Masahiro Tanaka‘s first time back at Koshien Stadium as a Giant was put on hold until at least Thursday, when his scheduled start was rained out.

Still, there was a lot to see on Wednesday, with defensive lowlights in Osaka, highlights in Nagoya, a nail-biter in Fukuoka and a rainy slugfest in Chiba, while the Dragons lose their main home run threat.

Wednesday’s games

Buffaloes 3, Lions 1: Orix’s Anderson Espinoza struck out a season-high eight over six scoreless innings to earn his third win and his second over Seibu. The Buffaloes made it 2-0 in the fifth when Masahiro Nishino singled and scored from first when Lions right-fielder Alexander Canario played a single into a triple. Orix made it 3-0 in the sixth when Haruto Watanabe reached for the second time, stole second and scored when left-fielder Yuta Nakami took a tumble while chasing a tough one-out fly.

Losing pitcher Kona Takahashi said, “The instant the ball is out of my hand, events are beyond my control. Various things happened, and that’s part of baseball, too. All things considered, I did well to limit the damage to the bare minimum. Things could easily have gone the other way, so I’m not discouraged.”

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