With the ball in Japan apparently as dead as can be, we had four shutouts Wednesday, although one of them was particularly weird. In two games this week in Nagoya, the four starting pitchers have combined to allow four runs over 22 innings.
Wednesday’s games
Dragons 2, Swallows 0: At Nagoya Dome, Seiya Hosokawa doubled high off the wall with a man on to set up Orlando Calixte‘s two-run sixth-inning RBI single off Yakult side-armer Reiji Kozawa (0-2), who had battled Hideaki Wakui to a scoreless draw for five innings. Raidel Martinez recorded his 7th save.
Tigers 2, Giants 0: At Koshien Stadium, Hanshin was outhit 8-3, but the Giants hitters could do nothing more than occupy bases. Shota Morishita doubled in Koji Chikamoto and Takumu Nakano in the second after Yuji Akahoshi (0-1) retired eight of the first nine batters he faced. Their three hits with two outs accounted for the Tigers’ game hit total.
Masashi Ito (2-1) allowed nine runners to reach, but stranded them all over six innings. Javy Guerra got his third save.
Carp 5, BayStars 1: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, the Carp drubbed the BayStars for the second straight day. Shugo Maki hit a second-inning leadoff homer off Makoto Aduwa. Haruhiro Hamaguchi (0-2) issued three walks in the third to force in the tying run. His errors on consecutive bunts, loaded the bases with one out, allowing Hiroshima to score on a groundout and a two-out delayed double steal. A Shogo Sakakura two-run double made it 5-1 in the fifth.
Aduwa wasn’t around to earn the win. With the game tied 1-1 in the fourth, two on and no outs, Aduwa was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the Carp’s two-run inning.
Buffaloes 5, Eagles 0: At Miyagi Stadium, Anderson Espinoza allowed a run over seven innings to improve to 3-0 and lower his ERA to 0.45. Takayuki Kishi allowed a run over six innings on Yuma Tongu‘s second home run, which left his bat like it had a hot date high up in the left-field stands. Once Kishi was gone, it was open season, and Tongu capped a four-run seventh with a three-run triple.
Marines 2, Lions 0: At Chiba Marine Stadium, there was another pitchers’ duel with the two starters charged with a total of one run over 15 innings. Koki Yamaguchi singled in Hiromi Oka in the first off Wataru Matsumoto (1-1), while Yuji Nishino (2-1) lasted 7-2/3 innings. Hirokazu Sawamura stranded the tying run in scoring position, Neftali Soto singled in an eighth-inning run and Shota Suzuki earned his first career save.
Fighters 4, Hawks 4, 12 innings: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, SoftBank delivered a two-run first-inning welcome wagon after two were out to Nippon Ham’s Ren Fukushima in his major league debut, with Kensuke Kondo singling in Yuki Yanagita and Ryoya Kurihara doubling in Hotaka Yamakawa.
The Fighters tied it in the second off Tomohisa Ozeki on a Franmil Reyes double and a Kazunari Ishii home run. Both teams scored in the 11th, with Ariel Martinez tying it off Roberto Osuna with a two-run home run, his second.
