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The story
In the 8th inning of the game against Hanshin, Chunichi’s Ryuku Tsuchida was struck in the back by pitcher Takuma Kirishiki’s 147 km/h fastball and diagnosed with a depressed fracture of his right shoulder blade. On 5ch, complaints flew about Hanshin’s frequent hit-by-pitches alongside defenses of Kirishiki as “just a rookie,” while the discussion spread to how Chunichi would rebuild its infield defense without its regular shortstop.
◇ August 26 — Chunichi 4, Hanshin 0 (Vantelin Dome Nagoya)
Chunichi manager Kazuki Inoue revealed on the 26th, after that day’s game against Hanshin (at Vantelin Dome), that infielder Ryuku Tsuchida — who was hit by a pitch in the 8th inning — had been diagnosed with a depressed fracture of his right shoulder blade. Tsuchida had reportedly been sent to the hospital during the game.
“It’s not good news. The trainer’s report was, ‘It’s the same as Muramatsu’s case.’ Tsuchida will come here [to Vantelin Dome] tomorrow, but we’ll see how things go… What’s happened has happened. We’ll work out a plan,” the manager said, his face twisted with concern, before heading home.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Exactly this.
They complain the second they take a hit-by-pitch, but have no problem drilling the other team.
Hanshin vs Giants
Hanshin vs Carp
Chunichi vs Swallows
Hanshin vs Chunichi — new!
Guess it's surgery then
They've got no shortstop now
Can Kanya Tanaka handle it?
If possible I'd like to see Ishikawa and Fukunaga in the starting lineup
There's still Nene
Well, they say shoulder blades heal easily, but
that's not really the point here
Though he came back pretty quickly
(Speaking from experience)
How you carry yourself day to day really matters
They've just got way too strong a victim complex
Is it just an act?
Fujikawa's the manager and he's out there posturing right along with his players — incredibly embarrassing, he should seriously reflect on himself
But it's surprisingly effective though
When he comes out acting tough like that, opposing pitchers genuinely stop attacking the inside corner for a good while afterward
Not 'surprisingly' — of course it's effective
Oshiro even got sniped twice in a row in retaliation
This is pure intimidation baseball
If that's really the goal, Hanshin is way too cowardly — it's laughable
He's been training for years at Otobashi (Chunichi's practice facility), he'll come through
Still stings though, since Tsuchida's defense was something special
They go on about 'the Giants do it too,' but I've never once seen another team accuse the Giants of this
Amazing Hanshin can still play the victim after all this
Their actual starting shortstop is the one who just got wrecked though
Or maybe it falls to Nene
Background and Key Points
Chunichi and Hanshin are two of NPB’s Central League teams with one of Japanese baseball’s oldest rivalries — Chunichi based in Nagoya, historically a defense-first, low-scoring club, and Hanshin the Osaka-area team known for its fervent Koshien fanbase and a bench that plays up rivalry theatrics. Hanshin’s manager, Fujikawa Kyuji, was himself a hard-throwing closer known for pitching inside, which colors the thread’s read of his reactions now. A “depressed fracture” (陥没骨折) of the scapula means the bone was driven inward by blunt force rather than simply cracked — a serious, likely season-ending injury even though the shoulder blade is a “floating” bone not attached by a joint, which is why several posters found it strange to treat and slow to immobilize. The 147km/h pitch is fast but not exceptional by current NPB standards; what made it notable is that it came from a rookie (Kirishiki), which is why some posters extended him leniency while others didn’t.
The thread didn’t split on the injury’s severity — everyone agreed it was bad — but on intent and hypocrisy: whether this was a harmless, apologize-and-move-on rookie mistake, or the latest entry in a pattern where Hanshin pitchers hit opposing batters freely but Fujikawa reacts furiously whenever his own players are hit, which several posters read as manufactured intimidation baseball rather than genuine outrage.
What the thread never addresses is process: NPB umpires can issue a formal warning to both benches after a hit-by-pitch, restricting further inside pitching under threat of ejection — whether that was invoked here would clarify if the umpires themselves judged this incidental or worth flagging, and no post mentions it either way.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[Baseball] Chunichi’s Ryuku Tsuchida Suffers Depressed Fracture of Right Shoulder Blade After Being Hit by Kirishiki’s 147km/h Fastball in the 8th Inning vs. Hanshin.”
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