The Hanshin Tigers, aiming to win the Japan Series for the first time in 38 years, defied expectations and won a landslide victory in the first game.
Hanshin won 8-0 in the first game of the Japan Series against Orix Buffaloes held at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on the 28th.
Show Murakami, who started as Hanshin’s starting pitcher, was expected to be inferior in the matchup with Orix’s ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who won four gold medals for three consecutive years, but he was the top contributor to the victory with a perfect pitch in 7 innings, allowing 2 hits, 4 strikeouts, 1 walk, and no runs. This is it. On the other hand, Yamamoto recorded the loss with the worst pitching, allowing 10 hits, 7 strikeouts, 1 walk, and 7 runs in 5⅔ innings.
A tight pitching battle unfolded until the fourth inning. Murakami continued his perfect streak until the fourth inning, and Yamamoto also tied up the Hanshin lineup with just two hits.굿모닝토토 도메인
The balance was lost in the 5th inning. In the top of the 5th inning, leadoff hitter Teruaki Sato got on base with a hit and even succeeded in stealing base, shaking up Yamamoto. Sheldon Noisy’s fly ball to right field advanced the bases, and Watanabe scored the first run with a timely hit at third base with one out. Then, Seiya Kinami followed up with a single with one out and runners on first and second base. Seishiro Sakamoto’s sacrifice bunt failed, leaving the team on first and second base with two outs, but Hanshin completed a 3-0 big inning with Koji Chikamoto’s sweeping two-run triple to right-center. Then, Takumu Nakano brought a runner to third base with a left-field hit, increasing the score to 4-0.
Hanshin hit Yamamoto again on the mound in the 6th inning. Leadoff hitter Yusuke Oyama walked and Noiji’s hit created a chance for runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs, and Kinami hit a timely hit to make it 5-0. With 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd base, Sakamoto hit a 1-run double that went past the 3rd baseman, bringing the score to 6-0, and eventually Yamamoto went down the mound. Afterwards, Chikamoto received a walk against Nobuyoshi Yamada, who took over the mound, leaving the bases loaded with two outs. Takumu Nakano’s hit put a runner on third base and made it 7-0, but the runner on second base was out at home, ending the long offense in the top of the sixth inning.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto lost 7 runs in Game 1 of the Japan Series / Photo = Getty Images Korea
Leading 7-0 in the top of the 9th inning, Hanshin created a chance with the bases loaded with one out thanks to hits by Chikamoto and Morishita and a walk by Oyama, and Sato brought in a runner on third base with a ground ball to third base to make it 8-0. Following Murakami as the starter, Hanshin’s Ren Kajiya (1 strikeout, 1 inning) and Yuta Iwasada (3 strikeouts, 1 inning) pitched the 8th and 9th innings with perfect pitches and achieved a complete victory of 8-0.
The Hanshin batting lineup recorded 13 hits, breaking the club’s record of most hits in a Japan Series game (12) set in 1964. On the other hand, Orix starter Yamamoto suffered the humiliation of tying the record for the most goals allowed in a single game.
Hanshin, who is attempting to win the Japan Series for the first time in 38 years since 1985, achieved a great result by defeating ‘four-time champion ace’ Yamamoto in the first game. The second game will be held at the same location at 18:30 on the 29th, and the starting pitchers will be Yuki Nishi (8 wins, 5 losses, ERA 3.57) for Hanshin and Hiroya Miyagi (10 wins, 4 losses, ERA 2.27) for Orix.