Other news
Hawks tattoo rookie Kawano
The SoftBank Hawks left a mark on rookie lefty Ryusei Kawano (2-4) on Sunday in their 8-4 win over the Nippon Ham Fighters at Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome.
Kawano faced nine batters and allowed seven to reach on three hits and four walks, and four of them scored. Fellow lefty Tsuyoshi Wada (6-1) allowed only one walk and two hits, but all three scored on a pair of home runs. He struck out five over five innings.
Light-hitting speedster Ukyo Shuto hit his second career home run, a three-run shot in the sixth to ice it. He also singled twice, stole his Japan-best 30th base and scored twice.
Mima battles back, goes distance
Manabu Mima (9-2) surrendered a home run on the game’s first pitch but finished with a four-hitter in the Lotte Marines’ 8-1 win over the Seibu Lions at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium.
After a straight first-pitch fastball down the pipe to Yuji Kaneko wound up in the seats, Mima retired the next 19 batters, while the Marines tagged Wataru Matsumoto (4-4) for four runs over five innings.
The win kept the Marines two games back of the first-place Hawks.
Buffaloes’ top pick sets pace against Eagles
Lefty Hiroya Miyagi (1-0) the Orix Buffaloes top pick in last autumn’s draft, allowed two runs over five innings in his pro debut, less than two months after his 19th birthday, in an 8-2 win over the Rakuten Eagles at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome.
Miyagi allowed the first two batters he faced to reach before retiring the next seven in a row. He gave up seven hits and walked three while striking out four.
The Eagles’ bullpen wasted a strong start from 25-year-old rookie Ryota Takinaka, who allowed a run over six innings. The Buffaloes entered he seventh inning trailing 2-1 but a pair of four-run innings blew the game open.
Giants dodge Koshien bullets
Rookie Shosei Togo loaded the bases in the first and third innings, but allowed just one run over two-plus innings and the Yomiuri Giants broke the game open against reliever Shintaro Fujinami in the seventh inning of their 7-1 win over the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium.
The 20-year-old Togo allowed four hits and four walks in two-plus innings, and 21-year-old rookie lefty Ryusei Oe (3-0) picked up the slack with two scoreless innings of relief.
Fujinami, making his fifth relief appearance, allowed three runs on six hits over 1-1/3 innings.
Tigers outfielder Jerry Sands left the game for a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning after he was hit by a pitch in the seventh.
Austin taxes Dragons
Tyler Austin hit three home runs, walked and drove in six runs in the DeNA BayStars’ 9-3 win over the Chunichi Dragons at Yokohama Stadium.
The win moved the BayStars past the Dragons into third place.
Shinichi Onuki (8-4) allowed a run over 6-1/3 innings to earn the win. Dragons lefty Takahiro Matsuba (3-6) took the loss.
Nakamura holds off Swallows
Yuta Nakamura (1-2) allowed a run over five innings as the Hiroshima Carp completed a three-game sweep of the Yakult Swallows with a 6-4 win at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium.
Seiya Suzuki hit his 20th home run of the season, becoming the first Carp player to do so in five straight years since Tomonori Maeda did so from 2002 to 2006.
Marines’ Iwashita tests positive
Starting pitcher Daiki Iwashita and one member of the Lotte Marines’ first-team staff have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Pacific League club announced Sunday.
Iwashita was tested at a Chiba hospital after feeling unwell on Saturday and running a 37.1 C fever.
The 24-year-old allowed two runs over six innings on Thursday in Sapporo against the Nippon Ham Fighters and returned with the team to Chiba the following day. On Saturday, Iwashita only left home to go to the ballpark. The team staff member was not in close contact with the pitcher.
The club reported the infections to NPB on Sunday, and all members of the team and staff were tested with the results expected on Monday.
In 14 games, Iwashita is 5-7 with a 4.46 ERA.
Active roster moves 10/4/2020
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 10/14
Central League
Activated
| BayStars | IF | 9 | Yamato Maeda |
| Tigers | P | 91 | Yuya Yokoyama |
| Swallows | P | 18 | Naruki Terashima |
| Swallows | P | 61 | Takuma Kubo |
| Swallows | P | 64 | Ren Kazahari |
| Swallows | IF | 93 | Yu Matsumoto |
Dectivated
| BayStars | OF | 61 | Tatsuo Ebina |
| Tigers | P | 61 | Atsushi Mochizuki |
| Swallows | P | 24 | Tomoya Hoshi |
| Swallows | P | 54 | Masato Nakazawa |
| Swallows | C | 57 | Yudai Koga |
| Swallows | IF | 46 | Kengo Ota |
Pacific League
Activated
| Eagles | OF | 54 | Ren Wada |
| Fighters | P | 28 | Ryusei Kawano |
| Buffaloes | P | 13 | Hiroya Miyagi |
| Buffaloes | IF | 64 | Shinya Hirosawa |
Dectivated
| Eagles | C | 65 | Kengo Horiuchi |
| Fighters | C | 22 | Shinya Tsuruoka |
| Buffaloes | IF | 42 | Aderlin Rodriguez |
Starting pitchers for Oct. 5, 2020
Central League
Tigers vs Giants: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Haruto Takahashi (3-3, 2.25) vs Toshiki Sakurai (2-2, 5.04)
