Takatsu saved 286 games for the Swallows.

On this day in 1991, Shingo Takatsu made his NPB debut for the Swallows. Selected in the third round of the 1990 draft out of Asia University, he was first used as a starter but only won a few games during his first two seasons on the top team.

It wasn’t until the 1993 season that he got a shot at closing games, and the Swallows won the Japan Series that year, a feat that they had fallen short of the year before. Takatsu was also the Swallows’ closer for the team’s Japan Series titles in 1995 and 2001.

The sidearm, slow sinker specialist is perhaps best known for not allowing a single run in his 11 Japan Series appearances from which he earned eight saves.

286 NPB saves puts him second on the all-time list behind Chunichi’s current closer, Hitoki Iwase. Throw his MLB saves in there, and he’s at 313 total.

Takatsu is back in Japan now after stints in the majors, where he won a World Series with the 2005 Chicago White Sox, KBO, and Taiwan’s pro league. He can also be seen on TV quite regularly in Japan as a baseball analyst and commentator.

When Tsubamegun owns the team, we promise to give you a proper sendoff, Mr. Takatsu!

As you might have guessed, articles covering the postseason were some of the most popular on the site.

Hello 2012, and Happy New Year to everyone out there in Tsubamegun land!

We’d like to welcome you to the new year, and a spring training camp in Okinawa that’s only a month away, by looking back briefly on the most popular posts of last season.

They’re listed here according to page views, and it’s an amusing view into what interested the record number of readers that accessed this site last year.

5. Tokyo vs Yomiuri Game 3 – Climax Series 1st Stage

This was Kozo’s personalized version of the emotional ups and downs of that historic game between the birds and their much better funded crosstown rivals.

4. Tokyo vs Chunichi Game 5 – Climax Series 2nd Stage

Garrett wrote the season-ending game report after the team’s loss to eventual Japan Series Runner-up, Chunichi. The comments at the end of this post were very much appreciated by all of us here at the site.

3. Online Yakyu Writer Insights: 2011 Tokyo Swallows

For this article, I interviewed Yakyu Baka’s Gen Sueyoshi, NPB Tracker’s Patrick Newman, and Jason Coskrey from the Japan Times to see what they thought about Tokyo’s chances in 2011. It’s interesting to re-read this article nearly a year later and see how things actually panned out. I, for one, was completely off on Aoki having a career-best year. Seems the new baseball was the monkey wrench on that one.

2. 2011 Japan Series – Chunichi vs Fukuoka

This is the youngest of the entrants on this short list of popular posts, but it makes sense that it made the cut because it’s essentially seven game reports wrapped into one. Game seven, in which I included play-by-play coverage of how the Hawks finally defeated the Dragons, helped attract a lot of real-time attention to that post.

1. Wishful Thinking (2011 version)

Ah, yes. The annual ritual of putting our foolish hopes and dreams in writing. It’s almost like a belated Christmas Wish List. I swung and missed on most of mine last year. How did you end up doing?

Thanks to everyone who visited Tsubamegun last season! Keep watching this space for an upcoming Wishful Thinking post that we’ll appreciate your feedback on. 

Enjoy the rest of the New Year’s holiday!

Hokkaido 3

Series: Hokkaido 0-1 Yomiuri

(Sapporo Dome)

The 2009 Japan Series kicked off tonight in Sapporo with the Pacific League Champions, Hokkaido, hosting their Central League counterparts, the Yomiuri Giants.

Both Takeda and Gonzalez retired the side rather quickly in the first, and then Tani came through with a two out solo homer to left to put the visitors ahead. 1-0 Yomiuri.

But Sledge crushed a Gonzalez fastball with one out in the bottom of the same inning to tie things up. 1-1.

Itoi reached with two outs on a single to left, and he took off running on the 1-1 pitch, but Tsuruoka fouled it off. He would reach second anyway on the next pitch as the ball skipped briskly over second base and into center field. Kaneko, however, stranded both of the runners when he struck out staring at a slider.

Kimura struck out on three straight pitches as Takeda continued to change speeds well and keep batters off balance. Furuki and Sakamoto both grounded out (nice play by Tanaka to throw Furuki out, by the way) to bring former Tokyo player, Gonzalez, back out to the mound without too much of a rest.

Tanaka and Morimoto grounded out to quickly make it look like a quick inning for Gonzalez, but Inaba (also a former Swallows player) singled past second base and Takahashi hit an infield single to short to again put runners on first and second with two outs. But after scoring the leveling run in the second, Sledge could only ground out to first and strand two more runners.

Koyano came up with a great diving play to rob Matsumoto of a single at the start of the fourth inning. But Ogasawara was able to reach first on a single up the middle after fanning badly at a couple of Takeda offerings near the middle of the zone. With one on and one out, Ramirez got ahold of one but broke his bat in the process and ended up flying out to left-center for the second out. Kamei grounded out to second on the first pitch he saw. Ogasawara never got past first.

Lots of first pitch swinging going on so far in this game. Lots of first pitch outs as well.

Gonzalez was finally able to finish things the easy way with two outs. He retired all three batters he faced (Koyano flied out to center on the first pitch).

Leading off the fifth was Mr. Tani who was responsible for the first run of this championship series with his second inning homer. Tani singled to center this time around, and pig-boy, Abe, followed up with a single of his own to put runners on first and second with no outs and Kimura in the batter’s box.

Takeda should have been able to get Tani at third, but he turned his head before gloving the ball and the Fighters had to settle for the out at first. Furuki then came to the plate with one out and runners on second and third. He struck out swinging at a changeup, and that brought Sakamoto to the plate for his third at-bat of the game. And the youngster came through with a pitch that he pulled down the line in left and plunked off the wall to score both Tani and pig-boy. Sakamoto ended up on second. 3-1 Yomiuri.

Matsumoto and his stupid little hand-waving habit (what is he doing? Is the bat hot?) then came to the plate with two outs and Sakamoto on second. He flied out to right to strand the runner, but the Giants regained the lead. In retrospect, Takeda’s mishandling of that bunt (which he did very well to get to quickly) should probably have been called an error even though the Fighter’s got the out. That was a typical little league fielding mistake.

After Kaneko struck out looking, Tanaka reached first on a single to right after a nice, long at-bat. Morimoto followed with a sharp grounder that made it through the right side of the infield and put runners on first and second with one out. Inaba struck out swinging at a high fastball to bring the end of the inning a bit closer, and Takahashi grounded out to short to again strand a pair of runners.

And this is neither here nor there, but that Daidan commercial that they’ve shown a couple of times so far between innings? Damn. If you’ve got enough money to advertise during the Japan Series, the least you can do is make a half-decent 15-second spot. That thing looks like a high school, end of term marketing class project.

Ogasawara gave us another first pitch out to get things started in the sixth. Ramirez followed with more of the same. Two outs. And he broke yet another bat in the process. Kamei stuck around for four pitches, but he grounded out to let Takeda sit down after only six pitches.

Sledge watched a slider hit the middle of the zone for strike zone, and then he passed on a high fastball that caught the inside of the the plate. He fouled off the third pitch and then watched the next two find the dirt as Gonzalez’s pitch count reached 90. He fended off another fastball and then a slider to keep himself in it before finally watching a changeup miss low to bring the count full. He then ripped the 2-3 pitch into right field to put a man on for Koyano. Koyano slapped the first pitch he saw into right to once again put runners on first and second for the Fighters.

That earned Gonzalez a little pep talk from Yomiuri pitching coach, Obana, but it wouldn’t really matter because the Fighters would bail him out a little on the next pitch. Itoi’s bunt was tracked down in a hurry by Yomiuri first baseman, Kimura, and where Takeda earlier failed, Kimura succeeded. Sledge was out at third to worsen the situation for the home team.

Tsuboi was then brought in to pinch hit for the Fighters, and as soon as Hara saw the switch he pulled Gonzalez and put Yamaguchi on the mound. Fighter’s manager, Nashida, then changed his pinch hitter to Nioka, the man who played for the Giants up until last year but was relocated (against his will) to Hokkaido after proving to be surplus to needs and a bit of a tabloid magazine magnet during the 2008 season.

Nioka eventually worked the count full before poking one through the hole between third and short to score Koyano from second and make Hara sweat a bit. 3-2 Yomiuri.

And Nashida looks like a genius.

Kaneko fouled off the first two pitches he saw before swinging at and missing the 2-0 forkball that he was offered on the third pitch. Two outs for Tanaka with two runners on and two out. But two more runners were left aboard yet again as Tanaka flied out to center.

Nashida then went with Tateyama on the mound and Ono behind the plate. That didn’t work very well as Tani collected his third hit of the game (single to right). So Tateyama left the mound to make way for Hayashi, another player that Yomiuri sent north to Hokkaido during the off-season.

There to greet him was former battery-mate, pig-boy. Abe fouled off the first pitch from Hayashi before trying, and failing, to hold up on a high, inside pitch for strike two. The following junk pitch was junky for ball one, and Abe put the 2-1 pitch past Tanaka, who was drawn in pretty far, to put runners on first and third with no outs.

Hara then actually did something clever for once. A fake squeeze by Kimura freaked the Fighters out long enough for Abe to safely take second. Runners on second and third with no outs.

Kimura eventually struck out waving at a high heater, and Omichi was put in to pinch hit. Hokkaido pitching coach, Yoshii, came out to replace Hayashi at that point (Ejiri, RHP), to which Hara reacted by pulling Omichi in favor of Lee (obvious copycat move of what Nashida did earlier).

And Lee smacked the 1-1 pitch into center to score Tani from third to make it 4-2 Yomiuri.

With runners on first and third and only one out, Sakamoto struck out swinging weakly at an outside slider for the second out. Matsumoto then grounded out to third to end the headache for the Fighters.

Yamaguchi was still on the mound for the bottom of the seventh, and he got the first two batters he faced out before walking Takahashi to give Sledge another shot at being a hero. But Sledge grounded out to Ogasawara at third (nice bobble, Mr. Veteran).

Wow, that Vana H water commercial is pretty weak as well…

Ogasawara reached first on a third strike that ended up at the back screen. Oops. Suzuki took his place on first and stole second easily to put a little hamster on second with one out. Kamei then moved Suzuki over to third with a fly ball to right, and up came the 3-3 Tani. Tani held off on the first four pitches and was rewarded with a cautious 1-3 count. Ejiri threw a low slider for strike two, and Tani popped the full count pitch up to first to begin the Fighter’s eighth.

Nomura’s wearing a red sport coat in the commentator’s booth.

Ochi came in to handle the bottom of the eighth. He got the first out, but he walked Itoi to put a very fast guy on first. Inada then came in to pinch hit with one out and a runner on first. He end up grounding out, but the Giants weren’t able to turn the double play. Two outs, slower man (than before) on first.

Kaneko then showed us another first pitch out with a grounder to short which allowed Sakamoto to easily get the first at second. Baka.

That toilet spray commercial was pretty shocking as well. They must be giving discounts to any company that has never, ever created a print ad or promotional video before. The computer graphics involved here looked cool in the early 90′s, but even I can do better than what’s on display tonight.

Miyanishi (LHP) got all three batters he faced out in a hurry to end the first half of the 9^th.

And that would bring Kroon up for a go at protecting the two-run Yomiuri lead.

Hey Hokkaido. Here’s a free piece of advice from someone who has seen Kroon throw at least 100 times: don’t swing.

Tanaka didn’t swing, but he somehow blooped a safety bunt just over Kroon’s head to put a runner on first with the tying run at the plate.

Morimoto, the moron, started swinging right away. Strike one on a very low pitch. He held off on the next pitch though (forkball), and Kroon also missed low with his third pitch. Hmm, maybe Morimoto swiped at that first forkball in order to get Kroon’s hopes up? Anyway, Morimoto looked at another forkball for ball three before taking a called strike two right down the middle. Morimoto eventually grounded out on a full count hit and run so Tanaka was safe at second. One out, Tanaka on second. Inaba at the plate. Inaba flied out to right (soft swing at a forkball), but Tanaka was able to move over to third on the hit.

Takahashi then came through with a double off the wall in center which plated Tanaka and put the tying run on second. 4-3 Yomiuri.

And that brought Sledge to the plate with two outs.

He took a called first strike before a ball sailed high for 1-1. The next pitch was a forkball that Sledge couldn’t resist and it was 1-2. But the next forkball was low for 2-2. Sledge fouled off the next pitch to keep everyone on the edge of their seats, and he held off on the next offering to draw the count full with.

Sledge fouled off the next pitch as well. Kroon’s next forkball wasn’t close enough for Sledge to get excited, and the go-ahead run was now on first. Sledge was pulled for pinch runner, Murata.

Third baseman, Koyano, then found himself with a chance to be a hero. Kroon’s first pitch, a slider, missed inside, and his second, a fastball, was also a bit inside. Koyano fouled off the next offering, a fastball, to make it 1-2. But he missed badly on Kroon’s next pitch, an outside slider for 2-2. The game ended on Kroon’s next pitch, a slider in the northern region of the zone that Koyano chose not to swing at.

Game over: Hokkaido 3-4 Yomiuri.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

They tell us it's not possible to promote a tournament in which they're participating, but we can do better. People can be told about the Asia Series. Yes, we can.

The baseball season will draw to a close this weekend with the 2008 Asia Series, pitting the champions of NPB’s Japan Series, KBO’s Korea Series, CPBL’s Taiwan Series, and the CBL champions against one another in a three-day round robin single-game tournament, followed by a one-game championship between the top two teams on Sunday.

Sadly, the event, one of the few in which fans can see how the different leagues stack up in a direct way, has been, as always, poorly promoted, if at all.  The Seibu Corporation, which has plastered its train lines with posters celebrating the Saitama Seibu Lions’ Japan Series Championship and offered a sale at its department stores, crammed with scuffling housewives who wouldn’t know a thing about the Lions were it not for the sales, but has its promotion of the Lions’ participation in the Asia Series, in Tokyo this year, invisible.

For those who, like us, are interested, here’s the schedule:

(All games at Tokyo Dome.)

Thursday, November 13th:

12:00 – Tianjin Lions (CBL) vs. Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (CPBL)
6:00 – Saitama Seibu Lions (NPB) vs. SK Wyverns (KBO)

Friday, November 14th:

12:00 – SK Wyverns vs. Tianjin Lions
6:00 – Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions vs. Saitama Seibu Lions

Saturday, November 15th:

12:00 – Saitama Seibu Lions vs. Tianjin Lions
6:00 – SK Wyverns vs. Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions

Championship Game, Sunday, November 16th:

2:00 – Round Robin Runner-up vs. Round Robin Winner

You can follow the results here with us and see updated standings on our Game Results page.

Perhaps next year, we’ll see more changes to the playoff rules to keep this from happening – look for the Central League Pennant winner to start each game with two runs or something to make the playoffs even more Yomiuri-friendly.

All sarcasm aside, though the Lions now move on to the Asia Series, which begins on Thursday and where they’ll face the SK Wyverns of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) to start. (SK promises “Real Sportainment”, which we simply cannot resist.)
More baseball, a chance to see how the champs from Japan’s NPB (Saitama Seibu Lions, of course), Korea’s KBO (SK Wyverns), Taiwan’s CPBL (Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions), and China’s CBL (Tianjin Lions) stack up head-to-head, and another excuse to eat junk food and drink beer.  (Yes, three of the four participating teams are called the Lions, with the CBL’s Tianjin Lions even using a font almost identical to Saitama’s for their logo, but sans the cutesy cartoon white lion.)

All of the 2008 Asia Series games will be held at the Tokyo Dome.  Stick with us, we’ll be around and we hope to hear from all of you.

Saitama Seibu Lions 3

Yomiuri Giants 2

(Tokyo Dome)

The Saitama Seibu Lions came back from an 0-2 deficit to defeat the Yomiuri Giants in the deciding game seven of the 2008 Japan Series Championship.

It was Saitama’s first Japan Series championship since 2004 when it beat the Chunichi Dragons in seven games. Saitama is the winningest franchise in NPB over the past 30 years as far as Japan Series titles are concerned. 2008 is their 13th title against eight losses overall (including three by Seibu precursor, Nishitetsu). The Lions won five Japan Series titles during the 80′s, three during the 90′s, and this is now their second title so far this decade. From 1986 to 1992, in fact, Saitama won the title six times (they did not appear in the 1989 series which Yomiuri eventually won).

Yomiuri is the winningest Japan Series contender of all time, but they have not had nearly the amount of success as the Lions over the last three decades. They are tied with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows for number of Japan Series wins during that time with five. Yomiuri last appeared in a Japan Series Championship in 2002 when it beat the Saitama Seibu Lions in four straight games.

Yomiuri now has 20 Japan Series titles against 11 losses.

With 14 year veteran, Fumiya Nishiguchi, pitching for the visiting Lions, Yomiuri got off to a quick start. With the bases loaded, Yomiuri scored one run on a Nishiguchi wild pitch in the first inning.

In the second inning, Yomiuri shortstop, Hayato Sakamoto, drove a Nishiguchi meatball into the left field stands. 2-0 Yomiuri.

Nishiguchi (2 Hits; 3 K’s; 2 BB’s; 1 wild pitch; 2 earned runs; 9.00 ERA) was pulled after the second inning, and Lions first year manager, Hisanobu Watanabe, paraded out most of the rest of his starting pitchers in a desperate attempt to get some stability on the mound. It worked last night with Kishi, so why not try it again, right?

Well, stability is what he got. Starters Kazuhisa Ishii and Hideaki Wakui, both coming off of lackluster performances earlier in the series, pitched two innings of perfect baseball each. Then Tomoki Hoshino pitched a perfect seventh and claimed the win in the process. Finally, closer Alex Graman came on for the last two innings and retired all six batters he faced. After getting four runners on base during the first two innings, Yomiuri was completely shut down for the last seven.

Trailing 2-0 in the top of the fifth, and following two excellent innings by Ishii (including 2 strikeouts), Hiram Bocachica replaced the lefty in the lineup with two outs and nobody on. Yomiuri starter, Tetsuya Utsumi, had been very sharp up until that point, but he left one hanging a little too high up in the zone and Bocachica drilled it into the orange people sitting in left. 2-1 Yomiuri.

After two unbelievable innings by Wakui (including four strikeouts), and a solid seventh care of Hoshino, it was time for the Lions batters to start dealing with Yomiuri’s impressive set-up duo of Daisuke Ochi and Kiyoshi Toyoda.

After escaping from a pinch in the seventh, Ochi came on again in the eighth, and he promptly plunked Saitama second baseman, Yasuyuki Kataoka, with some chin music. Kataoka immediately stole second, and he was then bunted over to third by outfielder Takumi Kuriyama.

Kataoka scored on a weak grounder to third by Hiroyuki Nakajima. 2-2.

Then the cracks in Ochi’s armor finally started to show. He walked the next two batters he faced and gave up an rbi single to first baseman and Japan Series sensation, Hiroshi Hirao. 3-2 Saitama.

Ochi, pitching in his fifth game of the series, gave up two runs off of two hits. He also had two strikeouts, three walks and one hit batter. His Japan Series ERA rose to a still respectable 2.35 while taking the loss for the home team.

Toyoda also had a bit of a hiccup when he gave up his first Japan Series hit in recent memory. Pinch hitter, Shougo Akada, ended up on third base after hitting one to within about half of a meter of the top of the wall in right. (That’s why they don’t open the outfield doors when the visiting team is batting.)

Toyoda escaped from the inning without further damage, however, and then it was up to Graman to take the mound again and work through the business end of the Yomiuri lineup.

First, Kimura Takuya, who scored on the wild pitch in the first, struck out swinging. Then Ogasawara grounded out to first base.

With two outs, and trailing by one run, Alex Ramirez stepped up to the plate.

Ground ball to shortstop. Soft toss to first. Championship over.

Saitama won the series 4-3, and like Yomiuri, the team played without the help of some of their bigger bats. G.G. Satou, Craig Brazell and Toru Hosokawa were injured for much or all of this series.

All in all, four Lions batters reached base twice in this game. Kataoka, Nakajima, Nakamura and Hirao were the biggest headaches for Yomiuri in that respect.

Saitama cleanup hitter, Nakamura, had an interesting series at the plate. He was hitless for the fifth time tonight, but drew another two walks. He went only 3-24 in the series (.125 BA), but all of his hits were home runs. He drove in seven rbi’s with those three dingers, and he also drew six walks.

Hiroshi Hirao, on the other hand, had an unequivocally stellar series. He went 8-14 at the plate with two home runs, six rbi’s and one plunking for a .571 batting average. He didn’t play in the first and third games, and came on as a sub in the second and fifth, but he had an impact in most every game he played. His OBP was .600 during this series.

Nakajima also had a solid series. He was very good on defense and went 8-25 from the plate with two jacks, six rbi’s, two plunkings and two walks. His .414 OBP is very respectable against pitching as strong as he saw.

But the winner of the Japan Series MVP was the pitcher who won games four and six, Takayuki Kishi.

He started game four and pitched a complete-game shutout on November fifth before being called in to pitch 5.2 innings of relief last night (Nov. 9th). He threw 147 pitches in game four and another 91 in game six. In 14.2 innings of work Kishi gave up 10 hits and two walks against 16 strikeouts. His Japan Series ERA is 0.00.

Congratulations to the Saitama Seibu Lions and all of their fans on a great season and a remarkable Japan Series Championship victory!

Saitama Seibu Lions 4

Yomiuri Giants 1

(Tokyo Dome)

Well, folks, there’s going to be a game seven.

Saitama starter, Kazuyuki Hoashi, only made it through 3.1 innings, but Takayuki Kishi, another starter, saved the day by pitching 5.2 innings of shutout relief.

Hoashi gave up one run off of six hits, but he didn’t strike anybody out, and he issued one walk.

Hisanori Takahashi, Yomiuri’s starter, fared about the same. He got yanked after only 52 pitches (two innings!).

Providing the offense for Saitama was Hiroshi Hirao, the Lions first baseman. He went 3-4 on the night with a single, a three-rbi double and a solo home run. For the record, he drove in all four of Saitama’s runs tonight.

Also hitting well for Saitama was Tomoaki Satou. He went 3-4 with three singles. Meanwhile, Nakamura drew three walks, and both Kuriyama and Nakajima went 1-3 with two walks apiece.

Suzuki and Ramirez had a decent night on offense for Yomiuri, but only one run was produced.

Kishi (2-0, 0.00) took the win for Saitama while Takahashi (0-1, 6.14) went home with the loss.

The deciding game seven is tomorrow night at Tokyo Dome starting at 6:15 PM.

Yomiuri Giants 0

Saitama Seibu Lions 5

(Seibu Dome)

Takayuki Kishi, Saitama’s 23-year-old starter that finished the regular season with a 3.42 ERA, had the game of his career tonight.

The second-year righty out of Tohoku Gakuin University pitched a complete game, four-hit shutout. He gave up one walk against 10 strikeouts in a dominating display that involved 147 pitches.

Yomiuri never managed to get more than one runner on base in any single inning.

Seth Greisinger, Yomiuri’s starter, got tagged for five runs (all earned) in five innings (and change) of work. He was yanked in the sixth before he was able to record a single out because Nakajima singled to lead off and Nakamura drilled his second two-run homer of the game (the plus-sized third baseman has now hit three home runs in the last two games). 5-0 Saitama.

Greisinger (9.00 ERA) gave up six hits and hit one batter while striking out only two. This was definitely not the same pitcher that we have grown accostomed to seeing over the past two seasons.

Game five, the final installment of this series at Seibu Dome, starts at 6:15 PM tomorrow night.

The series is now tied at two games each.

Yomiuri Giants 6

Saitama Seibu Lions 4
(Seibu Dome)

Saitama starter (and former Tokyo ace), Kazuhisa Ishii (7.50 ERA), took the mound for his first appearance in the Japan Series since 2001 and hoped to continue the good form he displayed during the Climax Series.

Ishii gave up six hits (including two doubles and two home runs) during his six innings on the mound. He struck out four, walked two and was charged with one wild pitch and five runs (one of which came via a wild pitch in the first).

Things looked pretty bad for Saitama after Yomiuri’s sixth inning with the score 0-5, but the top half of Saitama’s order started to get things going. Following Bocachica’s leadoff strikeout, Kataoka and Kuriyama both singled off of Yomiuri starter, Tetsuya Utsumi. That put runners on first and third because Kataoka had stolen second prior to Kuriyama’s base hit to left.

Nakajima then plated Kataoka with a single to center for Saitama’s first run of the night. 1-5 Yomiuri.

Then Pacific league home run champ, Nakamura, who hasn’t done much of anything during the playoffs, stepped up to the plate. By this point, Utsumi (5.1 IP, 3 earned runs, 6 hits, 7 K’s, 5.06 ERA) had been replaced by Nishimura, and with two men on, Nakamura promptly deposited one of his pitches into the orange-filled bleachers in left. 4-5 Yomiuri.

But that was it for Saitama’s offense. They only managed one base runner after the four-hit explosion in the sixth, and that was by way of a walk.

Yomiuri set-up man, Daisuke Ochi, made his third appearance of this series, pitching a scoreless seventh and eigth, and still boasts an impressive 0.00 ERA in this championship series.

Suzuki and Ramirez both hit home runs off of Ishii, and Ogasawara added an insurance run in the eigth with a solo shot to right. The story of the night was Suzuki who went 3-4 with three rbi’s, ran the bases well (scored in the first) and played excellent defense. Ramirez hit into his third double play in as many games while going 2-4.

Kroon got the save (with a little help from the umpire) while working a scoreless ninth.

Game four is tomorrow night at Seibu Dome. First pitch is at 6:15 PM.