Yomiuri Giants

Tetsuya Utsumi has been the starting and winning pitcher in two back-to-back 1-0 games.  The last Yomiuri pitcher to accomplish that was Suguru Egawa in 1982 (July 21 and August 6).

Utsumi has not allowed a run over his last twenty-three innings of work.  That ties the personal high he set between August and September 2006.  He is also one victory away from 100.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/13/2013

Chunichi Dragons

Soma Yamauchi was taken off the active roster today with pain in the left side of his back.  It is not considered a serious injury.

Source: Sports Hochi 5/13/2013, Nikkan Sports 5/13/2013

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The Dragons are expected to add Takeshi Yamasaki to the active roster on Tuesday.  He joined the Ichi-gun team for practice today.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/13/2013, Sports Hochi 5/13/2013

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Motonobu Tanishige and Kazuhiro Wada became the second pair of players in their forties in NPB history to hit home runs in the same game on Sunday.  The other pair: Tomoaki Kanemoto and Shinjiro Hiyama on August 25, 2010.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/13/2013

Yakult Swallows

The Swallows added Ikusei pitcher Takeaki Tokuyama to their seventy-man roster today.  His uniform number will change from 115 to 62.  His salary for the current season will be 4.8 million yen.

Source: offiicial announcement, Sports Hochi 5/13/2013

Hiroshima Carp

The Carp recorded two grand slams on Sunday against the Chunichi Dragons.  It marked the twenty-second time in NPB history (first since Nippon Ham on June 29, 2010) one knocked out two grand slams in one game.  The Carp have actually accomplished the feat on two other previous occasions: Jim Lyttle and Adrian Garrett on April 20, 1978 (vs Chunichi at Nagoya Dome) and Tomonori Maeda and Greg LaRocca on August 10, 2005 (vs Yakult at Jingu Stadium).

Two different players were responsible for the grand slams on Sunday: Yoshihiro Maru in the 4th inning and Ryosuke Kikuchi in the 6th inning.  Both players had never hit a grand slam before in their pro careers.  Three other teams have recorded two grand slams by two different players that had never before hit a grand slam: Hideyuki Suzuki and Takaso Katsuragi on September 23, 1956; Isao Ito and Shozo Shigematsu on March 22, 1964; and Kohei Shimamoto and Shigeru Ishiwata on April 17, 1977.

Maru recorded the team's eighteenth pinch-hit grand slam (first since Takahiro Arai on May 21, 2005).

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/13/2013, Sponichi 5/13/2013, Sponichi 5/13/2013

Hanshin Tigers

Kentaro Sekimoto tweaked his leg after hitting a single to center in the 9th inning.  He was immediately replaced by a pinch-runner.  He is considered day-to-day.

Source: Sanspo 5/13/2013

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Kosuke Fukudome started pool therapy on Sunday -- he did various exercises in a pool for about twenty minutes.  He got the day off today.

Source: Sanspo 5/13/2013

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1st round draft pick Shintaro Fujinami's next game could come on the 25th against Nippon Ham at Koshien.  That would allow Jason Standridge and Randy Messenger to pitch on five days of rest and Atsushi Nomi and Daiki Enokida to pitch on six days of rest.

Source: Sponichi 5/13/2013

Yokohama Bay Stars

The Bay Stars will start Inter-league play in third place.  Since the start of Inter-league play, the best they ever managed was fourth place (2005, 2007, 2010).

Source: Sanspo 5/13/2013

Chunichi Dragons vs Hiroshima Carp @ Mazda Stadium - 13:00
Starters: Yamauchi, Soma (CHU) 2-2, 4.50 - Nakamura, Kyohei (HIR) 1-1, 2.95

Attendance: 21816 | Time: 3h26m | Hiroshima leads series, 5-4-0

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Miguel Socolovich was taken off the active roster today with pain in his right shoulder.  Jumpei Ono was called up to take his place on the roster.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/11/2013, Daily Sports 5/11/2013

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Katsuya Kakunaka was diagnosed with inflammation in his left hamstring on Friday.  He was taken off the active roster today as a precaution.

Tadahito Iguchi left Friday's game early after he fouled a ball off his left calf.  He should be ok to play.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/11/2013, Sponichi 5/11/2013

Yomiuri Giants

The Giants lost a game on Friday against the Yokohama Bay Stars in which they at one point held a seven-run lead.  It was the fifth time in franchise history -- first since April 28, 1999 (eight-run lead vs Yakult, 9-1 to 9-10) -- the team could not protect a seven or more run lead and lost.  It was also the third time in franchise history in which the team had the lead after scoring ten or more runs and lost on a walk-off home run: May 29, 1948 vs Chunichi (13-14 loss, walk-off two-run homer by Satoshi Sugiyama); August 2, 2005 vs Hiroshima (12-13 loss, walk-off two-run homer by Yoshiyuki Ishihara); and May 10, 2013 (10-12 loss, walk-off three-run homer by Hitoshi Tamura).

Source: Sponichi 5/11/2013

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Ryosuke Miyaguni threw thirty-six pitches in the bullpen on Friday.

Source: Sanspo 5/11/2013

Chunichi Dragons

Team rep Takashi Ide admitted to reporters on Friday that they were looking into pitchers on the foreign market.  Morimichi Takagi has already reviewed footage of potential candidates.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/11/2013

Hiroshima Carp

Batting coach Hiromasa Arai's three daughters visited Mazda Stadium today for the first time.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/11/2013

Hanshin Tigers

Randy Messenger won his start against Yakult on Friday night and joined Gene Bacque (1964) and Trey Moore (2003) as the only foreign pitchers in franchise history to start the season 5-0.

Since September 23, 2012, the Tigers are a perfect 10-0 in games started by Messenger.

Source: Sanspo 5/11/2013

Messenger established a new personal high for number of pitches thrown in an NPB game on Friday with 142.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/11/2013

Chunichi Dragons vs Hiroshima Carp @ Mazda Stadium - 14:00
Starters: Bradley Bergesen (CHU) 1-1, 4.43 - Bullington, Bryan (HIR) 2-2, 2.09

Attendance: 18639 | Time: 3h29m | Series tied, 4-4-0

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Yomiuri Giants

May 17 will be Tokyo 2020 Olympic/Paralympic Day at Tokyo Dome.  Gymnast Rie Tanaka is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Source: official announcement, Nikkan Sports 5/10/2013

Chunichi Dragons

Ryosuke Hirata's wife gave birth to the couple's second child, a girl weighing 2,944 grams, on Tuesday (May 7).  The child was named Monet, after the artist Claude Monet.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/10/2013

Yakult Swallows

The Swallows announced today that Yuhei had reconstructive surgery on his right knee.  There were no complications.  He is expected to miss about a year.

Source: Sponichi 5/10/2013

Hiroshima Carp

Takahiro Iwamoto was left out of the starting line-up tonight because of tightness in his back.

Source: Sponichi 5/10/2013

Hanshin Tigers

Randy Messenger extended his winning streak to eight by tossing a 5-0 complete game shutout against the Yakult Swallows tonight.  He is the first foreign Hanshin pitcher to record an eight-game winning streak since Gene Bacque in 1964.

Source: Daily Sports 5/10/2013

Yokohama Bay Stars

A billboard with the words Kiyoshi-san! Katte!, or Kiyoshi! Win!, out in right-center at Yokohama Stadium was covered with a white cloth before tonight's game against Yomiuri.

"No one told me about it.  I cannot concentrate on baseball.  It does not make me feel good," said Kiyoshi about the billboard.

A stadium rep told reporters that they could not disclose the name of the client or whether it was a business or personal account.  Stadium officials did not think there was anything wrong with the sign and approved it.  The contract for the space runs through to March 2014.

Source: Sanspo 5/10/2013, Daily Sports 5/10/2013

Yomiuri Giants

About 1,000 fans and 100 members of the media showed up for Ni-gun practices at the old Tamagawa grounds on Thursday.  A TV station sent out a helicopter to provide some aerial footage.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/10/2013

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Ryosuke Miyaguni cut his hair short on Thursday as a sign that he was starting over from scratch.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/10/2013

Chunichi Dragons

Kazuki Yoshimi may be leaning toward having surgery on his right elbow.

Source: Sponichi 5/10/2013

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If Matt Clark does not work out at first base, Ryoji Nakata or S. Takahashi could get a look.

Source: Sponichi 5/10/2013

Hiroshima Carp

Jun Hirose set a new NPB record by reaching base in fifteen consecutive trips to the plate.  A plaque commemorating the record was unveiled at Mazda Stadium today.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/10/2013

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Kenjiro Nomura spent about thirty minutes working with Shota Dobayashi on his swing after general workouts on Thursday.

Source: Sponichi 5/10/2013

Chunichi Dragons vs Hiroshima Carp @ Mazda Stadium - 18:00
Starters: Ono, Yudai (CHU) 1-4, 4.03 - Nomura, Yusuke (HIR) 0-2, 6.30

Attendance: 12122 | Time: 3h31m | Hiroshima leads series, 4-3-0

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Yomiuri Giants

Toshiya Sugiuchi surrendered three homers (Akihito Fujii, Takahiro Arai x 2) in a game for the fourth time in his career on Tuesday.  The other three times: June 7, 2005 against Hiroshima (Keiji Fukui, Koichi Ogata, Tomonori Maeda); April 23, 2006 vs Orix (Yuichiro Mukae, Norihiro Nakamura, Karim Garcia); and July 30, 2006 vs Nippon Ham (Michihiro Ogasawara, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Atsunori Inaba).

Sugiuchi has surrendered two home runs to one player in one game three times in his career: Benny Agbayani on April 28, 2004; Greg LaRocca on May 10, 2005; and T. Arai on May 7, 2013.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/8/2013

Chunichi Dragons

Takuya Asao (right shoulder) could pitch in a rehab Ni-gun game some time within the next five days (8th and 9th vs Hanshin, 10th-12 vs Orix).

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/8/2013

Hiroshima Carp

Jumpei Ono started a Ni-gun game against Softbank today and gave up two runs on seven hits over six innings of work.  He struck out five.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/8/2013

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Ryosuke Kikuchi committed three errors in Tuesday's game against Yokohama and tied the CL record for most errors in a game by a second baseman.  The PL record is four, set by Roberto Barbon on September 3, 1956.

Source: Sponichi 5/8/2013

Hanshin Tigers

The Tigers have recorded three shutout victories against the Yomiuri Giants so far this year.  The last time they recorded three shutouts against the Giants before the end of May was in 1969.  If you include a 0-0 game from April 10, the TIgers have four shutouts against the Giants before the end of May, a first in franchise history.

Three pitchers have tossed complete game shutout victories this season: Atsushi Nomi vs Yomiuri on April 9; Randy Messenger vs Yokohama on April 12; and Jason Standridge vs Yomiuri on May 7.  The 2002 Tigers were the last team to field three pitchers with complete game shutout victories thirty-four games into the season (Shinji Taninaka, Kei Igawa, and Keiichi Yabu).

Source: Sanspo 5/8/2013

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The Tigers left zero runners on base against the Giants at Tokyo Dome on Tuesday for the first time since August 13, 2008.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/8/2013

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The Tigers tossed back-to-back complete game victories against the Giants for the first time since 1988 (Chikafusa Ikeda and Koji Nakada).

Source: Sponichi 5/8/2013

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The Tigers' international scout did not return to Japan with the rest of the officials and will remain in the US for about ten days to check on possible player candidates.

Source: Sponichi 5/8/2013

Yokohama Bay Stars

Kiyoshi Nakahata could turn to Shuto Takajo if he needs an extra pitcher in emergency situations.  And 2nd round draft pick Kazuki Mishima has reportedly prepared an infielder's glove in case he is needed to play some short.

Source: Sponichi 5/8/2013

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The Bay Stars will sell a ticket package that includes seats for five people and a thirty-minute fortune-telling session for three games in June (5th and 6th vs Softbank and 28th vs Chunichi).  The team is targeting the female market with this package.  It will cost 21,000 yen.

Source: Sanspo 5/8/2013

Yokohama Bay Stars vs Hiroshima Carp @ Mazda Stadium - 18:00
Starters: Kosugi, Yota (YOK) 1-1, 3.74 - Otake, Kan (HIR) 2-1, 2.02

Attendance: 10702 | Time: 2h57m | Hiroshima leads series, 5-4-0

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