Dixon rocks Senga
Eagles 5, Japan 3: Brandon Dixon, who was not selected to play for the United States, went 3-for-4 with a double and a tie-breaking two-run eighth-inning single off losing pitcher Kodai Senga. Rakuten’s Yuki Matsui, who probably should have been on the team, struck out three of the four batters he faced in the ninth to earn the save.
The outing was not a good omen for Senga, who hurt his ankle in his April season debut, was ineffective in his first game back in July. He had a solid Western League start on July 13, allowing a run over six innings on three hits and no walks while striking out eight.
On Saturday, the Hawks ace, who could easily miss out on a year of service time this season if he’s deactivated even once after the Olympic break, stranded Dixon after his leadoff. He walked two to load the bases with two outs for Dixon, who lashed a straight 2-2 fastball down the pipe into center.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a top candidate to start Japan’s Olympic opener, surrendered a leadoff first-inning single but struck out two of the remaining five batters he faced in his two-inning tuneup. Eagles rookie Takahisa Hayakawa, who was left off the Olympic team, surrendered three runs over three innings, but Rakuten came back with a run off Carp right-hander Masato Morishita in the fourth before adding single runs in the fifth and sixth against Tigers side-armer Koyo Aoyagi.
Tanaka to start Sunday
Masahiro Tanaka will start for Japan in his home park on Sunday, when Samurai Japan take on the Yomiuri Giants in their final warm-up before starting their Olympic group against the Dominican Republic on July 28.
