Nippon Ham Fighters pitcher Gu Lin Ruei-yang, left, walks off the mound during the sixth inning of a game against the Rakuten Eagles on April 23, 2025, at Es Con Field Hokkaido in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido. (Kyodo)
KITAHIROSHIMA, Hokkaido (Kyodo) — The Rakuten Eagles roughed up Taiwan’s 2024 MVP pitcher Gu Lin Ruei-yang on their way to an 8-3 victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters on Wednesday.
Rakuten took advantage of a defensive miscue to take a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning. Hideto Asamura’s three-run homer off Gu Lin (0-1), who was making his Nippon Professional Baseball debut, capped a four-run sixth that made it 7-0 at Es Con Field Hokkaido.
Ryota Takinaka (2-0) carried a shutout into the sixth and limited the damage to a pair of solo home runs in eight innings of work. Rakuten has won four straight games.
Gu Lin, a 24-year-old right-hander, gave up seven runs, five earned, in 5-2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked three.
In other action, Yusuke Oyama hit a tiebreaking solo home run in the top of the 10th inning as the Hanshin Tigers edged the DeNA BayStars 3-2.
The Lotte Marines handed the Seibu Lions their third consecutive loss, winning 5-2.
AloJapan.com