The Marines and Fighters were rained out on Friday, leaving us to start Japan’s pro baseball weekend with three games, the last-place Tigers in a record-setting funk to start the season faced the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers with the Swallows at the DeNA BayStars.
In a game between two struggling teams, the Seibu Lions were in Osaka to play the Orix Buffaloes, whose high point to the week was being victimized for a perfect game by Roki Sasaki. Since then, coronavirus infections caused the Buffaloes to scrap their midweek games with Orix, depriving me of a Masahiro Tanaka start I was looking forward to.
Ready? Let’s go.
Friday’s games
Tigers 4, Giants 1: At Koshien Stadium, the joy was palpable when reliever Suguru Iwazaki retired Zelous Wheeler for the final out. Eighteen games into the season, the Tigers had their second win.
Koyo Aoyagi (1-0) gave up a first-inning run but pitched eight innings without issuing a walk to earn the win after two-run home runs from Teruaki Sato and Mel Rojas Jr. turned the game around.
Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano (2-2) pitched out of two-out bases-loaded jam in the first inning. He escaped another scrape in the fourth, and got two outs in the fifth before Hanshin took the lead on a Takumu Nakano single and Sato’s fourth home run.
Rojas, who singled and was hit by a pitch, homered after Hayato Sakamoto, whose RBI single opened the scoring, failed to catch a pop fly to open the inning.
Tigers-Giants highlights
Swallows 3, BayStars 2: At Yokohama Stadium, Yuto Kanakubo (1-0) allowed two runs over six innings to win his season debut for Yakult in a kind of flashback from last year’s bullpen crew as Taichi Ishiyama, Noboru Shimizu and Scott McGough each worked a scoreless inning to close it down.
Yasutaka Shiomi‘s third homer opened the scoring in the third. Rookie shortstop Hideki Nagaoka singled in a run in the fourth, when the Swallows had three hits and a walk but managed just another run on catcher Yudai Koga‘s sac fly.
A day after the BayStars announced that slugging outfielder Tyler Austin had surgery to clean out his right elbow, Neftali Soto hit a two-run homer, his first of the season, in the sixth.
McGough recording two unassisted putouts in the ninth en route to his fourth save, including one where catcher Hiroki Minei sacrificed and opted to take a right turn into the DeNA dugout to avoid being tagged.
BayStars-Swallows highlights
Lions 6, Buffaloes 1: At Osaka Dome, Seibu’s Opening Day starter, Kona Takahashi (1-2) worked six innings, and Brian O’Grady doubled twice and drove in two runs. Shuta Tonosaki walked, doubled twice and scored a run, and Jantzen Witte doubled and scored for the Lions.
Saturday’s starting pitchers
Marines vs Fighters: Chiba Marine Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Ayumu Ishikawa (2-0, 0.00) vs Hiromi Ito (0-2, 3.21)
Buffaloes vs Lions: Osaka Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Taisuke Yamaoka (1-1, 1.32) vs Chihiro Sumida (1-1, 0.96)
Hawks vs Eagles: Kitakyushu Municipal Stadium 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT
Colin Rea (1-0, 4.05) vs Hideaki Wakui (1-1, 3.27)
BayStars vs Swallows: Yokohama Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Taiga Kamichatani (1-0, 3.00) vs Juri Hara (1-1, 3.65)
Tigers vs Giants: Koshien Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Aaron Wilkerson (-) vs Matt Shoemaker (0-0, 1.35)
Carp vs Dragons: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Daichi Osera (1-1, 3.48) vs Yuichiro Okano (-)
Active roster moves 4/15/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 4/25
Central League
Activated
| Swallows | P | 48 | Yuto Kanakubo |
| Swallows | IF | 00 | Nobuyuki Okumura |
| Tigers | P | 50 | Koyo Aoyagi |
| Tigers | P | 92 | Yuta Watanabe |
| Giants | P | 19 | Iori Yamasaki |
Dectivated
| Tigers | P | 47 | Takuma Kirishiki |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | C | 23 | Torai Fushimi |
| Buffaloes | IF | 40 | Seiichiro Oshita |
Dectivated
| Buffaloes | OF | 25 | Ryo Nishimura |
| Hawks | P | 34 | Arata Shiino |
Saturday’s starting pitchers
Marines vs Fighters: Chiba Marine Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Ayumu Ishikawa (2-0, 0.00) vs Hiromi Ito (0-2, 3.21)
Buffaloes vs Lions: Osaka Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Taisuke Yamaoka (1-1, 1.32) vs Chihiro Sumida (1-1, 0.96)
Hawks vs Eagles: Kitakyushu Municipal Stadium 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT
Colin Rea (1-0, 4.05) vs Hideaki Wakui (1-1, 3.27)
BayStars vs Swallows: Yokohama Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Taiga Kamichatani (1-0, 3.00) vs Juri Hara (1-1, 3.65)
Tigers vs Giants: Koshien Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Aaron Wilkerson (-) vs Matt Shoemaker (0-0, 1.35)
Carp vs Dragons: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Daichi Osera (1-1, 3.48) vs Yuichiro Okano (-)
Active roster moves 4/15/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 4/25
Central League
Activated
| Swallows | P | 48 | Yuto Kanakubo |
| Swallows | IF | 00 | Nobuyuki Okumura |
| Tigers | P | 50 | Koyo Aoyagi |
| Tigers | P | 92 | Yuta Watanabe |
| Giants | P | 19 | Iori Yamasaki |
Dectivated
| Tigers | P | 47 | Takuma Kirishiki |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | C | 23 | Torai Fushimi |
| Buffaloes | IF | 40 | Seiichiro Oshita |
Dectivated
| Buffaloes | OF | 25 | Ryo Nishimura |
| Hawks | P | 34 | Arata Shiino |
