The Rakuten Eagles were forced to scrounge for players on Friday, when six players were deactivated after testing positive for the coronavirus, while the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants put on an old-school look as they opened the 2022 version of their rivalry that dates back to 1936.
Ready? Let’s go.
Giants 6, Tigers 5: Harking back to the day when the Giants and Tigers were Japan’s best teams during the first three years of Japan’s first pro baseball league, the clubs wore 1936 throwback uniforms at Tokyo Dome on Friday.
The old look didn’t help Hanshin, whose starting pitcher Shintaro Fujinami (0-1) gave away six runs through the first four innings as they fell to a franchise-worst seven straight losses to start the season.
Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano (2-0) struck out nine while allowing three runs on seven hits and seven walks over seven innings.
Sugano started the game with three straight strikeouts, while Hayato Sakamoto and Gregory Polanco hit back-to-back first-inning home runs for the Giants. Takumi Oshiro’s homer made it 3-0 in the second.
Shortstop Takumu Nakano‘s effort to throw out the leadoff runner on a slow chopper in the third resulted in an error, but the two-runs worth of damage Fujinami suffered was self-inflicted.
Kazuma Okamoto lashed a hanging first-pitch forkball was lashed for a two-out single, and Sho Nakata walked on four pitches. Yoshihiro Maru then smacked another high forkball between first and second for a two-run single.
Oshiro singled to open the Giants’ fourth and came home after a sacrifice and a Naoki Yoshika single on a Sakamoto sac fly.
The Tigers string section, Kento Itohara and Yoshio Itoi accounted for a run in the fifth as Itohara doubled and scored on Itoi’s one-out single. Pinch-hitter Seiya Kinami singled to open the sixth. Koji Chikamoto tripled him home and scored on a groundout.
Rookie closer Taisei Ota walked Mel Rojas Jr. in the ninth and a fat pitch to Yusuke Oyama ended up in the seats to make it a one-run game before he shut things down and earned his fifth save.
Dragons 3, Carp 2: At Nagoya Dome, Yudai Ono (1-1) outlasted Daichi Osera (1-1), who surrendered two eighth-inning runs that snapped Hiroshima’s season-opening win streak at six.
Toshiki Abe gave Chunichi a 1-0 lead in the second with his first homer of the year. Tsubasa Aizawa hammered a two-run fourth-inning single to put Hiroshima in front.
Kaito Kozono started the Carp rally by hitting a hanging forkball on the screws for a one-out single and Ryan McBroom followed by smashing a belt-high fastball for another. Ono got ahead of the dangerous Shogo Sakakura and caught a comebacker, but his effort to start a double play misfired, loaded the bases.
Ono then missed up to Aizawa who lashed it to left.
The game remained 2-1 through seven, with Ono having thrown 112 pitches and Osera 100. Ono retired the heart of the Carp lineup in order in the top of the eighth, while the Dragons found their second wind in the home half.
Singles by Yohei Oshima, Yuki Okabayashi, and rookie Kosuke Ugai tied it before Abe’s two-out single gave Raidel Martinez the save opportunity he converted in the ninth.
The win was manager Kazuyoshi Tatsunami’s first at home after the Dragons were swept by DeNA during the week.
BayStars 6, Swallows 1: At Jingu Stadium, the DeNA BayStars jumped on Yasuhiro Ogawa in a three-run first inning, in which Ogawa struck out three. Masayuki Kuwahara singled, and then it went strikeout, Keita Sano first-pitch home run, strikeout, Toshiro Miyazaki first-pitch home run, strikeout.
Munekata Murakami made it a 3-1 game, leading off the second with his first home run, and Ogawa (0-1) kept the game close, but Taiga Kamichatani (1-0) allowed a run over seven innings, while Kazuki Mishima and Edwin Escobar did the rest and the BayStars scored three more in the ninth for a late kick in the teeth.
Hawks 1, Eagles 0: At Miyagi Stadium, Hideaki Wakui (0-1) did an admirable job of filling in after scheduled starter Takahiro Norimoto was sidelined due to the coronavirus, but that was not enough to prevent SoftBank from winning its seventh straight as Japan’s only unbeaten team.
Wakui allowed one run on one hit and three walks over six innings while striking out seven. The Hawks opened the scoring in the fourth on the most Yuki Yangita home run imaginable, the Hawks slugger flailing at a sinker at the low limit of the zone and lofting it over the left-field wall.
Hawks ace Kodai Senga (1-0) allowed five hits, walked three, and struck out nine over eight innings, and Yuito Mori worked around a one-out double by Hiroaki Shimauchi to earn his fifth save.
Eagles shortstop Tsuyoshi Yamasaki felt the full impact of Hawks catcher Takuya Kai‘s cannon. Yamasaki led off Rakuten’s third with a single but was forced at second as Ginjiro Sumitani bunted into a double play.
Sumitani got it right in the sixth after Yamasaki’s leadoff walk, but Yamazaki was then thrown out trying to steal third with leadoff man Haruki Nishikawa at the plate.
The Eagles loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, but Senga struck out José Marmolejos on a called third strike low and away. Senga then surrendered another leadoff single to Yamasaki and a Sumitani sacrifice in the eighth.
Buffaloes 2, Fighters 0: A night after saying losing gives him a chance to be dramatic, Fighters manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo got more grist for that mill at Osaka Dome.
Taisuke Yamaoka (1-0) started for Orix and struck out seven over 5-2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, while Yoshihisa Hirano, the losing pitcher the night before, collected his first save.
Orix loaded the bases with one out in the first but managed just one run against 19-year-old Fighters lefty Haruka Nemoto (0-1). Dropped to the fifth spot after a woeful night on Thursday, regular Buffaloes cleanup hitter Yutaro Sugimoto singled in a run before Nemoto escaped via a double play.
Nemoto allowed one run despite allowing four hits and walking four over 3-2/3 innings. Takahiro Nishimura retired the first two batters he faced, but Kotaro Kurebayashi‘s second single, with one out in the fifth, set the table for Masataka Yoshida‘s second hit, an RBI double.
Marines 2, Lions 1, 10 innings: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Akito Takabe singled to open the 10th off Kaima Taira (1-1) and scored the winning run on a Toshiya Sato sac fly.
The Marines scored once in the first and came within a hair of making it two. Kyota Fujiwara singled with one out and stole second. Shogo Nakamura walked and both advanced on a groundout. A huge bounce on a bounced slider brought Fujiwara home. Takahashi prevented further damage with a good tag on Nakamura.
The Lions’ only run in eight innings off Ayumu Ishikawa came when Sosuke Genda doubled to open the eighth, went to third when Fujiwara mishandled the ball in center, and scored on a sac fly by Jantzen Witte.
Saturday’s starting pitchers
Eagles vs Hawks: Miyagi Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Koichi Takada (-) vs Nao Higashihama (1-0, 2.57)
Marines vs Lions: Chiba Marine Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Kota Futaki (-) vs Chihiro Sumida (1-0, 0.00)
Buffaloes vs Fighters: Osaka Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-0, 0.00) vs Hiromi Ito (0-0, 0.00)
Giants vs Tigers: Tokyo Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Iori Yamasaki (0-0, 3.00) vs Ippei Ogawa (0-1, 6.35)
Swallows vs BayStars: Jingu Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Keiji Takahashi (1-0, 0.00) vs Shinichi Onuki (0-1, 13.50)
Dragons vs Carp: Nagoya Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Shotaro Kasahara (-) vs Masato Morishita (1-0, 2.25)
Active roster moves 4/1/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 4/11
Central League
Activated
| Swallows | P | 61 | Takuma Kubo |
| BayStars | P | 45 | Michael Peoples |
| BayStars | IF | 66 | Koki Yamashita |
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 26 | Koshiro Sakamoto |
| Dragons | P | 38 | Takahiro Matsuba |
| Dragons | OF | 52 | Shohei Katoh |
| BayStars | P | 30 | Ginji Miura |
| BayStars | C | 39 | Hiroki Minei |
Pacific League
Activated
| Marines | C | 66 | Takuma Kato |
| Marines | IF | 5 | Hisanori Yasuda |
| Eagles | P | 16 | Hideaki Wakui |
| Eagles | P | 52 | Taisei Tsurusaki |
| Eagles | P | 53 | Hosei Takata |
| Eagles | IF | 34 | Tsuyoshi Yamasaki |
| Hawks | IF | 8 | Kenji Akashi |
| Fighters | P | 20 | Kenta Uehara |
| Lions | P | 42 | Bo Takahashi |
Dectivated
| Marines | P | 15 | Manabu Mima |
| Marines | C | 99 | Tomoya Kakinuma |
| Marines | IF | 23 | Ryo Miki |
| Eagles | P | 14 | Takahiro Norimoto |
| Eagles | P | 30 | Shinri Komine |
| Eagles | P | 32 | Alan Busenitz |
| Eagles | IF | 0 | Hiroto Kobukata |
| Hawks | IF | 0 | Tomoki Takata |
| Fighters | P | 33 | Kazuaki Tateno |
| Lions | P | 44 | Kaito Yoza |
| Lions | IF | 3 | Hotaka Yamakawa |
