Latest news with #NipponHam
The Mainichi
13 hours ago
- Sport
- The Mainichi
Baseball: Chusei Mannami sparks home run barrage as Fighters beat Giants
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Chusei Mannami, Torai Fushimi and Shun Mizutani homered in succession to break open the game in the second inning as the Nippon Ham Fighters outgunned the Yomiuri Giants 4-1 in interleague baseball on Tuesday. Nippon Ham starter Kota Tatsu (4-0) continued his strong season, fanning seven over 6-2/3 innings in which he allowed one run on four hits and three walks. Mannami broke the ice for the visiting Pacific League club at Tokyo Dome with his 13th home run of the year, a two-run blast to right field off a full-count slider from lefty Haruto Inoue (3-6). With none out, Fushimi launched a back-to-back bomb off his second pitch from Inoue, lifting it deep over left field. Inoue retired the next two batters before Mizutani joined the home run party with No. 4 of the season to right. The Fighters extended their win streak to three, while Yomiuri's loss was their fourth straight, dropping the Central League club below .500.
The Mainichi
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Mainichi
Baseball: Reyes hits 14th homer as Nippon Ham beats Hiroshima
KITAHIROSHIMA, Japan (Kyodo) -- Franmil Reyes hit one of Nippon Ham's three home runs to help pitcher Haruki Hosono pick up his first career win as the Fighters beat the Hiroshima Carp 5-0 on Saturday. Reyes' two-run homer, his Pacific League-leading 14th of the season, pushed Nippon Ham's lead to 3-0 in the third inning of the interleague game at Es Con Field Hokkaido, just outside Sapporo. Yuki Nomura also drove in two runs for the team managed by former New York Mets and San Francisco Giants outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo, with a homer in the second and a triple in the seventh. Hosono (1-1) struck out eight and allowed only two hits over six innings. Hiroki Tokoda (6-5) took the loss. Among the day's other games, the Seibu Lions edged the Chunichi Dragons 2-1, while the Yakult Swallows blanked the Lotte Marines 5-0.
Japan Times
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Japan Times
Fighters already showing last season's playoff run was no fluke
Tsuyoshi Shinjo showed up for his first news conference as Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters manager in November 2021 wearing sunglasses, a gaudy red suit and a white shirt with an impossibly large popped collar. He said he wanted to be called 'Big Boss' instead of 'manager,' a stance he later doubled down on by changing his registered name in NPB to 'BIGBOSS,' which he wore on his uniform. That was the beginning of a yearlong spectacle. After arriving on a hovercraft before the team's home opener in 2022, Shinjo remained the center of attention for most of the season. He preened, the fans fawned and the cameras rolled. If his goal was to take the spotlight and pressure off his mostly young players, then it worked. Shinjo was the star, and it almost did not matter that the team finished in last place. But Shinjo gave a lot of players valuable experience, even shoving some out of their comfort zones. While the Fighters finished last again in 2023, they at least looked like they were building something. Shinjo has dialed back his antics lately, and perhaps with good reason — because it looks like the players are ready to take center stage. After making a playoff run last season, the Fighters look like a contender again early in 2025. Nippon Ham is 25-19-2 through 46 games, the best record in the Pacific League, and is tied with the Hanshin Tigers for the highest winning percentage (.588) in NPB. Even though the calendar has not reached June, over 30% of the season is in the books. So while it is still too early to talk about winning the pennant, there have been enough games played to say the Fighters look like the real deal. Shinjo did not inherit a winning club in 2022. The team had finished second from the bottom in the Pa League the previous three seasons under Hideki Kuriyama and had not won the pennant since Shohei Ohtani led it there in 2016. Shinjo had a lot of young players in Year 1. There were also questions about his lack of experience — he had never managed or coached previously — and how seriously the flamboyant personality would take the job. The Fighters, however, made incremental gains during a pair of last-place finishes, and the seeds sprouted last season are bearing fruit this year. The club's pitchers have performed very well in 2025. Haruki Hosono provided the latest example with seven innings of one-run ball against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in a 1-1 tie on Sunday afternoon. Nippon Ham leads the PL with a 2.33 team ERA, and its starters are the class of NPB so far with a 2.18 mark. The Fighters have five pitchers with at least six starts and none have an ERA over 3.00 — although three have thrown fewer than 50 innings. Ace Hiromi Ito, meanwhile, has a 2.36 ERA over 61 innings (the second-most frames in the league). The team pitched well in 2024, and its roster of arms can lead the charge again this year. The Fighters' Chusei Mannami is tied for the Pacific League lead with nine home runs. | JIJI Offensively, the club's batting average is not great (.230), but that has not stopped it from leading NPB with 44 home runs — nine more than the next-highest total — and being tied for second with 160 runs scored overall. Sixteen of the club's homers have driven in multiple runs, including Chusei Mannami's grand slam on May 10. The Fighters' fast start in the power department could bode well as the weather warms up later in the summer. The club also has a plus-32 run differential, second only to the Tigers in NPB, and ranks fourth overall with a .657 on-base plus slugging percentage. Mannami and Franmil Reyes are tied for the PL lead with nine home runs and tied for second with 25 RBIs. Reyes is also batting .264. After Kotaro Kiyomiya took a big step forward for the Fighters last season, Yuki Nomura, who has embraced the challenge of holding down the No. 4 spot in the order, might be taking a similar leap this year. He is batting .291 with six homers and leads the team with an .871 OPS. Nomura, however, is currently nursing an oblique strain. While the offense could be in trouble if the homers dry up, the Fighters are getting contributions from several players. Shinjo has also changed his approach, according to reports, leaning on his coaches and delegating more. So perhaps "Big CEO" is another reason for the Fighters' fast start. Nippon Ham has five games this week before the start of the interleague schedule, which has been a wildcard for teams in past pennant races. Understanding how playing the Central League teams can throw a wrench in a season, the Fighters have given Reyes a little work at first base to prepare for games in CL parks, where there will be no designated hitter, and are fastidiously going over their bunting strategies. The Fighters have a long way to go, but if the first half of the PL schedule is an indication, they have enough firepower to show that last season was no one-off. The Fighters played for growth and to develop players in Shinjo's first two years, and began to reap the rewards last year. Now they can play to win. In Year 4 of the Shinjo experiment, the manager may not be the most entertaining thing to watch when the pennant race finally heats up.
