Miura Shuts Out Marines - June 12, 2013

Daisuke Miura came two outs away from throwing Yokohama's first shutout of the season back on May 20th against Orix in Osaka. This drizzling evening in Chiba, he went all the way, putting 9 zeros in a row on the home side of the board.

As was the case on the 20th, Miura scattered just 4 hits, using his entire arsenal of cutter, shoot, slider, fork, and curve ball. He reached his maximum speed of only 140 kph in the 9th inning - twice. (He hit a high of 139 kph on the 20th.) While he struck out 4 Marines and walked two, Lotte hitters just couldn't find the patience to make solid contact. It wasn't until the 8th inning that they managed to get a runner as far as second base, that coming on a double up the middle by pinch hitter Takashi Ogino. He made it as far as third base on Yoshifumi Okada's ground out to the right side, but no farther.

The last time that Miura threw a shutout was in the BayStars' victory of Yakult at Jingu Kyujyo on April 12, 2012. Yes, it's been over a year. And this marks his 23rd career shutout in 22 seasons.

On offense, Nyjer Morgan knocked in the first run in the top of the 5th with a base hit up the middle, then Yokohama's second run (in the 7th inning) while grounding out to second. Hitoshi Tamura followed that by doubling in Yokohama's third and final run of the game, going on to a 3-0 victory.

This broke Yokohama's 5 game losing streak that saw the team fall to a new season low of 12 games under .500. Now at 11 games under, they are tied in 4th place with the Chunichi Dragons, both 12 games behind Hanshin, in the Central League.