Yomiuri Giants

Yoshinobu Takahashi recorded a grand slam on Saturday -- it was his 299th overall home run and nine grand slam of his career (second of the season).  The nine grand slams is good for second on the franchise list, tied with Shinnosuke Abe and behind Sadaharu Oh's fifteen.

If/when he reaches the 300-homer mark, he will join Oh (868), Shigeo Nagashima (444), Tatsunori Hara (388), and Hideki Matsui (332) as the only players in franchise history to hit 300 or more home runs over their careers.

Source: Sponichi 8/12/2012, Nikkan Sports 8/12/2012

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Dennis Houlton hit his first NPB home run on Saturday and also became the first pitcher in the NPB to hit a home run this season.  Houlton joined Clyde Wright (three; 1976-1978), Bill Gullickson (one; 1988), Balvino Galvez (ten, 1996-1999), and Wirfin Obispo (one; 2010) as the only foreign pitchers in franchise history to hit one or more homers since the start of the two-league format.

Source: Sponichi 8/12/2012

Houlton told reporters the home run was probably his first since junior high school.  Source: Sanspo 8/12/2012

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Edgar Gonzalez's wife gave birth to the couple's first child, a girl weighing 3,160 grams, at a hospital in Tokyo on Saturday.  Gonzalez missed Saturday's game in order to be with his wife.  Source: Sanspo 8/12/2012

Hanshin Tigers

Hiroaki Saiuchi started an Ikusei game against Kyushu Kyoritsu University on Saturday at Naruohama and tossed five shutout innings.  He did not walk any batters, gave up four hits, and struck out three.  Source: Sanspo 8/12/2012

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Coming into today, the Tigers set a new franchise record with a fifteen-game losing streak (0-15-1) away from Koshien Stadium.  The previous record of fourteen was set in 1998.

They also tied the franchise record of six consecutive games of one or fewer runs scored -- 1941, 1966, 1995, 2012.

Source: Nikkan Sports 8/12/2012

Hiroshima Carp

The media learned on Saturday that Hirotaka Egusa (31) had filed marriage papers with Olympic Bronze volleyball medalist Yoshie Takeshita (34).  Source: Daily Sports 8/12/2012