Baseball: Otake, Oyama bring Tigers back on top of CL
NISHINOMIYA, Japan (Kyodo) -- Kotaro Otake pitched 7-1/3 solid innings and Yusuke Oyama doubled in two runs as the Hanshin Tigers regained the Central League lead with a 5-2 win over the Hiroshima Carp on Saturday.
Otake (1-1) had a shutout until he gave up a two-run homer to Elehuris Montero with one out in the eighth at Koshien Stadium. The left-hander held Hiroshima to four hits without a walk.
Oyama's two-run double off Hiroki Tokoda (4-3) pushed Hanshin's lead to 4-0 in the fifth. Tigers leadoff man Koji Chikamoto went 5-for-5 with an RBI and a stolen base.
Suguru Iwazaki picked up his 100th career save and 11th of the season. The Carp saw their winning streak end at four games and dropped to second place.
Among the day's other games, Natsuo Takizawa capped his four-hit game with a walk-off single in the 10th inning, giving the Seibu Lions a 3-2 victory over the Orix Buffaloes.
The SoftBank Hawks held off the Rakuten Eagles 2-1.
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CHIBA (Kyodo) -- Yudai Fujioka homered and drove in three runs to back a scoreless outing by Shuta Ishikawa as the Lotte Marines beat the Yomiuri Giants 5-3 on Wednesday. A moment of silence was observed prior to the game at Zozo Marine Stadium, following Tuesday's death of former Giants star third baseman and manager Shigeo Nagashima at the age of 89. Fujioka hit a two-run homer in the second inning and an RBI single in the third to help Lotte build a 5-0 lead through three innings. Yomiuri got three runs back in the eighth but the rally ended there. Ishikawa (1-2) scattered three hits, three walks and a hit batter over seven innings. Haruto Inoue (3-5) took the loss. Among the day's other games, the Nippon Ham Fighters edged the Hanshin Tigers 5-4 in a matchup between the Pacific League and Central League first-place teams, respectively. Jun Maeda (2-1) struck out 10 and allowed just two hits in eight scoreless innings in the SoftBank Hawks' 8-2 rout of the Chunichi Dragons.
Yomiuri Shimbun
a day ago
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Shigeo Nagashima Passes Away: Eternal Mr. Pro Baseball Brightened An Era
With his spectacular plays and beaming smile, Shigeo Nagashima brightened an era. He was truly a sun- or sunflower-like figure. Together with fans across Japan, we pray for him to rest in peace. Nagashima, the lifetime honorary manager of the Yomiuri Giants, has passed away. He was 89. As a player and manager, he achieved numerous accomplishments and solidified the popularity of professional baseball in Japan. He was a national star worthy of the title 'Mr. Pro Baseball.' The bigger the stages were, the more the 'man with the burning spirit' demonstrated his abilities. In the game attended by the then Emperor and Empress in 1959, he hit a dramatic walk-off home run off Hanshin Tigers pitcher Minoru Murayama in the bottom of the ninth inning. With slugger Sadaharu Oh, Nagashima was the driving force for the Giants known as the 'O-N' pair during a period called the Giants V9 campaign when they won nine consecutive Central League and Japan Series titles. And the two earned a description as the 'record-breaker Oh, memory-maker Nagashima.' During Japan's high-growth period of the Showa era (1926-1989), many people related to Nagashima with his energetic plays in a thriving society and drew inspiration from him for days to come. Nagashima was probably the only player who could make fans cheer even after making an error. Even people who rooted against the Giants loved him deeply. After retiring in 1974 with the famous speech, 'My Giants are forever immortal,' Nagashima managed the Giants over two stints. In 1994, Nagashima led the team to victory in the 'Oct. 8 showdown' against the Chunichi Dragons to win the league championship and went on to win the Japan Series. In 1996, he managed the team as they came from behind to overcome an 11.5-game deficit against the first-place Hiroshima Carp to win the league championship. In the 2000 'millennium showdown' Japan Series against the Daiei Hawks managed by Oh, the entire nation was abuzz. Dramatic developments occurred around Nagashima one after another, probably because he was a superstar. He always maintained a positive attitude, leaving behind numerous memorable quotes such as 'Make Drama' and 'Miracle Again.' At times, he also made humorous remarks that charmed fans like 'Let's pretend to go for 'utsu' [a hit], but instead we will go for hitting,' mixing English and Japanese words both meaning same thing, and 'I've reached my first 60th birthday.' One thing that must not be forgotten is Nagashima's contribution to nurturing Hideki Matsui into an indisputable cleanup hitter. Nagashima set a '1,000-day plan' to turn Matsui into an elite hitter in three years, and Nagashima was always with Matsui to tirelessly practice hitting. When Matsui retired, Nagashima said, 'I have refrained from praising him openly until now, but I would like to call him the 'greatest home run hitter of the modern era.'' Matsui still reflects on the days he spent swinging the bat under Nagashima's watch and speaks of his appreciation for Nagashima. In 2004, Nagashima suffered a cerebral infarction and was left with paralysis on the right-side of his body and other aftereffects. Despite this, he continued his rehabilitation saying, 'I want to run again.' Although he was often called a genius, he was also a man of relentless effort. (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 4, 2025)
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