Yakult defeated DeNA with rookie Kazufumi Maruyama’s goodbye hit, achieving the league title for the first time since 1992 and 1993. This season, Yakult turned on the magic fastest in the history of professional baseball on July 2, but the team stalled due to the emergency situation in which the main force withdrew in large numbers due to the new coronavirus infection. Even so, he cut the finish tape without surrendering the position of 1st place until the end. How did the Yakult OBs see this season’s battle? We spoke with Kenjiro Kawasaki, Tetsuya Iida, and Katsumi Hirosawa, who supported the golden age of the 90s.
Yakult defeated DeNA in a goodbye and achieved consecutive league titles
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“Taguchi’s 20 pitches” gave momentum to the team
◎Kenjiro Kawasaki
Last year, no pitcher reached the regular pitching innings, and the team’s most wins were Yasuhiro Ogawa and Yasunobu Okugawa with 9 wins. Following that was Ryuta Konno, the “man of the seven” with seven wins.
And this season, Okugawa, who was expected to make a further leap, pitched in the Giants match on March 29, and left the battlefield due to poor upper body condition. However, the starting line-up did their best to make the big hole disappear at all.
So far (as of September 25/same below) Cysneed 9 wins (6 wins last year), Ogawa 8 wins, Keiji Takahashi 8 wins (4 wins last year), Hirotoshi Takanashi 7 wins (4 wins last year), Juri Hara 7 wins The number of wins (three wins) was nearly double that of last year. The confidence he gained by pitching in the Japan Series probably helped raise the starting lineup.
Also, just like last year, the efforts of the relief team shined again this year. Second-year Naofumi Kizawa leaped to 8 wins and 8 holds. Compared to Keio University, the fact that the swing of the arm has become larger is probably the reason for the break.
Reito Taguchi also contributed with 1 win and 18 holds and an ERA of 1.32. Above all, “Taguchi’s 20 pitches”, which was a perfect relief from the bases loaded with no outs in the 10th inning of the extension game against Nippon-Ham, was a masterpiece. In the 11th inning, Munetaka Murakami won the game with a walk-off 2-run win, and the team picked up momentum from here and won the interleague game. It created the opportunity for a stand-alone situation.
Looking back, in September 1993, Tennozan faced Chunichi with a game difference of 0. “Gyaos” Naito Naito relieved with no outs in the 15th inning and struck out Alonzo Powell, (Hiromitsu) Ochiai, and (Toshikatsu) Hikono. The game ended in a draw, but after that the team picked up momentum and achieved their second league title in a row. I remembered this scene when I saw Taguchi’s excellent pitch.
Today’s baseball puts a heavy burden on relief pitchers. There aren’t many teams with an absolute ace like Orix Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yakult also has Noboru Shimizu, Yugo Umeno, Yasuchika Ishiyama, and closer Scott McGuff in the bullpen in addition to Kizawa and Taguchi. The team’s ERA of 3.59 is fifth in the league, but this is proof that the starting pitchers created the game and the relievers defended it well, as they were able to win the game without fail.
