Baseball

OSAKA – Taisuke Yamaoka threw eight shutout innings as the Orix Buffaloes outlasted the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 1-0 in the Pacific League on Tuesday. The right-hander struck out 10, while issuing four hits and a walk, as he combined with closer Brandon Dickson to blank the Eagles at Kyocera […]

DENVER – Brandon Crawford capped a big day at the plate with a defensive gem. Crawford homered three times and drove in nine runs over the course of two games Monday, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 2-1 in the nightcap to complete a sweep of a […]

TOKOROZAWA, SAITAMA PREF. – Brandon Laird went deep for the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the Chiba Lotte Marines came from behind to beat the Seibu Lions 6-5 in the Pacific League on Monday. With the visitors trailing 5-4, Laird sent Kyle Martin’s 2-2 slider to the right […]

NEW YORK – Masahiro Tanaka claimed his sixth win of the season and 70th of his major league career on Sunday in the New York Yankees’ 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Tanaka (6-5) allowed two solo homers in the fifth, which tied the game at Yankee Stadium, but […]

TAIPEI – Popular former major leaguer Munenori Kawasaki charmed Taiwanese fans Saturday with his mix of humor and mischief before beginning his coaching stint next month with Taiwan’s Wei Chuan Dragons. Kawasaki has competed in Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball but left the game in March 2018 when […]

Whenever Brandon Laird hits a home run, Chiba Lotte Marines fans know it’s time for sushi. Laird became famous for his sushi-making home run celebration while with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and brought it to Chiba when he signed in the offseason. He’s added a few flourishes to the […]

BOSTON – Justin Turner had three extra-base hits, two of them off Chris Sale to continue the Red Sox left-hander’s struggles at Fenway Park, and the Los Angeles Dodgers snapped a four-game losing streak with an 11-2 victory over Boston in a rematch of last year’s World Series. Cody Bellinger […]

NISHINOMIYA, HYOGO PREF. – Hanshin Tigers rookie Koji Chikamoto became the second player to hit for the cycle in in the NPB All-Star Series, leading the Central League to an 11-3 win over the Pacific League in Saturday’s series finale. Chikamoto, who became the first rookie to lead off the […]

Fumihito Haraguchi was recovering from surgery to combat cancer when the NPB season began. On Friday night, he took his place among the best players in Japan as part of the Central League roster for this year’s All-Star Series. As if being an All-Star wasn’t enough, the 27-year-old Hanshin Tigers […]

HOLMDEL, NEW JERSEY – Former New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden has been charged with drug possession in New Jersey after a traffic stop last month. Gooden’s car was stopped by police in Holmdel, about 30 km from New York, early on June 7 for failure to maintain a lane […]