Nippon-Series, the slugger still beats HR today! Osuna on the shields for the Swallows and victory for Ogawa! | Baseball Mania

Nippon Series, Gara 1

Tokyo Yakult Swallows – ORIX Buffaloes 5 – 3 (serie 1 – 0).

The Swallows find the victory, beating the Buffaloes in the long-awaited challenge against the phenomenal pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, where today for the first time in his career he launched at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo. In fact, this is put in clear difficulty by the home hitters, who manage to unlock the game from the first rounds. For the first time in history, the winning hitter of the Triple Crown of one league (Munetaka Murakami) and the winning pitcher of the Quadruple Crown of the other league thus faced each other.

For the record, the Swallows immediately hit the ace of the Buffaloes at the 1st inn., Where it goes into difficulty after the second out (two strike-outs in a row and BB granted to Murakami in four pitches), suffering a double from two rbi from the Venezuelan José Osuna e 2-0 for the hosts. Valid quite discussed, as it was hit on the long line of 3B and which could be judged foul for the guests. So the lead-off Yasutaka Shiomi went to base with single on the first launch seen previously.

The Buffaloes, however, react and in the next round where they hit the other starter, Yasuhiro Ogawa, who first concedes a lead-off BB from Masataka Yoshida and then after the first out the pitcher suffers a single from Masahiro Nishino. The bases are filled with single by Kenya Wakatsuki and so comes the turn of Kotaro Kurebayashi, who beats the single-rbi of the 2-1after which Ogawa always with bases loaded eliminates the pitcher Yamamoto at the plate, but the BB granted to Shuhei Fukuda is from rbi and race that goes in a draw on the 2-2.

However, the hosts took the lead again in the 3rd inn., When Yamamoto suffered a lead-off solo-homer from Shiomi, with home runs scored on the left and on the 1-2 account and Swallows advantage on the 3-2. Yamamoto also at the 4th inn. goes into trouble with the lead-off of the second half and in fact suffers another lead-off solo-homer, this time from Osuna, for the 4-2 Swallows. Home run on the left and on the first pass seen. At the end of the 4th inn. ends the undertone test of Yamamoto, released after 64 pitches for cramps and a competition that remains with this partial until the end of the 7th inn. It is from 11 August 2020 that Yamamoto undergoes two HRs in a match, at the time in Fukuoka against the Hawks (by Akira Nakamura and Yuki Yanagita) and therefore for the first time this season.

In the meantime Ogawa well manages the guest batters from the mound, and also gets away with the 5th inn., When he fills the bases with two outs (Keita Nakagawa’s triple stands out), but he is able to close the doors to the opponents.

It is at the 8th inn. that the guests try to reopen the game, against the prominent specialist of the Swallows, Noboru Shimizu, who suffers with two outs a single-rbi from PH Takahiro Okada, at the first launch seen and game that goes on 4-3. At the change of field, however, the Swallows immediately re-establish their advantage of two points, where the expert relief of the Buffaloes, Yoshihisa Hirano, suffers a lead-off solo-homer from the young slugger Murakami and 5-3 Swallows, beaten to the right and on the full account.

Comes the 9th inn. and the hosts deploy on the mound the closer Scott McGough, who after the first out suffers a single from Nakagawa first, then concedes a BB to Yoshida, but then reacts and finds the last two eliminated, creating an opportunity for RISP. The closer reacts and thus eliminates the next two hitters faced, Yutaro Sugimoto and Yuma Tongu from the pot and reached 22 pitches, signing the precious salvation that gives the Swallows victory!

Yamamoto finished the test with only four strike-outs in as many innings launched, disappointing for the Buffaloes and the Swallows with three homeruns giving them the win and the advantage in the series. For the hosts also stands out the 4/8 from lead-off in batting, where the HR arrived and the two rbi arrived with two outs, where the Buffaloes also found two of the three points in the condition of two eliminated.

Race 2 is scheduled for tomorrow at the Jingu Stadium and at 18.30 local time, where for the hosts he launches Cy Sneed (9-6, 3.54) and Sachiya Yamasaki (5-8, 3.45) and between the two only Sneed has a precedent against his opponents, where he was defeated by the Buffaloes in an InterLeague match (4.2 IP, 6 ER).

RACE TABLE 1

RACE MVP: Joseph Osunathe 1B of the Swallows today star performer from the batting box with 3/3 and three rbi I found on the five points signed by his team, dragging them to today’s victory and already winner of the MVP award of the Climax-Series just concluded for the Central League.

RACE HIGHLIGHT VIDEO