Hanshin Tigers Shut Out Dodgers; Cubs Push Past Yomiuri Giants

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs continued their preparations for the season-opening Tokyo Series with two more exhibition games against Nippon Professional Baseball’s most storied clubs, the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants.

Yesterday, the Tigers shut out the Cubs 3-0 behind 20-year-old Keito Mombetsu’s five perfect innings, while the Dodgers powered past the Yomiuri 5-1 with three home runs off ace Shosei Togo.

Here’s what happened in today’s action.

Game 1: Hanshin Tigers 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 0

On Sunday afternoon, the Tigers secured another shutout victory behind Hiroto Saiki’s five scoreless innings and star slugger Teruaki Sato’s three-run homer.

Ace Hiroto Saiki baffled the Dodger hitters all day with his sharp splitter and four-seam fastball, which clocked in at only 92-94 mph but played up significantly thanks to a spin rate north of 2,600 RPM and impressive ride.

Dodgers starter Blake Snell was going toe-to-toe with Saiki in the early going, with three perfect innings. But the bottom of the fourth was Snell’s undoing as Koji Chikamoto led off with a walk, followed by a Takumu Nakano single to put runners on the corners.

Then, Teruaki Sato smacked a 95 mph fastball into the right field seats on a 2-2 count for a three-run home run. Snell labored through the rest of the inning, putting two more runners on before finally striking out Seiya Kinami and Fumihito Haraguchi to escape further damage.

Max Muncy got the Dodgers their first hit in the fifth, only for Will Smith to ground into a double play immediately afterward. Saiki ended his outing with five shutout innings, seven strikeouts, and 16 swinging strikes on 81 pitches.

Snell pitched 4 ⅓ innings, allowing three runs while striking out seven. Matt Sauer took over in relief to finish the fifth.

Javy Guerra, Hidetaka Okadome, Takuma Kirishiki, and Daichi Ishii combined for four scoreless innings out of the Tigers’ pen. Tyler Glasnow entered in the sixth and pitched the rest of the game, including the bottom of the ninth despite the Tigers securing the win in the top half. He struck out seven over four scoreless innings.

Game 2: Chicago Cubs 4, Yomiuri Giants 2

An action-packed fifth inning made the difference Sunday night, as the Cubs plated four runs off Giants starter Foster Griffin and held on for the win.

Pete Crow-Armstrong sparked the scoring in the fifth with a leadoff double and a stolen base. After Griffin fanned Carson Kelly, Gage Workman delivered an RBI single to put the Cubs ahead 1-0. Ian Happ followed with a single, and Kyle Tucker drew a walk to load the bases.

A wild pitch brought home another run, but Griffin struck out Seiya Suzuki for the second out of the inning. However, top prospect Matt Shaw came through with a two-run single to extend the lead to 4-0. Griffin finished out the fifth and wrapped up his outing with six strikeouts.

The Giants responded in the bottom half after Jameson Taillon exited with one out and one on. Naoki Yoshikawa drew a walk to put two runners on before superstar Kazuma Okamoto ripped a two-run double off Daniel Palencia to halve the lead.

Masahiro Tanaka, rumored to follow Griffin potentially, did not pitch. Instead, left-hander Tatsuya Ishikawa took over in the sixth and fired three hitless frames with four strikeouts. Star reliever Taisei pitched the ninth inning.

The Giants threatened several times but couldn’t break through against Matthew Boyd, who worked four innings of relief to seal the win for Chicago, allowing three hits, no runs, and striking out six to earn the long save.

AP Photo/Hiro Komae