Baseball

FUKUOKA – The Chiba Lotte Marines bludgeoned Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks starter Shota Takeda on their way to a 9-1 win on Friday. By opening their series against the Pacific League leaders with a third straight win, Lotte improved to 16-16 and moved 3½ games back from the Hawks. SoftBank manager […]

DETROIT – Shohei Ohtani picked up his first hit of the season in a 2-for-4 showing at the plate and three Los Angeles Angels pitchers combined on a five-hit shutout of the Detroit Tigers in Thursday’s 13-0 victory. Ohtani started in the No. 3 spot as the designated hitter for […]

SAPPORO – Yoshinobu Yamamoto tossed seven solid innings as the Orix Buffaloes recorded a 2-1 victory over the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on Thursday. Yamamoto (2-1) fanned six and did not allow a run until yielding back-to-back doubles in the seventh at Sapporo Dome. “I gave up a run, but […]

NEW YORK – Facing the famous New York Yankees for the very first time, Yusei Kikuchi really stuck it to ’em. Maybe he had a little illicit help. Kikuchi pitched brilliantly into the eighth inning and Ryon Healy had four extra-base hits as the Seattle Mariners routed New York 10-1 […]

SENDAI – The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks looked set for their sixth straight victory until the bottom of the ninth on Wednesday, when Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles rookie Ryosuke Tatsumi launched a walk-off double to give his team an 8-7 come-from-behind win. The Eagles entered the home half of the ninth […]