There were just two games on Thursday, an artifact of the old days when steam train travel demanded that teams moving from games held away from main stadiums have an extra travel day.
So with the Swallows and Carp playing in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, and the Giants and BayStars in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, those four teams were all off on Thursday, when presumably they flew to their next destination.
Geez, just what the Hanshin Tigers needed, a large audience for their woes. They entered Thursday’s game at Nagoya Dome not having scored for 13 innings, and, according to Nikkan Sports, tied with the 1979 Seibu Lions for the worst start in Japanese pro baseball history.
Besides all that, we had Yuya Yanagi and Kodai Senga pitching.
Ready? Let’s go.
Thursday’s games
Dragons 4, Tigers 1: At Nagoya Dome, Yuya Yanagi (2-0) came close to notching back-to-back shutouts for the first time in his career, but settled for a complete game victory.
Yanagi retired the first nine batters he faced with seemingly little effort. His fastball, which had been his weakness coming in to the game, was often sharp, and his command quite good.
Toshiki Abe doubled in Yohei Oshima and Ariel Martinez with two outs in the first off rookie lefty Takuma Kirishiki (0-2). Hanshin’s second pitcher, right-hander Yuya Onaka, surrendered two more in the fourth on three straight hits: a Dayan Viciedo single, Abe’s second double, and a Takuya Kinoshita double.
Yanagi allowed singles to Ryutaro Umeno and Mel Rojas Jr. in the sixth and eighth and both time pitched out of trouble.
The Tigers, shut out for 10 innings on Wednesday, broke their scoreless skid in the ninth on singles by Teruaki Sato and Koji Chikamoto, and a Yusuke Oyama sac fly.
Dragons-Tigers highlights
Hawks 4, Marines 0 : At Fukuoka Dome, Kodai Senga (3-0), pitching on five days rest, was typically wild, walking two and hitting only one because he got a favorable call from an umpire, while allowing three hits and striking out seven over seven innings.
Livan Moinelo struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth for the Hawks, while closer Yuito Mori worked around a Brandon Laird single in the ninth.
Lotte’s shutout inning streak ended in the first inning, when the Hawks scored twice off the battery of Kota Futaki (1-1) and Toshiya Sato.
Isamu Nomura tripled with one out, scored on an Akira Nakamura single. A wild pitch, a Taisei Makihara infield single and a stolen base put runners on second and third with two outs. A walk and a passed ball made it 2-0.
Futaki and Sato, however, got it together. Futaki went six respectable innings, and Lotte didn’t give up another run until Tayron Guerrero took over in the eighth.
Friday’s starting pitchers
Marines vs Fighters: Chiba Marine Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Ayumu Ishikawa (2-0, 0.00) vs Hiromi Ito (0-2, 3.21)
Buffaloes vs Lions: Osaka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Sachiya Yamasaki (0-1, 2.19) vs Kona Takahashi (0-2, 3.32)
BayStars vs Swallows: Yokohama Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yuya Sakamoto (0-0, 5.14) vs Yuto Kanakubo (-)
Tigers vs Giants: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Koyo Aoyagi (-) vs Tomoyuki Sugano (2-1, 4.76)
Active roster moves 4/14/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 4/24
Central League
Dectivated
| Swallows | IF | 3 | Naomichi Nishiura |
| Giants | P | 90 | Natsuki Toda |
| Dragons | P | 41 | Akiyoshi Katsuno |
| BayStars | IF | 55 | Hayato Tanabe |
Pacific League
Activated
| Marines | P | 18 | Kota Futaki |
| Hawks | P | 67 | Shunsuke Kasaya |
Dectivated
| Eagles | P | 41 | Yoshinao Kamata |
| Eagles | P | 53 | Hosei Takata |
| Eagles | OF | 50 | Atsuki Muto |
