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Yamamoto pitches no-no, Chunichi extends CL lead
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NAGOYA, Sept. 16 (20:06) Kyodo
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Masahiro Yamamoto became the oldest pitcher in Japanese baseball
history to throw a no-hitter Saturday as the Chunichi Dragons beat
the Hanshin Tigers 3-0 and extended their Central League lead to six
games.
Backed by home runs from Hirokazu Ibata and Tyrone Woods,
Yamamoto (9-7) displayed superb control and pitched his first career
no-hitter at 41 years and one month after striking out five and
issuing no walks in a 97-pitch outing at Nagoya Dome.
He faced only one batter over the minimum. Norihiro Akahoshi was
Hanshin's only runner in the game, reaching base leading off the
fourth on a fielding error by third baseman Masahiko Morino.
Yamamoto broke the record of being the oldest pitcher to throw a
no-no held by Yoshinori Sato, who achieved the feat with the Orix
BlueWave in 1995 at 40 years and 11 months.
''It's unbelievable but winning a crucial game like this means
more to me,'' Yamamoto said. ''I didn't get very good command in my
pitches. My off-speed pitches worked really well.''
Yamamoto, who has spent his entire 23-year career with the
Dragons, is the 73rd player in Japanese baseball to pitch a no-hitter
and first since Yakult Swallows right-hander Rick Guttormson did it
against the Rakuten Eagles on May 25.
Yamamoto improved his career record to 189-138 with four saves.
Chunichi got on the scoreboard with a first-inning solo homer by
Ibata and made it 3-0 on a Woods two-run shot in the fourth en route
to stretching its winning streak to five games and reducing its magic
number to clinch the league title to 15.
Shinobu Fukuhara (11-4) took the loss in a complete-game effort
as Hanshin lost the first two of its crucial late-season three-game
series against Chunichi.
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Giants 5, BayStars 2
Shinnosuke Abe and Tomohiro Nioka drove home two runs each and
had a combined five hits, leading Yomiuri over Yokohama.
Yomiuri went up 2-0 in the first inning on back-to-back RBI
singles by Hiroki Kokubo and Abe and padded the lead on four
consecutive hits in the fourth, including run-scoring singles by Abe
and Nioka off Yokohama starter Yuji Yoshimi (2-9).
Nioka capped the scoring in the ninth with another RBI single
after Yokohama pulled within two runs. Tetsuya Utsumi (12-11) worked
seven innings for the win and Hisanori Takahashi got his 14th save.
The loss at Yokohama Stadium means Yokohama will finish with a
losing record for the fifth consecutive season. |
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