Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Oryx) has moved into first place in four individual titles.
Yamamoto started the game against the Nihon Ham Fighters at Escon Field in Hokkaido, Japan on Feb. 2 and pitched seven innings of four-hit ball, striking out nine and walking none to earn the win. The Oryx won 1-0.
Yamamoto earned his 13th win of the season. He lowered his ERA to 1.34. He added nine strikeouts and moved into first place in the league with 137 strikeouts. He leads the league in four categories, including winning percentage.
There were plenty of scoring chances. Didn’t allow a run in the second inning with runners on first and second and third, in the third inning with runners on first and second and third, in the fourth inning with runners on second and third and in the fifth inning with runners on first and second and no outs. Struck out nine in the clutch. 소닉카지노
Got the leadoff batter in the first inning to fly out to first and ground out to third for the second out. She got a swinging strikeout on a 144-kilometer forkball.
In the second inning, Mannami Chusei reached on a throwing error by the third baseman. Wang Borung singled to right, putting runners at first and second. Martinez grounded to the second baseman for the second out, putting runners at second and third.
In a clutch situation, he induced a pitcher’s grounder to second base with a forked ball, forcing the runner at third into a double play. Allowed runners to steal second and third with one out, but got a swinging strikeout to end the threat.
In the third, he got a strikeout and a fly ball to right field with two outs, then allowed a single up the middle and a walk. With runners on first and second, he got Mannami to fly out to center fielder.
Wang Borung walked to lead off the fourth inning. A strikeout and a catcher’s foul fly got the second out. He gave up a double to Ryohei Hosokawa to put runners at second and third. He struck out Torai Fushimi on a 144-kilometer forkball to get out of the jam.
The fifth inning was also a crisis. Matsumoto led off with an infield single to shortstop and Yuya Gunji walked to put runners on first and second with nobody out.
Kiyomiya struck out Kotaro Kiyomiya on a 143-kilometer forkball and Mannami on a 153-kilometer fastball. He got Wang Borung to ground out to the second baseman to escape another jam.
In the top of the sixth, a throwing error by the first baseman loaded the bases. He lined a pitch straight to the pitcher and got a double play to end the inning. In the seventh, after an infield single, he retired Matsumoto and Gunji on consecutive pitches. He threw 108 pitches through seven innings.
The Oryx opened the scoring in the top of the first when leadoff hitter Ryoma Ikeda doubled to left. A batter later, Keita Nakagawa singled through the left side to score the go-ahead run. It would be the only run of the game.
In the bottom of the ninth, Nihon Hamm put runners on first and second with a leadoff single, a sacrifice bunt, and a walk, but a strikeout and an outfield flyout ended the game.