The Yomiuri Giants, who are seeking to win the Central League for the first time in four years, have suffered from a recent slump in hitting. If they played three games, from the Hanshin Tigers match on the 22nd to the Yokohama BayStars match on the 25th, they scored one point in 27 innings. All three games were decided by one point, but they couldn’t reduce the magic number leading to the championship and stepped back.
The team lost 0 to 1 on the first day of two consecutive games against Hanshin Tigers on Saturday and Sunday. The team won the match 1-0. It was a 0 to 1 loss on the first day against Hanshin Tigers. It was a shock to Hanshin Tigers, who was aiming for the 15th win. ace Tomoyuki Sugano, who pitched eight innings of one run, showed good performance, but failed to concentrate on the team’s performance.
He failed to score the first run in the first inning with no outs and second base, and he also lost a chance to load the bases with no outs in the sixth inning. Hanshin ace Hiroto Saiki beat the Yomiuri batters with seven hits and no runs in seven innings.
The next day, on Sunday, he returned the guard’s plaque. In the seventh inning, center hitters from third to fifth and scored one run. The two teams had six hits each on the day. Starting pitcher Foster Griffin blocked six innings, and three bullpen pitchers allowed no runs in the remaining three innings.
At an away game in Yokohama on Saturday, the team was blocked by Andre Jackson, the opponent team’s right-handed starter. He ended up with only three hits. The team turned the game 0 to 1. Runners up to second base twice, but failed to score a point. Starting pitcher Shosei Dogo allowed one run in seven innings and lost the game. With five more games to go, he feels a sense of crisis.
His batting lineup, which had been lethargic for three consecutive games, came back to life as if it were a lie. He had 18 hits in the match against Yokohama on Sunday, winning 12-4. All of the batters who started the game had hits. He reduced his magic number to three, and is thus close to making donations to win the title. With five games to go, he now has two more games to go than Hanshin, the runner-up. 메이저놀이터
Things went well from the beginning of the game. He had four hits including two doubles in the first inning, and scored three runs. In the second inning, fifth baseman Hisayoshi Chono hit a timely two-run homer with two outs and the bases loaded
burst. Kasumoto Kazuma Osamoto made a home steal and scored extra points. 6-0.
After being chased 6-4 in the fourth inning, he drove in a run again. No. 4 Okamoto and No. 6 Sakamoto Hayato hit home runs to run for three runs. Okamoto and Sakamoto also hit hits in the fifth inning, laying the groundwork for the extra point.
Okamoto hit three hits, including a home run, and had two walks to play on the fifth base. Kishida Yukinori, the seventh catcher, had three hits and three RBIs.
The Yomiuri Giants have failed to display performances worthy of their recent reputation. The team has fallen to the B-Class series (4th to 6th place among the six teams) for two consecutive years from 2022-2023. This is an unacceptable performance for a team that views a championship every year.
Coach Tatsunori Hara stepped down at the end of the season, and head coach Shinnosuke Abe took over the baton. Since then, he has succeeded in changing the atmosphere and has a chance to win the league in his first year in office.
The Yomiuri Giants last ranked first in the league in 2020. In the same year, they lost all four games to the Softbank Hawks in the Japan Series. They scored only four points in four games. They humiliatingly lost all four games in the Japan Series to Softbank for the second consecutive year.
The Pacific League’s leading soft bank confirmed its No. 1 ranking early with overwhelming power. If the two teams meet in the Japan Series for the first time in four years, I wonder what the results will be. Even if you win first place, you have to pass the climax series to get a chance.