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YOKOHAMA, Japan — After cheerleaders welcomed him and after receiving the largest ovation of any Yokohama player at the start of the game, Trevor Bauer delivered what was expected Wednesday in his debut with the Yokohama DeNA Baystars.

Pitching his first game in just over 22 months — the last was with the Los Angeles Dodgers — Bauer scattered seven hits in seven innings, allowed one run, struck out nine and threw 98 pitches in a 4-1 victory against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp before a crowd of 33,202, which the team said was a record.

The highlight might have been Bauer’s batting.

Pitchers still bat in Japan’s Central League, where the designated hitter is not used. Bauer grounded out once and put down a perfect sacrifice bunt in the fifth, which led to Yokohama’s go-ahead run. He also struck out.

The only pitching blemish was a bases-empty home run in the second inning to fellow American Matt Davidson, who played with Bauer with the Cincinnati Reds in 2020.

“My ex-teammate got me,” Bauer said. “I don’t know how far it went. I talked to him before his next at-bat, and I said: ‘Why do you have to do that to me?'”

Bauer’s first game has been long awaited in Yokohama, which has not won the Japanese season championship since 1998. Bauer is expected to deliver with the team now leading the Central League.

“I felt great,” Bauer said. “I just felt normal. The body felt good: command, velocity, results. All good. It was a great day.”

He even tried a few words of Japanese, addressing the fans after the game. Roughly translated, he said: “I win in Yokohama.”

Fans applauded and understood immediately. He said teammates were teaching him.

“I have to make sure they’re not telling me to say something wrong,” Bauer said.

Bauer was asked by Japanese reporters what he was thinking about just before the game. His reply suggested he was feeling some pressure.

“My nose started bleeding,” he said. “That’s what was on my mind coming to the field.”

Yokohama signed Bauer for a reported $4 million, and he is getting millions more in termination pay from the Dodgers.

Billboards all over town announced his arrival, including a seven-story poster that went up Wednesday on the side of a Yokohama department store.

Bauer arrives with a baseball background as the 2020 Cy Young Award winner, while claims of sexual assault and domestic violence have kept him out of Major League Baseball for almost two years.

He was released by the Dodgers this year after an arbitrator reduced his 324-game suspension to 194 games for violating the domestic violence and sexual assault policy of MLB and the players’ association.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred suspended Bauer in April 2022 after a San Diego woman said he beat and sexually abused her in 2021. Bauer disputed her claims and said everything that happened between them was consensual.

He was never charged with a crime, and a California judge found the woman’s claims “materially misleading.”

Bauer could have joined any MLB team for this season, but no team signed him.

“The atmosphere in the U.S. doesn’t compare to here at all. The only time it comes anywhere close is sometimes in playoff baseball. I played in a World Series in 2016, and the Cleveland stadium was very loud. But the sustained energy here is just so much different.”

Trevor Bauer, on playing in Japan

Bauer, as he has before, lauded the atmosphere at Japanese stadiums, where there is a constant din of chants, songs and drums beating with fans always participating.

“The atmosphere in the U.S. doesn’t compare to here at all,” Bauer said. “The only time it comes anywhere close is sometimes in playoff baseball. I played in a World Series in 2016, and the Cleveland stadium was very loud. But the sustained energy here is just so much different.”

His debut came after three appearances with Yokohama’s farm clubs, where he had 17 strikeouts in 16 innings with a 2.25 ERA.

Japanese fans have welcomed him, women have not organized to protest his presence, and he is being given the benefit of the doubt. For his part, Bauer is talking up every aspect of playing in Japan.

“I just want to win,” Bauer said. “I want to contribute to that. I want to pitch well. I want to entertain the fans.”

Yokohama fan Shohei Horikawa stood inside Yokohama’s stadium and summed up what many in Japan apparently feel.

“I know he had some issues in the past, but he was not convicted,” Horikawa said, wearing a Bauer No. 96 jersey. “I want him to reset himself in Japan without any prejudice and to do his best.”

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Cubs blow lead in 10-run 8th, storm back in thriller

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Cubs blow lead in 10-run 8th, storm back in thriller

CHICAGO — Kyle Tucker had the fans on their feet, roaring and pumping their fists as he rounded the bases after hitting the go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning. His screaming line drive cleared the right-field wall with plenty of room to spare.

The Chicago Cubs went from giving up 10 runs in the eighth to scoring six in the bottom half and beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-11 on Friday in one of the wildest games on record.

The two teams combined for 21 runs in the seventh and eighth innings, with the Cubs scoring 11 runs and the D-backs plating 10. It was the first nine-inning game in MLB history in which both teams scored 10 or more runs from the seventh inning on, and the third game overall, according to ESPN Research.

“That’s kind of baseball,” Tucker said. “There’s a lot of ups and downs in this game, especially with how many games we play.”

There haven’t been many games like this, though.

The Cubs are just the seventh team in at least the past 125 seasons to allow 10 or more runs in an inning and win. They are also the fifth team to give up 10 or more runs and score six or more in the same inning.

The 16 combined runs in the eighth were the most in an inning at Wrigley Field, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“If you’ve seen that one, you’ve been around for a while,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said with a laugh. “It was crazy. You know, we gave up 10 runs in an inning and we won. So it was a wild game, but we kept going, and, you know, there’s 27 outs in a game and this kind of proves it, and you’re just happy to get out with a win.”

On a warm day with the ball carrying, Carson Kelly homered twice. Ian Happ belted a grand slam and Seiya Suzuki went deep, helping the Cubs open a weekend series on a winning note.

“You’ve seen it early — having some tough losses, coming back winning the next day,” Happ said. “Losing the first game of the series, winning the series. Little things like that. Today’s a great example of professional hitters going out there and continuing to have really good at-bats.”

The way things transpired in the final two innings was something to see.

Kelly hit a two-run homer in the second against Corbin Burnes, and Happ came through with his grand slam against Ryne Nelson as part of a five-run seventh. But just when it looked as if the Cubs were in control with a 7-1 lead, things took a wild turn in the eighth.

Eugenio Suarez cut it to 7-5 with a grand slam against Porter Hodge, Geraldo Perdomo singled in a run and Randal Grichuk put Arizona on top by one with a two-run double. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a three-run homer, making it 11-7.

The crowd of more than 39,000 let the Cubs hear it, but their team regrouped in the bottom half. Bryce Jarvis hit Nico Hoerner leading off and walked Pete Crow-Armstrong before Kelly drove a three-run homer to center. Tucker, the Cubs’ prized offseason addition, came through after Happ singled with one out. Suzuki followed with his drive against Joe Mantiply to give the Cubs a 13-11 lead.

Arizona, which had won five straight, became just the third team over the past 50 seasons to lose a game in which it had a 10-run inning at any point, according to ESPN Research.

“You just got to stay locked in,” Kelly said. “Obviously, you don’t want to … give up 10 in an inning. Obviously, you don’t want to do that. I think the biggest thing is coming back, regrouping and continuing to fight.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Chisholm suspended 1 game for conduct, tweet

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Chisholm suspended 1 game for conduct, tweet

Major League Baseball suspended New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. for one game and fined him an undisclosed amount, the result of his actions during Thursday night’s win against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Chisholm was ejected in the seventh inning by plate umpire John Bacon for arguing after a called third strike on a full-count pitch from Mason Montgomery that appeared low.

Minutes later, he posted on his X account, “Not even f—ing close!!!!!” then deleted the post.

“I didn’t think before I had anything that I said was ejectable but after probably,” Chisholm said after the game. “I’m a competitor, so when I go out there and I feel like I’m right and you’re saying something to me that I think doesn’t make sense, I’m going to get fired up and be upset.

“I lost my emotions. I lost my cool. I got to be better than that. … I’m definitely mad at myself for losing my cool.”

Michael Hill, the league’s senior vice president for on-field operations, said Friday’s discipline was for Chisholm’s “conduct, including his violation of Major League Baseball’s Social Media Policy for Major League Players.”

MLB regulations ban the use of electronic devices during games. The social media policy prohibits “displaying or transmitting content that questions the impartiality of or otherwise denigrates a major league umpire.”

Chisholm did appeal the decision, allowing him to play in Friday night’s 1-0 win against the Rays. He started at second base and went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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First-time father-to-be Ohtani away from Dodgers

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First-time father-to-be Ohtani away from Dodgers

ARLINGTON, Texas — Shohei Ohtani is away from the Los Angeles Dodgers for the birth of the two-way superstar’s first child.

Manager Dave Roberts said before the Dodgers’ series opener Friday night against the Rangers that Ohtani was with his wife and going on MLB’s paternity list.

“He and Mamiko are expecting at some point. That’s all I know,” Roberts said. “I don’t know when he’s going to come back and I don’t know when they’re going to have the baby, but obviously they’re together in anticipation.”

The 30-year-old Ohtani posted on his Instagram account in late December that he and his 28-year-old wife, a former professional basketball player from his native Japan, were expecting a baby in 2025.

“Can’t wait for the little rookie to join our family soon!” said the Dec. 28 post that included a photo showing the couple’s beloved dog, Decoy, as well as a pink ruffled onesie along with baby shoes and a sonogram that was covered by a baby emoji.

Ohtani can miss up to three games while on paternity leave. The Dodgers have a three-game series in Texas before an off day Monday, then play the Cubs in Chicago on Tuesday.

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