hirata had the final say in the top of the 10th. Hirata hit a three-run home run to cap ...
