Baseball

Japanese baseball fans are about to settle into front-row seats for one of the most exciting pennant races in baseball over the next couple of weeks. The Pacific League standings have been tight all year, and the season is heading into its final stretch with five of the six teams […]

Houston – Shohei Ohtani homered Sunday for the 34th time this year, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs in the Los Angeles Angels’ 12-4 defeat against the Houston Astros. The two-way star launched a 1-2 breaking ball from Luis Garcia (12-8) over Minute Maid Park’s right-center wall in the first inning […]

Osaka – Yuki Yanagita hit a three-run homer, and ace pitcher Kodai Senga allowed two runs over six innings to return the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to the top of the Pacific League standings with a 4-3 win over the Orix Buffaloes on Sunday. The Hawks win at Kyocera Dome Osaka […]

Houston – Shohei Ohtani set a pair of personal MLB pitching milestones Saturday as he extended his career-high win total to 12 in the Los Angeles Angels’ 6-1 win over the Houston Astros. Ohtani (12-8) was lifted with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand after five […]

Chicago – The Chicago Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki hit the 12th homer of his rookie season and went 2-for-4 in a 4-3 loss against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday. Suzuki scored a go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth when he connected on a 1-1 slider from Alexis Diaz (6-2) […]

Anaheim, California – Shohei Ohtani hit his 33rd home run of the season as the Los Angeles Angels lost 5-4 to the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday. With the game tied at 3-3 in the seventh, Ohtani ripped a 2-0 sinker from the Tigers’ fourth pitcher Andrew Chafin over the center-field […]

Kosuke Fukudome, a former big leaguer and the oldest active NPB player at 45, will retire at the end of the season, the Central League’s Chunichi Dragons said Thursday. The left-handed hitter spent five years in the majors from 2008 with the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, […]

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. – Masashi Ito threw a five-hitter as the Hanshin Tigers beat up on the Central League-leading Tokyo Yakult Swallows 9-1 on Wednesday. The Tigers’ home win at Hyogo Prefecture’s historic Koshien Stadium was the only one by a top-three team in either league and it left Hanshin […]

Fukuoka – Former Chicago Cub Tsuyoshi Wada allowed two runs over five sharp innings to help pitch the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to a 4-2 win Tuesday over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to preserve their slim Pacific League lead. At PayPay Dome, Wada (5-4) allowed just three hits and no […]

Anaheim, California – Shohei Ohtani went 3-for-5 with two home runs and three RBIs, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 10-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Monday. Ohtani drove the first pitch he saw in the third inning from left-hander Tyler Alexander (3-9) over the right-center field wall […]