Wind Assisted Home Run Fest - April 7, 2013
Discussion in the Bayside West: Yokohama forum
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When Daisuke Miura pitches, it's a fair bet that the game will be under 3 hours in length. Since this game lasted 3 hours and 25 minutes, one may assume that Miura didn't last very long. And that would be the case.
The first three batters in the bottom of the 2nd inning, Akinori Iwamura, Shinichi Takeuchi, and Yuhei Nakamura, combined for three solo home runs each, giri giri clearing the left, right, and left field fences respectively, measuring in at 105 meters. The gale force winds of the day helped Yakult to three early runs.
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama hit a 1-out solo shot just left of center, also just clearing the fence, in the bottom of the 3rd to put the Swallows up 4-0. Four innings was it for Miura. It wasn't a good day to induce fly balls.
On the offensive side, Tony Blanco rode the wind much deeper than any Swallow with three solo home runs himself. A 7th inning single by Blanco with runners at first and second (before his third homer) had tied the game up at 4-4 at the time and contributed to Blanco's 4 for 5 with 4 RBI outing. Norihiro Nakamura hit a solo home run deep into the BayStar fans in left as well.
Kazuki Mishima, Kenji Tsuchiya, and Shoma Satoh followed Miura on the mound and were effective for one inning apiece. But after the 'Stars tied the game in the top of the 7th, Teruaki Yoshikawa struggled to get the third out in the bottom half of the inning, allowing 3 runs on 4 consecutive 2-out hits. Yasushi Kamiuchi allowed 3 more runs in the bottom of the 8th by walking the bases loaded, hitting Keizoh Kawashima, throwing a wild pitch, and allowing a single base hit.
The leadoff triple in the top of the 9th by Kenjiro Matsumoto, scoring on a ground out by Tatuhiko Kinjoh, and the third solo home run for Blanco were not enough to overcome the 6-run deficit built over the previous two innings. Yokohama lost 6-10.