There were only four games in Japan on Thursday night, but we had Kodai Senga take a shutout into the ninth inning with a surprisingly low pitch count, while one new import got his second win another brought his team from behind with his second home run and a third earned his first save. So well done guys.
We also have some news about Akira Neo‘s positional odyssey with the Chunichi Dragons.
Ready? Let’s get started.
Buffaloes 3, Hawks 2: At Osaka Dome, Kodai Senga went nine innings, but lost his shutout bid with two outs to go, after giving up a squib leadoff single and a smoked line single, to Shuhei Fukuda.
Kotaro Kurebayashi walked to load the bases after a sacrifice, and Masataka Yoshida smacked a sharp grounder past first for a two-run single.
Jesse Biddle (2-0) worked around a pair of one-out walks in the 11th to earn the win, and singles from Fukuda and Kurebayashi won it in the home half against Livan Moinelo (0-1). Fukuda went down to line a pitch center, was sacrificed to second and easily beat the throw home on Kurebayashi’s single.
The Hawks took a 2-0 fifth-inning lead sort of by accident. Masaki Mimori reached on a leadoff single, and forced to swing away after two bunt efforts resulted in two strikes, Isami Nomura blasted a two-run home run off Daiki Tajima.
Senga was unusually efficient but was not missing bats, and could have given up runs earlier without some big plays behind him.
Eagles 8, Fighters 5: At Miyagi Stadium, Kensuke Kondo, batting leadoff for the Fighters as if manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo was using his randomizer to pick his lineup again, put the visitors up 2-0 in the third with a two-run home run. The Eagles, however, rocked Kazuaki Tateno (1-2) for six runs in the home half.
Hiroto Kobukata‘s three-run double put the Eagles in front for good, Hideto Asamura doubled him home and scored on Hiroaki Shimauchi‘s first home run.
José Marmolejos went 2-for-4 for Rakuten with an RBI, while Eagles closer Yuki Matsui saved his sixth game.
Giants 8, Carp 4: At Tokyo Dome, things got started with a bang in the second inning. Hiroshima’s Shogo Sakakura put the Carp up 2-0 by plating Ryan McBroom with his first home run, off rookie Kenshin Hotta.
Kazuma Okamoto opened the Giants’ second with his fifth home run and Adam Walker put Yomiuri in front, plating Yoshihiro Maru with his second home run, off Atsushi Endo (1-2).
The Carp tied it in the fourth on Endo’s two-run single, but Maru tied it with his sixth home run, leading off the Giants’ three-run fourth.
The win was the Giants’ fourth straight.
Giants-Carp highlights
BayStars 7, Tigers 5, 6 innings, rain: At Yokohama Stadium, Shugo Maki brought the BayStars from behind with a three-run third-inning homer before Dan Onodera, who shares something in common with me, soccer player Shinji Kagawa and Nat King Cole, blasted a pinch-hit grand slam in the fourth to make it 5-3.
Taishi Kusumoto homered for DeNA in the fourth to make it a one-run game, and Neftali Soto, who walked twice and singled twice, sparked a three-run fifth with a leadoff single.
Soto scored the tying run on a wild pitch by reliever Kosuke Baba , Kazuya Fujita‘s pinch-hit single broke the tie, and Taishi Ota, who had three hits, singled home an insurance run. Brooks Kriske then worked around a one-out walk to earn his first save.
BayStars-Tigers highlights
Tatsunami gives up on outfield Neophillia
With a surplus of outfielders on hand, Chunichi Dragons manager Kazuyoshi Tatsunami has deactivated Akira Neo, so he can go back to the farm and resume polishing his skills at shortstop Nikkan Sports reported Thursday.
A strong-armed, sweet-swinging contact hitter, Neo has, since Chunichi tried to make him an outfield, has reportedly try to remake himself as a power hitter with limited success. Neo has also thrown some in the bullpen and prepared at least once this year for an emergency relief stint.
“It may seem like another detour, like sending him to the outfield or having him pitch. But I think it will be good for him in the long run,” Tatsunami said. “Watching him play the outfield makes me think it would be interesting to see him at shortstop.”
Friday’s starting pitchers
Fighters vs Hawks: Sapporo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Hiromi Ito (1-2, 3.32) vs Colin Rea (1-0, 4.63)
Lions vs Eagles: Seibu Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Kona Takahashi (1-2, 2.88) vs Takahisa Hayakawa (2-0, 0.64)
Buffaloes vs Marines: Osaka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Sachiya Yamasaki (0-2, 3.20) vs Enny Romero (1-0, 0.45)
Swallows vs Tigers: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Hirotoshi Takanashi (2-1, 1.59) vs Koyo Aoyagi (1-0, 1.13)
Dragons vs Giants: Nagoya Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yuya Yanagi (2-0, 2.16) vs Tomoyuki Sugano (2-2, 4.24)
Carp vs BayStars: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Daichi Osera (2-1, 3.38) vs Michael Peoples (0-1, 4.50)
Active roster moves 4/21/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 5/1
Central League
Activated
| Tigers | P | 54 | Ren Kajiya |
| Giants | P | 91 | Kenshin Hotta |
| BayStars | OF | 37 | Taishi Kusumoto |
Dectivated
| Tigers | OF | 61 | Hiroshi Toyoda |
| Dragons | OF | 7 | Akira Neo |
| BayStars | OF | 52 | Seiya Hosokawa |
Pacific League
Activated
| Eagles | P | 29 | Koichi Takada |
Dectivated
| Marines | IF | 4 | Yudai Fujioka |
| Marines | IF | 5 | Hisanori Yasuda |
| Hawks | P | 21 | Tsuyoshi Wada |
Friday’s starting pitchers
Fighters vs Hawks: Sapporo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Hiromi Ito (1-2, 3.32) vs Colin Rea (1-0, 4.63)
Lions vs Eagles: Seibu Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Kona Takahashi (1-2, 2.88) vs Takahisa Hayakawa (2-0, 0.64)
Buffaloes vs Marines: Osaka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Sachiya Yamasaki (0-2, 3.20) vs Enny Romero (1-0, 0.45)
Swallows vs Tigers: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Hirotoshi Takanashi (2-1, 1.59) vs Koyo Aoyagi (1-0, 1.13)
Dragons vs Giants: Nagoya Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yuya Yanagi (2-0, 2.16) vs Tomoyuki Sugano (2-2, 4.24)
Carp vs BayStars: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Daichi Osera (2-1, 3.38) vs Michael Peoples (0-1, 4.50)
Active roster moves 4/21/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 5/1
Central League
Activated
| Tigers | P | 54 | Ren Kajiya |
| Giants | P | 91 | Kenshin Hotta |
| BayStars | OF | 37 | Taishi Kusumoto |
Dectivated
| Tigers | OF | 61 | Hiroshi Toyoda |
| Dragons | OF | 7 | Akira Neo |
| BayStars | OF | 52 | Seiya Hosokawa |
Pacific League
Activated
| Eagles | P | 29 | Koichi Takada |
Dectivated
| Marines | IF | 4 | Yudai Fujioka |
| Marines | IF | 5 | Hisanori Yasuda |
| Hawks | P | 21 | Tsuyoshi Wada |
