On Sunday, the Hanshin Tigers thanked their lucky breeze and for the first time since he became Swallows manager, Shingo Takatsu took responsibility for a mistaken outfield defensive alignment that wasn’t wrong – for a team that routinely leads Japan in costly mistaken outfield alignments.
Otherwise, the Seibu Lions and Nippon Ham Fighters set records they probably wish they hadn’t.
Sunday’s games
Buffaloes 5, Fighters 4: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, Orix rookie Kyosuke Saito retired the first nine batters he faced before Nippon Ham led 2-0 on an error and four walks, two with the bases loaded. Shuhei Fukuda‘s RBI single tied it 2-2 against Takayuki Kato in the fifth. Ariel Martinez doubled in Nippon Ham’s two-run fifth, the Fighters’ first hit. Orix’s Ryoma Nishikawa hit his first PL homer since joining the Buffaloes as a free agent over the winter to make it a one-run game in the sixth.
Yuma Mune came off the bench to plate Marwin Gonzalez with the tying run in the seventh, and Kenya Wakatsuki put Orix in front in the eighth with a sacrifice fly after singles by Leandro Cedeno and Yuma Tongu set the table. Yoshihisa Hirano earned his seventh save.
The Fighters drew five walks and had two runners reach on errors but their four runs were the most ever scored by a team with one hit in a game, according to Nikkan Sports.
Marines 10, Eagles 1: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Kazuya Ojima (2-3) allowed a run over seven innings, and Lotte broke out of its offensive funk to snap a seven-game losing streak.
Lotte rallied for five runs after putting two on with two outs against Ryota Takinaka (0-1) in the third. For the second straight day, Gregory Polanco put the Marines in front, with a single. A Neftali Soto single, and doubles by Katsuya Kakunaka and Toshiya Sato completed the salvo. Toshiki Abe‘s second double of the game led to Rakuten getting a fifth-inning run. Polanco also hit his fifth home run for the Marines.
Dragons 0, Carp 0, 12 innings: At Nagoya Dome, Chunichi’s splitter master Hiroto Takahashi made his season debut as the Dragons did what they do best, not score, as he and Hiroshima’s Allen Kuri each went seven innings.
BayStars 6, Giants 2: At Yokohama Stadium, two-time CL MVP Yoshihiro Maru and rookie Shunsuke Sasaki did the damage for Yomiuri.
Makoto Kadowaki doubled and scored on leadoff man Maru’s second single off Shinichi Onuki in the fourth, and Sasaki tripled in Maru. The BayStars tied it in the bottom of the fourth after a Shugo Maki double and two walks from Reiji Takahashi, who entered with a 0.38 ERA.
Maru and Sasaki each doubled in a run in the sixth to put Yomiuri in front, and Maru’s sac fly made it 5-2 in the eighth before Sasaki singled and scored.
Tigers 3, Swallows 2: At Koshien Stadium, Yusuke Oyama credited Koshien Stadium’s infamous sea breeze the “Hama kaze” blowing in off Osaka Bay for his decisive two-run single that allowed the Tigers to overcome Domingo Santana and Yakult.
Hanshin struck with three no-out singles in the second off Reiji Kozawa, who left the bases loaded, before Yakult tied it in the fourth off Hiroto Saiki on a Munetaka Murakami walk and a double by Santana, whose sliding catch in left field to end the Tigers’ second saved two runs.
Santana and Tetsuto Yamada each singled in a fifth-inning run to break the tie, and Koji Chikamoto narrowed the gap to a run in the home half by tripling and scoring on Takumu Nakano‘s sacrifice fly. The Tigers took the lead in the seventh when Hiroki Onishi surrendered four hits, and Santana was unable to replicate his second-inning catch as two runs scored on Oyama’s single on a high pop up to shallow left.
Swallows skipper Shingo Takatsu, who loves playing his outfield shallow with two outs to often disastrous consequences, shouldered some of the blame.
“I think some of my choices were wrong,” the skipper said. “He (Santana) is not an outstanding defender, but he hustled for all he was worth.”
And in true Yakult fashion, the Swallows outfield defense coach Daniel Yuichi Matsumoto said his defensive setup was not shallow enough, “I had them playing too deep. We were playing so that the runner on first wouldn’t score.”
The thing is, the Swallows outfield WAS positioned correctly. It was only not positioned as incorrectly as Takatsu likes it, with outfield so far in that the shortstop can hear the left fielder breathing.
Hawks 3, Lions 2, 12th inning: At Fukuoka Dome, Seibu left 14 runners on base, and surrendered the winning “sayonara” run on a passed ball by reserve catcher Takeru Furuichi as SoftBank won its fifth straight. In addition to being their second straight extra-inning loss, Sports Hochi reported that they set a Japan pro baseball record by losing their 15th straight extra-inning game.
On a day for manager accountability, Lions skipper Kazuo Matsui said using the less-experienced Furuichi had been his choice, and the loss was on him.
SoftBank’s Kenta Imamiya doubled and scored on Hotaka Yamakawa‘s first-inning single off Chihiro Sumida. Seibu’s Shuta Tonosaki doubled and scored the tying run in the fourth against Nao Higashihama on a Sosuke Genda squeeze, before Takuya Kai homered in the seventh to make it 2-
Hawks starter Nao Higashihama allowed a run in seven innings, and Seibu tied it in the eighth after Yuji Kaneko drew a leadoff walk with the run scoring on Ryusei Sato’s sac fly. The Lions got another good effort from lefty Chihiro Sumida, who allowed two runs over eight innings.
