There were only four games on Sunday, but lots to digest. The Nippon Ham Fighters may have been the first and last team to walk a batter to face Masataka Yoshida with the game on the line, while the Seibu Lions suffered a self-inflicted wound Saturday, leaving them short-handed against Roki Sasaki, who had a day, as did last year’s CL best nine pitcher Yuya Yanagi.
Be careful where you throw that thing
Already without cleanup hitter and 2019 MVP Hotaka Yamakawa due to an ankle injury – for the second straight April – the Seibu Lions deactivated 2020 MVP Tomoya Mori on Sunday with a broken bone in his right index finger, where his mask hit him.
“Apparently he threw his mask at his locker and there was an accident,” manager Hatsuhiko Tsuji said according to Sponichi Annex. “It wasn’t like he punched it or anything like that.”
Because it was only one finger and not both hands, like former pitcher Toshiya Sugiuchi’s June 2004 punch-up with the Fukuoka Dome’s bench – ironically also after his team got the bejesus beat out of it by Lotte. The team reported it will take their star about two months to return to duty.
Sunday’s games
Marines 4, Lions 2: At Chiba Marine Stadium, the Lions, without their masked man, were pretty much at the mercy of Sasaki (1-0), who struck out a career-high 13 while walking none and hitting one over eight innings.
Sasaki said the poise of 18-year-old rookie catcher Ko Matsukawa calmed his nerves as the two worked the Lions over. Taiga Hirasawa twice plated Hisanori Yoshida with RBI singles off right-hander Yutaro Watanabe (0-1), and scored on a Matsukawa double.
Sosuke Genda tripled and scored in the Lions’ seventh, and Brian O’Grady singled and scored off Naoya Masuda in the ninth, before the closer recorded his first save.
Sasaki, whose fastball averaged 152.6 kph last season, is averaging 158.7 this season after his second start, in which it ticked up to 159.4 with a median fastball speed of 160 and a max of 163.
“It’s not like we gave up on getting hits, we simply couldn’t. He’s as good as advertised,” Tsuji said according to Nikkan Sports. “He’s getting ahead of hitters more than last year, his control is good. If you can’t catch up to a fastball around 156 kph, you can’t deal with him.”
Buffaloes 4, Fighters 2: At Osaka Dome, Nippon Ham walked Kotaro Kurebayashi intentionally after falling behind 3-1 with one out in the eighth and the go-ahead run on third. I’m no fan of intentional walks, but walking anyone to face Masataka Yoshida is pretty much unheard of.
Yoshida missed most of the preseason and is definitely not in peak form. He was fouling off fat pitches that nobody would normally throw him, but the look on reliever Naoki Miyanishi’s face was definitely worth a #WTF. Miyanishi (0-1) got a fairly lame swing from the Orix star, but Yoshida managed to chop the ball through the drawn-in infield to make it 4-2.
New import Jesse Biddle (1-0) worked around a leadoff walk in the eighth to earn the win in relief with the help of an athletic play by third baseman Yuma Mune to get his glove on a “buster” slash bunt and deflect it to shortstop Kurebayashi who got the out at first.
Last year’s PL rookie of the year, Hiroya Miyagi also looked out of sorts, the velocity he lacked in the second half of last season was back, but he missed badly A LOT. He struck out eight but threw a lot of fat pitches and allowed eight hits over six innings.
One of those fat pitches, to Yuma Imagawa, ended up in the seats for a 2-0 fourth-inning Fighters lead. Fellow lefty Ryusei Kawano, looked much sharper despite his more elaborate motion. His command was sharp and batters had a tough time putting good swings on his mistakes, except for the one to Kodai Sano that reached the third deck for a two-run fifth-inning homer.
Yoshihisa Hirano worked the ninth for his second save.
Giants 9, Tigers 5: At Tokyo Dome, Hanshin made history as the first Central League team to lose its first nine games of the season, its longest losing streak under manager Akihiro Yano.
Rookie Yuji Akahoshi (1-0) escape a bases-loaded pickle in the first and Sho Nakata teed off on a fat pitch from Joe Gunkel (0-1) in the first inning for a grand slam. Kazuma Okamoto also homered for the Giants and leadoff man Naoki Yoshikawa’s three-run double highlighted a four-run seventh off Raul Alcantara.
Forty-year-old Yoshio Itoi belted a two-run homer for the Tigers in the sixth, while Seiya Kinami and Ryutaro Umeno provided some cheer for the Hanshin fans with back-to-back one-out homers in the ninth of Thyago Vieira.
Dragons 1, Carp 0: At Nagoya Dome, Chunichi’s Yuya Yanagi (1-0) threw a three-hit, eight-strikeout shutout to seal a series sweep of the Hiroshima Carp. Carp right-hander Atsushi Endo (0-1) gave up the lead in the sixth on a two-out Dayan Viciedo double and a Toshiki Abe single, although a good cutoff allowed the Carp to retire Abe and end the inning.
Active roster moves 4/3/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 4/13
Central League
Activated
| Tigers | P | 49 | Joe Gunkel |
| Tigers | OF | 61 | Hiroshi Toyoda |
| Giants | P | 11 | Ryuta Heinai |
Dectivated
| Tigers | P | 69 | Daichi Ishii |
| Tigers | IF | 31 | Jefry Marte |
| Giants | P | 19 | Iori Yamasaki |
| Dragons | P | 47 | Shotaro Kasahara |
Pacific League
Activated
| Marines | P | 50 | Kenta Onuma |
| Marines | IF | 00 | Raito Ikeda |
| Lions | C | 78 | Masato Saito |
Dectivated
| Marines | P | 64 | Shoma Sato |
| Marines | IF | 8 | Shogo Nakamura |
| Fighters | P | 29 | Kazutomo Iguchi |
| Lions | C | 10 | Tomoya Mori |
