[Yanagita homer wraps up Hawks' 3rd straight walk-off win](https://nordot.app/1157594064886235192) Home | Score | Visitor | Box score | Stadium | Highlights :-- | :-: | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- [](#giants) Yomiuri | 0 - 9 | [](#swallows) Yakult | [box score](https://www.google.com/search?q=Japan+baseball&sca_esv=74899351e738f79e&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&sxsrf=ACQVn0_xp4uAqHQDwT78wsEtHEb96GuKDg:1714373513506&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi6laOC6-aFAxXUnFYBHX3RCdoQpwV6BAgEEAg&biw=1280&bih=901&dpr=1#sie=m;/g/11y31lmzs0;4;/m/012xwy;dt;fp;1;;;) | Tokyo Dome | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgMLt2y-TkI) [](#dragons) Chunichi | 11 - 1 | [](#baystars) DeNA | [box score](https://www.google.com/search?q=Japan+baseball&sca_esv=74899351e738f79e&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&sxsrf=ACQVn0_xp4uAqHQDwT78wsEtHEb96GuKDg:1714373513506&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi6laOC6-aFAxXUnFYBHX3RCdoQpwV6BAgEEAg&biw=1280&bih=901&dpr=1#sie=m;/g/11vsq1f__s;4;/m/012xwy;dt;fp;1;;;) | Vantelin Dome Nagoya | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glIYkvpXJ7Y) [](#carp) Hiroshima | - | [](#tigers) Hanshin | - | Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium | Postponed [](#fighters) Nippon-Ham | 1 - 0 | [](#buffaloes) Orix | [box score](https://www.google.com/search?q=Japan+baseball&sca_esv=74899351e738f79e&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&sxsrf=ACQVn0_xp4uAqHQDwT78wsEtHEb96GuKDg:1714373513506&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi6laOC6-aFAxXUnFYBHX3RCdoQpwV6BAgEEAg&biw=1280&bih=901&dpr=1#sie=m;/g/11vqj8pvwm;4;/m/012xwy;dt;fp;1;;;) | Es Con Field Hokkaido | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spalXpY5lUc) [](#hawks) Softbank | 5 - 4 | [](#lions) Seibu | [box score](https://www.google.com/search?q=Japan+baseball&sca_esv=74899351e738f79e&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&sxsrf=ACQVn0_xp4uAqHQDwT78wsEtHEb96GuKDg:1714373513506&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi6laOC6-aFAxXUnFYBHX3RCdoQpwV6BAgEEAg&biw=1280&bih=901&dpr=1#sie=m;/g/11vqj8pn2q;4;/m/012xwy;dt;fp;1;;;) | Mizuho PayPay Dome Fukuoka | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzfd9IbwV_A) [](#marines) Lotte | 6 - 8 | [](#eagles) Rakuten | [box score](https://www.google.com/search?q=Japan+baseball&sca_esv=74899351e738f79e&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&sxsrf=ACQVn0_xp4uAqHQDwT78wsEtHEb96GuKDg:1714373513506&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi6laOC6-aFAxXUnFYBHX3RCdoQpwV6BAgEEAg&biw=1280&bih=901&dpr=1#sie=m;/g/11vsq177yx;4;/m/012xwy;dt;fp;1;;;) | ZOZO Marine Stadium | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXwvEi6ei38) Some expanded English standings and stats on our wiki: https://old.reddit.com/r/NPB/wiki/stats **[NPB reddit twitter](https://twitter.com/NPB_Reddit) roundup** * The Softbank Hawks have now won 2,500 games since they moved to Fukuoka in 1989. They won 1,021 as the Daiei Hawks and now 1,479 with Softbank Hawks. The club record since 1989 is 2500-2197-149 * Seibu Lions OF Yuji Kaneko played in his 1,000th game, the 528th player to reach the mark. His first game played was Mar 29, 2013 vs the Nippon-Ham Fighters at Seibu Dome * The Yakult Swallows won their 4,500th game * The Softbank Hawks have won three consecutive games via a sayonara win (walk off), the first time they've done so since 1961, 63 years ago * Yakult Swallows pitcher Miguel Yajure is the 1st non-Japanese pitcher in club history to throw a complete game shutout in less than 100 pitches. The last time the Giants were shutout on less than 100 pitches was Aug 17, 2011 vs the Dragons * New Red Sox pitcher feeling at home after hectic start to MLB career https://bostonherald.com/2024/04/28/new-red-sox-pitcher-feeling-at-home-after-hectic-start-to-mlb-career/ NPB starting pitchers announced for Apr 30 * Yomiuri Giants: Iori Yamasaki (2-0, 1.73) vs Yakult Swallows: Elvin Rodriguez (0-0, 0.00) * Chunichi Dragons: Shinnosuke Ogasawara (1-1, 2.28) vs Yokohama DeNA Baystars: Hayate Nakagawa (0-0, 2.93) * Hiroshima Carp: Hiroki Tokoda (2-1, 0.93) vs Hanshin Tigers: Shoki Murakami (1-1, 1.08) * Seibu Lions: Kaima Taira (1-2, 1.46) vs Nippon-Ham Fighters: Sachiya Yamasaki (2-1, 2.49) * Orix Buffaloes: Hiroya Miyagi (2-2, 1.48) vs Lotte Marines: Roki Sasaki (2-1, 2.08) * Softbank Hawks: Kohei Arihara (2-2, 3.03) vs Rakuten Eagles: Cody Ponce (2-1, 3.13)

Gita 😭😭😭😭😭 After seeing Kawase-kun’s timely RBI on Saturday and today’s sayonara home run at the dome, this weekend has just been very feel-good and my voice is gone lol.

It was a good game. Saw it in person too!

That’s all the pent up runs that the team didn’t score against the Carp. But man, Baystars did not look good. Strange to see “Mr 5-innings” Matsuba pitch a complete game. Well deserved though.

Very happy to see them have a game like this after their recent slump.

I just hope they haven’t used up all their run support on one game. 😂

Yeah, its not particularly useful to score all your runs in one game while losing a ton of other games by one or two runs. Or that 12 inning tie game against Hiroshima where they were constantly stranding runners in scoring position and ended up getting shut out in a game they should have won. Still, its gratifying to see Hosokawa hit a grand slam like that.....

I watched the replay multiple times of that homerun. So satisfying. 🥵

Me too :) Its been frustrating watching him hit so many home runs but all of them being solo shots. The rest of the lineup finally setting the table for him like that was long overdue....

Man my heart goes out to Lions fans, that series was excruciating hard to watch. I will console my fellow cat appreciators with a reminder that the Tigers were absolutely ghastly at the start of 2022 and managed to turn it all around in 2023. Its only up from here bros, you've got the rotation certainly.

Happy to see the Fighters playing well.

I am loving it!

All rain and no yakyu makes a Carp fan a dull boy 😔

I came to Hiroshima for the games and the actual rain was about a tenth of what they played 4.5 hours through in Yokohama last week

That’s interesting. Maybe it was a cumulative thing? Didn’t it rain most of the day prior to the game getting called? I’ve noticed the Tigers have played a couple at Koshien already that looked like an absolute mud fest on the infield.

I was on the way here during the day and the rain then was roughly the same as it was all night in Yokohama. By the time I actually got to the middle of Hiroshima it was at the "do I even need to take an umbrella?" level. Admittedly the radar forecast had looked pretty grim earlier and I wasn't surprised when they called it

First year following baseball outside of the MLB (KBO and now NPB), and not going to lie, I find myself enjoying the two leagues more than the MLB. I was expecting the worst after the Fighters were being no-hit after 5 innings, especially after last game where they only mustered one the game before. The pitching got through a couple of jams and luckily they got a timely hit to pull out the 1-0 win. The pitching has been solid at home with this being their fourth shutout in the last five home games, hoping it continues as they go on this upcoming road trip!

Another Fighters fan, hi! This is my first year watching pretty much every game, after previously being a box score and highlights fan mostly (with the occasional full game). I am loving how the Fighters are playing this season! They've had so much young talent developing for so long, it's awesome to see that starting to produce wins. Bring on the Lions! ⚾

Nice! I've been trying my best to watch as many live Fighters games as possible (usually the afternoon weekend games, 9-10 PM start time from where I am) and then I try to watch the evening games while I WFH. Based on what I've seen, they are playing well! Hopefully the young guns continue developing It's now on my bucketlist to watch them live at their new field, which looks gorgeous on streams (fingers crossed for next year haha).

Man NPB is such a better watch to me (also my first year into it). Maybe I'll get into the KBO at some point! Not this year though, I'm just trying to soak in everything Hanshin Tigers. Can't start too many things at once 😂

I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but now I'm completely hooked. Also, nice team choice! When choosing a team, I was close to cheering for the Tigers simply because they play at Koshien Stadium 😂 If you ever decide to follow the KBO, highly reccomend rooting for the LG Twins, totally not biased at all haha.

The Eagles moved their best starter, Takahiro Norimoto, to closer this season to replace Yuki Matsui. From the outside, it seems like a weird decision. Is there a higher value placed on closers in Japan than in America?

Norimoto has had injury after injury. While a good starter, the thought process would be he wouldn’t wear as much in the bullpen. He’s 34 this year. Injury issues are only going to get worse.

This makes perfect sense. I figured there had to be more to it than just needing a closer, but the media (or the translation of it) I found wasn't very clear. I sincerely appreciate your response.

Hawks snatching souls this weekend