Curses, Comebacks, and a Slugfest in Yokohama
Marines Wrap Up Interleague with a Wild Week 3
After three short weeks, interleague play is over. Let’s check out how the Chiba Lotte Marines did in the third and final week. Missed the first two weeks? Check out the recaps for week 1 and week 2.
6/17 at Hanshin Tigers: Marines win 3-1
The Hanshin Tigers are characterized as lovable losers, much like the Chicago Cubs were before finally breaking the Curse of the Billy Goat and ending their pennant and champion drought in 2016. Like the Cubs’ Wrigley Field, the Tigers play at a legendary stadium, considered the Mecca of Japanese baseball, Koshien Stadium. The Tigers had their own curse: the Curse of the Colonel. The Tigers were said to be cursed by the colonel because overzealous fans threw a statue from a KFC into the Dotonbori River in Osaka after winning the pennant in 1985. Hanshin did go on to win the Japan Series in six games but were doomed to never win again until the statue was recovered, or so it was said. They appeared in the Japan Series three more times and lost in 2003, 2005 and 2014 before finally ending the curse by winning in 2023. A pretty weak curse considering they won the championship soon after the statue was thrown in the river, and lost their first appearance in the Japan Series after the Colonel was recovered in 2009.
Trailing 1-0, Lotte scored three runs in the seventh inning for a come-from-behind win. Veteran Katsuya Kakunaka played the hero for the second game in a row, hitting a pinch-hit infield single to tie the game. Kyota Fujiwara, who often mimics Kakunaka’s no-step batting stance (where the hitter doesn't lift their front foot) when there are two strikes, followed him by driving in two more runs with a base hit. The Marines held on to win, handing the Tigers their 7th loss in a row.
20-year-old Yuto Kimura made his first career start for Lotte. He only lasted four innings, but considering he’d been pitching in relief all season, it wasn’t a bad outing. He struck out four, walked one, and gave up one earned run.
6/18 at Hanshin: Tigers win 8-1
The Tigers ended their seven-game losing streak. A close game until Hanshin exploded for five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning off Tayron Guerrero. Guerrero has struggled to the tune of a 6.75 ERA; he was removed from the roster and sent to the ni-gun (farm team) the next day.
6/19 at Hanshin: Tigers win 2-0
Tigers starter Jon Duplantier was dominant, throwing a complete-game shutout with 12 strikeouts. It was his first shutout in Japan and earned him his third win of the season. Lotte was shut out for the 15th time this season. Duplantier looked cool in his trademark glasses.
6/20 at Yokohama DeNA BayStars: Marines win 6-1
The BayStars finished third in the Central League last year but got hot in the playoffs, knocking out the Tigers and the Giants to advance to the Japan Series to face the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. SoftBank finished the regular season with 20 more wins than Yokohama (91 vs 71) but the BayStars surprised everyone by prevailing in six games to win their third championship, the first since 1998.
Lotte cruised to an easy victory in the opening game of the series. They jumped ahead with RBI hits from Daito Yamamoto and Misho Nishikawa, scoring three runs. Then in the top of the third, Yamamoto added a solo homer to extend the lead.
Starter Shuta Ishikawa pitched brilliantly, allowing just one hit and one run over six innings to earn his second win since coming over from SoftBank in the offseason.
6/21 at Yokohama: BayStars win 5-0
I was at this game. Rookie Koshiro Hiroike, a fifth-round draft pick last year, was making his debut for Chiba Lotte. 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 to Shugo Maki, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, and Yasutaka Tobashira. Lotte ended up losing 5-0.
6/22 at Yokohama: Marines win 10-9
This was a slugfest.
A Wild Day in Yokohama
The teams combined for 19 runs, 30 hits, 2 walks, 2 hit batters, and 2 errors.
6/24 vs Yomiuri Giants: Marines win 6-4
This is a makeup game from week 1. The Giants jumped out ahead early but in the bottom of the third inning, trailing by two runs, Lotte tied the game with a two-run triple by Misho Nishikawa. Nishikawa came into the game batting .429 in the month of June. Then in the fifth inning, Raito Ikeda and Hiromi Oka delivered back-to-back RBI hits, scoring three runs and giving Lotte the lead.
Things got dicey when the Giants loaded the bases against Shunsuke Nakamori but with one out, he got Naoki Yoshikawa to ground into a double-play to end the game.
Overall Results
Chiba Lotte finished the week with a 4-3 record, giving them a final record of 10-8 in interleague play. The Marines have been playing much better baseball since their disastrous May. Give credit to new head coach Saburo.
The SoftBank Hawks ended up with the best record overall at 12-5-1, earning their 9th overall interleague championship. The Pacific League defeated the Central League 63-43.
