The Pacific League-leading Orix Buffaloes have deactivated first baseman Takahiro Okada due to a minor right hamstring injury, presumably suffered after he was hit by a pitch in Saturday’s game against the Seibu Lions, Nikkan Sports reported Monday.
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New import Rangel Ravelo, who might have taken Okada’s place, was hit on the left wrist in a Western League game against the Chunichi Dragons and was diagnosed with a distal fracture of the left ulna.
The Buffaloes, chasing the franchise’s first pennant since Ichiro Suzuki won his third straight MVP award with the Kobe-based Orix BlueWave in 1996. They ended the weekend three games ahead of the Rakuten Eagles and four ahead of the Lotte Marines. The SoftBank Hawks are a half-game further back in fourth.
Tuesday’s starting pitchers
Fighters vs Marines: Sapporo Dome 6:30 pm, 5:30 am EDT
Drew VerHagen (2-6, 5.76) vs Daiki Iwashita (8-5, 3.98)
Eagles vs Buffaloes: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Takahiro Norimoto (7-4, 3.45) vs Glenn Sparkman (0-0, 4.50)
Lions vs Hawks: MetLife Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
Kona Takahashi (9-4, 3.14) vs Nao Higashihama (3-2, 3.14)
Giants vs Carp: Tokyo Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
Cristopher Mercedes (6-1, 2.25) vs Masato Morishita (6-5, 2.31)
Swallows vs Dragons: Kusanagi Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Keiji Takahashi (2-0, 2.83) vs Koji Fukutani (5-9, 4.43)
Tigers vs BayStars: Kyocera Dome (Osaka) 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Koyo Aoyagi (9-2, 1.87) vs Haruhiro Hamaguchi (5-6, 3.28)
Active roster moves 8/23/2021
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 9/2
Central League
Activated
None
Dectivated
| Dragons | P | 67 | Yariel Rodriguez |
| BayStars | IF | 4 | Yukiya Ito |
| BayStars | OF | 00 | Shumei Miyamoto |
| BayStars | OF | 52 | Seiya Hosokawa |
| Swallows | P | 34 | Kazuto Taguchi |
Pacific League
Activated
None
Dectivated
| Lions | P | 44 | Kaito Yoza |
| Eagles | P | 16 | Hideaki Wakui |
| Fighters | P | 33 | Kazuaki Tateno |
| Buffaloes | P | 17 | Hirotoshi Masui |
| Buffaloes | OF | 8 | Shunta Goto |
| Buffaloes | OF | 55 | Takahiro Okada |
