Baseball: Yohei Oshima gets 2,000th hit in Dragons’ loss

Chunichi Dragons outfielder Yohei Oshima picked up his 2,000th career hit in a 2-0, 12-inning loss to the DeNA BayStars on Saturday.

The 37-year-old Oshima singled to center in the third inning off Kenta Ishida at Vantelin Dome Nagoya, making him the 55th player in Nippon Professional Baseball to reach the milestone.

Yohei Oshima of the Chunichi Dragons celebrates after recording his 2,000th career hit in the third inning of a game against the DeNA BayStars on Aug. 26, 2023, at Vantelin Dome in Nagoya, central Japan. (Kyodo)

“I was like, I did it,” Oshima said of the moment he recorded his 2,000th hit. “I’m relieved. I entered the season with 115 hits to 2,000. You never know until you get your job done.”

“I just want to get as many hits as possible (in the remainder of the season).”

With the Dragons trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the 12th, Oshima’s single to right, the 2,001st hit of his career, put runners on the corners with one out, but BayStars reliever Kohei Morihara retired the next two batters to end the marathon contest.

In the top of the 12th, Keita Sano broke a scoreless deadlock with an RBI single off Tatsuya Shimizu (3-3) before Neftali Soto added a run-scoring single of his own.

Taiga Kamichatani (2-2) threw a scoreless 11th for the win.

In other Central League action, Seiya Kinami hit a grand slam and finished with six RBIs, leading the Hanshin Tigers to a 9-6 victory over the Yomiuri Giants. The Hiroshima Carp edged the Yakult Swallows 7-6.

The Pacific League-leading Orix Buffaloes and the Lotte Marines played out a 0-0, 12-inning tie.

Former New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka (7-8) threw seven innings of one-run ball in the Rakuten Eagles’ 2-1 win over the SoftBank Hawks. The Nippon Ham Fighters trounced the Seibu Lions 7-0.