A Wild Day in Yokohama

19 Runs, 30 Hits, 1 Immaculate Inning

I went to Yokohama Stadium for the first time on Saturday for an interleague game. Rookie Koshiro Hiroike, a fifth-round draft pick last year, was making his debut for the Chiba Lotte Marines against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. He had made five appearances on the farm, throwing 15 innings with a 1.80 ERA.

It was a beautiful day for a ballgame.

Hiroike made it through the first inning unscathed and then struck out three batters in the second. Not bad for a rookie in his first game. Unfortunately, before striking out the side, he allowed back-to-back-to-back home runs. Lotte ended up losing 5-0. It wasn’t a great first-time experience. My wife, Kana, and I are 0-4 this year when attending games. We went 5-7 last year. Hopefully, our luck turns around soon.

On Sunday, we dutifully tuned in to the game. Austin Voth, the Marines’ best pitcher so far, was on the mound, taking on the much-maligned Trevor Bauer for the BayStars. Bauer won the Cy Young Award in the COVID-shortened season of 2020 for the Cincinnati Reds. He pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 but was put on administrative leave in July of that year before being suspended for all of 2022 due to sexual assault allegations. He was released by the Dodgers in January 2023 and signed with Yokohama two months later.

Bauer was named an All-Star for the BayStars in 2023. In 2024, he pitched for Diablos Rojos del México, who went on to win the Mexican League that year. He rejoined the BayStars before the 2025 season.

Let’s start with the first inning. Kyota Fujiwara led off for Lotte against Bauer, who was pitching on short rest. He lined to center on the second pitch. That would be the best Bauer looked all day.

Teenage catching sensation Ryusei Terachi hit the third pitch of the at-bat to right for a single. Third baseman Hisanori Yasuda followed by knocking a hit to center. Two on and one out. That brought up Daito “Dynamite” Yamamoto, the young outfielder, who smacked a ball over the left field fence for his eighth home run of the season, giving the Marines an early 3-0 lead.

Next up was Misho Nishikawa, last year’s first-round pick. He hit a ball that looked like a homer off the bat, but the wind kept it in the park. He ended up on third with a triple. After former BayStars slugger Neftali Soto struck out, shortstop Atsuki Tomosugi drove in Nishikawa with a double. Second baseman Ryusei Ogawa brought home Tomosugi with a single before Bauer finally escaped by striking out opposing pitcher Austin Voth*. After 29 pitches, Lotte led 5-0.

*No DH in the Central League, so with the game in Yokohama, pitchers hit. Or try to, at least.

Ryuki Watarai led off for DeNA. Drafted in the first round in 2023, he was born in Chiba but went to high school in Yokohama. He singled to right. After Shion Matsuo was hit by a pitch, Keito Sano drove in Watarai with a double to center. Second baseman Shugo Maki drove in another run on a fielder’s choice.

Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, who left for MLB after the 2019 season and returned to Yokohama in 2024, flew out to center. Veteran and four-time All-Star Toshiro Miyazaki hit a ball that deflected off Voth for an infield single. Center fielder Koki Kajiwara lined one just in front of his counterpart Fujiwara to plate another run. Voth finally got shortstop Yota Kyoda to ground out to escape the inning. After 31 pitches from Voth, the BayStars had clawed back to make it 5-3.

We’re just getting started.

Fujiwara led off again and worked a walk. After another Terachi single, Yasuda drove in Fujiwara on a hit to right. With Yamamoto due up and nobody out, BayStars manager Daisuke Miura had seen enough and pulled Bauer for Hayato Horioka. Horioka allowed a run-scoring hit to Nishikawa, making it 7-3, before getting out of the inning.

Yokohama failed to score in the bottom half of the inning, and neither team scored in the third. So let’s go to the fourth inning.

The BayStars’ Yutaro Ishida quickly recorded two outs before the Marines hit three straight singles to load the bases for Ogawa, who promptly drove in two runs. Voth again made the final out, leaving it 9-3.

The home team responded by quickly putting two men on to give Watarai another chance. Thanks to some sloppy defense, he drove in both runners and came around to score himself on a throwing error. The BayStars had narrowed the gap to 9-6.

Fujiwara led off the fifth with a laser on a 2-2 pitch into the right-field stands, making it 10-6 Lotte. The next three batters went down in order.

Voth was replaced on the mound by 28-year-old Akira Yagi, whose career ERA is over 5.00. Maki led off with a single and Tsutsugo homered for the second day in a row to bring Yokohama within two. Miyazaki immediately scorched a ball to right for a double and was driven in two batters later by Kyoda to make it 10-9 after five innings.

How many more runs would be scored with nearly half the game still to play?

Amazingly, not a single one.

Both bullpens finally silenced the bats. Lotte would manage just two more hits the rest of the way, while Yokohama failed to make solid contact. BayStars reliever Rowan Wick became the 22nd pitcher in NPB history to throw an immaculate inning, striking out the side on just nine pitches. 23-year-old Shunsuke Nakamori picked up his third save of the season after sending down the BayStars in order, sealing the win for Lotte.

In the end, the teams combined for 19 runs, 30 hits, 2 walks, 2 hit batters, and 2 errors. Yokohama is the defending champion and Chiba Lotte is the worst team in the Pacific League. That’s baseball. Anything can happen.

And that’s another reason why I love it.