Nippon Professional Baseball Odds, Picks & Best Bets for July 5: Basement clubs on the move

• Hanshin Tigers look set to turn the corner after 3-10 start to the season
• Orix Buffaloes have a chance to win two straight games for the first time in 2020
• See odds and best bets for all the Nippon Professional Baseball for July 5

It’s time for a shift in the foundations of Nippon Professional Baseball. Mired in last place in their respective divisions for almost the entire year, both the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes have a good chance to move up in the world on Sunday.

They are both taking on teams that have stumbled of late in the shape of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp and Seibu Lions respectively.

But before we start to break down those matchups, here’s a look at all of Sunday’s game in Japanese baseball.

NPB Odds: July 5th

Odds as of July 4th

Tigers On The Prowl

After a less-than-impressive 3-10 start to the season, fans of the Hanshin Tigers will be hoping that Saturday’s 9-3 win over the Hiroshima Toyo Carp can see their team turn the corner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKYA5OhA5vA

Certainly things are falling in Hanshin’s favor for the time being as Hiroshima has now lost three straight and four of five and seem ripe for the picking for Sunday.

The Carp are sending Atsushi Endoh to the mound, a right-hander with a 3.40 earned-run average but who spent last season coming out of the bullpen. He is 0-0 on this season, giving up six hits and three earned runs in his lone start, last Thursday’s 5-5 tie with Yomiuri.

NPB starting pitchers announced for Jul 05 #npb pic.twitter.com/WW46NKaSew

— NPB on reddit (@NPB_Reddit) July 4, 2020

The Tigers go with right-hander Yuki Nishi, who owns an 84-74 career record with a 3.24 ERA. He is 0-1 through two starts this season, but has given up just two earned runs across 13 innings.

Pick: Tigers (-120); O 7.5 (-125)

Buffaloes Moving Up?

Having ended June with run of seven straight defeats, things were not looking great for the Orix Buffaloes. But a change of month brought a slight change of fortunes, and the team is 2-1-1 so far in July.

NPB standings through Jul 4 https://t.co/tnaDrNMR6P #npb pic.twitter.com/dTFi77emqH

— NPB on reddit (@NPB_Reddit) July 4, 2020

Now Orix has a good chance to string together consecutive wins for the first time all year with Sunday’s contest against the Seibu Lions, who have lost three of their last four. The Buffaloes are turning to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a converted reliever. The right-hander was 8-6 in his first year in the rotation, with a 1.95 ERA.

[Jul 4] Seibu Lions vs Orix Buffaloes game highlights from MetLife Dome https://t.co/M3nFDeiJrq via @PacificleagueTV #npb

— NPB on reddit (@NPB_Reddit) July 4, 2020

He has followed that up with a respectable start to 2020, going 1-0 with a 2.63 ERA over 13.2 innings. On top of that, he’s only given up nine hits and four walks, and is yet to give up a home run.

Seibu will go with rookie right-hander Kaito Yoza, who has started only two games in his career and has an 0-1 record and 4.50 ERA to show for it.

https://twitter.com/npbtracker/status/1233258351842119680?s=20

His debut, a 12-2 loss to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, only got out of hand once he was lifted from the game, and his second start, a 4-3 win over Fukuoka, was again decided after he was out of the game.

Pick: Buffaloes (-140); -1.5 (+130)