Nippon Ham Fighters

Terrmel Sledge hit a grand slam off Yokohama's Futoshi Kobayashi on Tuesday night.  That made his the thirteenth player in NPB history to record a homer off all twelve current NPB teams (twenty-third to hit homers against all twelve NPB teams, not including the current Rakuten Eagles).  Of those thirteen players, Sledge is the only one that hit a grand slam against the twelfth team.

Seibu Lions

Hideaki Wakui worked out for about four hours at the Seibu 2 Stadium facilities today.

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Yusei Kikuchi's final numbers from his Ni-gun start against Rakuten on Tuesday:

2 IP, 14 BF, 52 NP, 6 H, 1 HR, 1 SO, 1 BB, 6 R, 5 ER.

Orix Buffaloes

Kyocera Dome gives out 1M yen to players that hit grand slams at the stadium.  Takayoshi Kawabata got his on Tuesday night.

More on the grand slam: Kawabata is the second rookie in franchise history to hit a grand slam for his first Ichi-gun home run; he is the twelfth rookie in the NPB (ninth in the PL) to hit a grand slam for his first Ichi-gun home run; he is the first rookie to hit a grand slam during Inter-league play.

Rakuten Eagles

According to Sponichi, Masahiro Tanaka could re-join the active roster as early as Thursday (dependent on how he is feeling today and whether or not the coaches agree it is the best move).  Sanspo and Nikkan Sports add that Tanaka could get an Ichi-gun start as early as May 30 against the Yomiuri Giants.

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The Eagles are giving away free Inter-league home game tickets to people with Tohoku area last names: Miyagi-san, Iwate-san, Fukushima-san, Akita-san, Aomori-san, and Yamagata-san.

According to Nikkan Sports, thirteen people took advantage of the deal on Tuesday (game was eventually called due to rain): Miyagi-san x 6, Akita-san x 4, Fukushima-san x 2, Yamagata-san x 1.

Yokohama Bay Stars vs Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters @ Sapporo Dome - 18:00
Announced Starters: Giancarlo Alvarado (YOK) 1-4, 2.83 - Mitsuo Yoshikawa (HAM) 4-2, 1.12

Attendance: 28401 | Nippon Ham leads series, 2-0-0 | Time: 3:14

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Yokohama Bay Stars vs Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters @ Sapporo Dome - 18:00
Announced Starters: Futoshi Kobayashi (YOK) 0-0, 1.50 - Kazuhito Tadano (HAM) 2-0, 1.80

Attendance: 22971 | Nippon Ham leads series, 1-0-0 | Time: 2:58

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Softbank Hawks

Pitching coach Ikuo Takayama sat down with Hiroki Yamada, Nagisa Arakaki, Kenji Otonari, and Sho Iwasaki today and told them that they will be going with a five man starting rotation that includes Tadashi Settsu.  The others will be used to help fill in any gaps.

Nippon Ham Fighters

Keisuke Tanimoto recorded a victory on Saturday on just one pitch and became the thirty-third player in the NPB to accomplish the feat.

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The Fighters will be hosting Player Days on June 16 and 17 (vs Yakult at Sapporo Dome).

Seibu Lions

Voice actress Kaoru Fukuhara will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on June 24 (vs Orix).  She will also be in charge of stadium announcements that day.

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Seibu Recreation announced today that restaurant Shishi at Seibu Dome will be closed until further notice after a customer found a cigarette butt (about four centimeters long) in the curry at the buffet table on Sunday.  There have so far been no reports of customers getting sick.

Orix Buffaloes

Akinobu Okada recorded his ninety-ninth Inter-league managerial victory on Sunday.  That's tops in the NPB history.

Rakuten Eagles

Masahiro Tanaka is still on for his Ni-gun start against Seibu on Tuesday.

Said Tanaka, "I have no worries.  I have not pitched in a month so I do not expect to do well right out of the gate.  I just have to pitch my game. ... Things are improving.  I am no longer in that place where I can not see the end of the tunnel."

Nippon Ham Fighters

Atsunori Inaba became the eleventh player in NPB history to reach the 400 double milestone on Saturday.  The double came in the 2nd inning off Yusuke Nomura (Hiroshima, at Mazda Stadium).

Rakuten Eagles

Koji Aoyama picked up another save on Saturday and now has six saves in his last six appearances.

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Senichi Hoshino treated ten players (including Ryo Hijirisawa, Akihisa Makida, Shinichiro Koyama, Takahiro Shiomi, and Koji Aoyama) to yakiniku on May 15.  Because he did not want the players to feel uncomfortable with his presence, he gave the team's player rep, Motohiro Shima, 200,000 yen to pay for the dinner.

Chiba Lotte Marines

The Marines extended their winning streak to six games on Saturday (includes one tie).  According to Nikkan Sports, the last time the team won six in a row was back in 2009 (September 22-30).

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Katsuya Kakunaka is responsible for driving in the game-winning runs in the team's last four victories.

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According to Sponichi, only four teams have been the first to ten games above .500 following a season in which they finished in last.  The 1964 Hankyu Braves (finished in second); the 1968 Kintetsu Buffaloes (finished in fourth); the 1981 Chunichi Dragons (finished in fifth); and the 2012 Chiba Lotte Marines (finished in ??).

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters vs Hiroshima Toyo Carp @ Mazda Stadium - 14:00
Announced Starters: Masaru Takeda (HAM) 4-1, 1.47 - Kenta Maeda (HIR) 4-2, 1.96

Attendance: 31185 | Series tied, 1-1-0 | Time: 3:47

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Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters vs Hiroshima Toyo Carp @ Mazda Stadium - 15:00
Announced Starters: Yuki Saito (HAM) 4-2, 2.58 - Yusuke Nomura (HIR) 2-3, 1.31

Attendance: 31803 | Hiroshima leads series, 1-0-0 | Time: 2:57

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Softbank Hawks

The Hawks will allow fan club members and season ticket holders the opportunity to watch pre-game practices before their game against the Hanshin Tigers on May 26 at Yahoo Dome.

Nippon Ham Fighters

Yuki Saito threw thirty-five pitches in the bullpen at Mazda Stadium on Tuesday.

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Kensuke Tanaka suffered a fracture in his left foot at Mazda Stadium last year while trying to steal second.  According to Nikkan Sports, Micah Hoffpauir teasingly said to Tanaka, "Kensuke, no sliding.  No steals, ok?"

Tanaka was also given salt by the staff to ward off bad spirits.  To which Tanaka jokingly said, "Maybe I will go sprinkle some of this near second base."

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The Fighters announced additional Atsunori Inaba 2,000 hit commemorative items.

Seibu Lions

Hisanobu Watanabe will turn forty-seven on August 2, the day the Lions play a game against Orix in Gunma.  Since Watanabe is also from Gunma, the team announced today that they will also celebrate his birthday that day.

Softbank Hawks

Toru Hosokawa was left out of the starting line-up on Wednesday night for what may have been neck pains. He is currently day-to-day.

Nippon Ham Fighters

According to Sponichi, Yoshio Itoi hit the PL's first homer to leadoff a game on the first day of Inter-league play on Wednesday night against Hanshin.  It was also Itoi's first career homer to leadoff a game.

Seibu Lions

Sponichi notes part of Takeya Nakamura's problem may have to do with the slightly thinner bat (by about 0.4 centimeters) he is using this season.

Nakamura's two homers on Wednesday night gives him forty-one career Inter-league homers.  That's good for a third place tie with Alex Ramirez on the All-time list.  It was also Nakamura's sixth multi-homer Inter-league game, which is tops on the All-time list (Takeshi Yamasaki and Shinnosuke Abe are now in second with five).

Orix Buffaloes

The grand slam Chihiro Kaneko gave up on Wednesday night was his first since April 18, 2006.

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Hirotoshi Kitagawa gathered the position players together for the emergency meeting after Wednesday night's 6-0 loss against Yomiuri.

Rakuten Eagles

If Masahiro Tanaka does not feel any pain after the bullpen session he tossed on Wednesday, he could get to a pitch in a Ni-gun game against Seibu on May 22.  Senichi Hoshino told reporters he thought Tanaka might be able to return to the active roster some time around June 10.

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Kazuo Matsui was taken off the active roster today with a sprain in his right wrist.

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Hoshino told reporters on Wednesday that he plans to stick with Koji Aoyama as his closer even after Darrell Rasner returns.

According to Nikkan Sports, while Aoyama may have tied three other pitchers for the NPB high with six saves in as many consecutive games, he is the only pitcher in that group to also record five of the saves with a one-run lead.  Masahide Kobayashi (May 2001) saved three games with one-run leads; Hitoki Iwase (August 2005) saved no games with one-run leads; and Kyuji Fujikawa (July 2007) saved one game with a one-run lead.

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Kazuo Matsui was left out of the starting line-up on Wednesday because of pain in his right wrist.

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Hoshino gave Jose Fernandez permission to skip team practices on Monday and Tuesday so he could return to Sendai and be with his kid (they were not feeling well).

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters vs Hanshin Tigers @ Koshien Stadium - 18:00
Announced Starters: Brian Wolfe (HAM) 2-3, 2.61 - Yuya Ando (HAN) 2-1, 1.97

Attendance: 35303 | Nippon Ham leads series, 2-0-0 | Time: 3:13

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