The SoftBank Hawks’ season-opening win streak came to a whimpering end on Wednesday when one run scored thanks to a mishandled ball in the outfield and two more came in thanks to Japan’s favorite go-to play, bringing the outfield in with two outs and a big run on second.
Japanese fans began salivating at the idea of former Lion Shogo Akiyama beating a hasty return to Japan to play for THEIR team after he his release by the Cincinnati Reds only for one team’s skipper to throw water on that idea.
Ready? Let’s go.
Eagles not interested in Akiyama
Kazuhisa Ishii made history on Wednesday, the Rakuten Eagles skipper and general manager becoming the first in team history to admit the club was not coveting an available former Seibu Lions star, Sankei Sports reported.
“I think he’s a good player,” Ishii said of his former Lions teammate after Akiyama was released by the Cincinnati Reds. “But right now its a position at which we’re set right now.”
Ishii, who had three former Lions in Wednesday’s lineup, said his current outfield, with Fighters discard Haruki Nishikawa, his leadoff hitter, in left, another former golden glover, Ryosuke Tatsumi in center, and last year’s PL RBI leader, Hiroaki Shimauchi.
Wednesday’s games
Buffaloes 3, Hawks 1, 10 innings: At Fukuoka Dome, Shunta Goto got the second big two-strike two-out hit, his fly to right center off closer Yuito Mori (0-1) going for a 10th-inning RBI triple over SoftBank’s drawn-in outfield. He then scored an insurance run on a Sho Gibo single.
Orix drew first blood in a southpaw duel between Tsuyoshi Wada and Daiki Tajima. Wada paid the price in the fourth for his second leadoff walk of the game.
Breyvic Valera battled back from an 0-2 count to walk on eight pitches, Masataka Yoshida doubled for Orix’s first hit of the game, and center fielder Yusuke Masago literally dropped the ball, allowing Valera to score from first, although Yoshida was out trying to go to third on the throw home.
The Hawks, however, tied it in the ninth on a bad night for two-out two-strike pitches for closers. Yoshihisa Hirano (1-1) issued a leadoff walk by Akira Nakamura, and gave up a one-out Taisei Makihara pinch single before a hanging 1-2 forkball with two outs to Seiji Uebayashi tied it 1-1.
Mori, proved two could play at that game. Shuhei Fukuda put a good swing on a decent low-and-away two-seamer for a leadoff single, a sacrifice and a strikeout followed. Unlike Hirano, Mori made his pitch to Goto, but it didn’t matter. Goto lofted a low-and-away splitter off the end of the bat to right center, a ball that would have been the third out had the outfield been playing at normal depth.
Fighters 3, Marines 2: At Sapporo Dome, Nippon Ham won its second game under manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo after Lotte came from behind to tie it in the seventh. Kazunari Ishii singled on a first-pitch run and hit to put runners on the corners.
Shingo Usami then “singled in” the winning run on a bizarre final play when left fielder Akito Takabe completely botched Usami’s pop fly. With the runner on third poised to tag up if Takabe caught the ball, he may have hoped it would drop foul. But it didn’t and he didn’t catch it either.
The Fighters took the lead against Marines lefty Fumiya Motomae on leadoff home runs in the third by Yuki James Nomura, and in the fourth, by Kotaro Kiyomiya.
On Tuesday, Kiyomiya had received a vote of confidence from skipper Shinjo. Sent in to pinch hit with one out and the bases loaded, Kiyomiya got the hit sign after going ahead 3-0 but took two strikes before fouling out. Shinjo said he still believed in him, and the next night put his team’s money where his mouth was by batting Kioymiya cleanup.
The Marines rallied against Fighters southpaw Takayuki Kato in the seventh. Leonys Martin drew a leadoff walk and a Toshiya Sato single. Sato stole second as Brandon Laird struck out. Kato was yanked after notching his second straight strikeout and last year’s closer, Toshihiro Sugiura allowed Martin to score on a wild pitch. With two on after a walk, Adeiny Hechavarria singled in Sato to tie it.
Eagles 7, Lions 2: At Miyagi Stadium, Rakuten’s outfielders took a wrecking ball to Seibu with left fielder Haruki Nishikawa, right fielder Hiroaki Shimauchi and center fielder Ryosuke Tatsumi combining for five hits, a walk, six runs and four RBIs,
Former Lions ace Takayuki Kishi (1-0) allowed two runs, on four hits, including back-to-back fifth-inning homers, two walks and four strikeouts. The Eagles took a first-inning lead for the second straight day, against right-hander Wataru Matsumoto (1-1).
Nishikawa and Tsuyoshi Yamasaki drew back-to-back no-out walks. Former Lion Hideto Asamura singled in one run. Shimauchi battled before striking out on nine pitches but Daichi Suzuki doubled in one run and Yoshiaki Watanabe made it 3-0 with a sac fly.
The game settled down until Shuta Tonosaki and Shunichiro Kishi went deep in the top of the fifth. Nishikawa, however, hit Matsumoto’s first pitch out to make it 4-2. The Eagles jumped on the Lions’ bullpen in the seventh. Tatsumi opened with a single, Nishikawa reached on a one-out infield single. After Nishikawa stole second, Asamura was walked to load the bases for last year’s PL RBI leader, and Shimauchi cleared them with a three-run triple.
Giants: 2, Carp 1: At Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, the Yomiuri Giants came from behind to avoid their first losing streak of the season.
The Carp got on the board when Shogo Sakakura tripled with one out in the second and scored when Tsubasa Aizawa put a good compact swing on a high fastball from C.C. Mercedes.
The Giants lefty dodged a bullet inthe fourth when Aizawa grounded into a double play after Ryan McBroom and Sakakura opened with singles.
The Giants came close in the seventh. Sho Nakata singled with one out but ran out of gas trying to score from first on Yoshihiro Maru’s one-out double and was just barely tagged out. They had to wait another inning to get in front.
With one out, Takumi Oshiro batted for Mercedes and singled off former closer Shota Nakazaki (1-1) first pitch to him. Two pitches later, Yoshikawa pulled it down the line for his first home run.
Giants rookie Taisei Ota then sealed his seventh save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
BayStars 6, Tigers 1, 12 innings: At Koshien Stadium, with DeNA down to its last strike, Shugo Maki singled in Masayuki Kuwahara in the ninth inning, breaking up Masashi Ito’s shutout bid, and Kazuki Mishima retired the Tigers’ tail in order in the ninth send it to extra innings, when Hanshin endured a five-run 12th-inning beat down.
Ito broke the deadlock in the fifth inning of his scoreless pitchers’ duel against fellow southpaw Kenta Ishida. After Yusuke Oyama drew a leadoff walk and Seiichiro Sakamoto singled with one out, the Tigers pitcher got a ball off the end of the bat to plate what was nearly the only run.
In extras, the BayStars wasted a Taishi Ota leadoff triple in the 11th, while the Tigers stranded two in the home half. Maki started the BayStars’ 12th-inning rally with a one-out single and scored after Toshiro Miyazaki walked and Yamato Maeda singled. With two outs after a fielder’s choice loaded the bases, Ota doubled to clear the bases. A Kuwahara single and a Taishi Kusumoto sac fly made it 6-1.
Swallows 2, Dragons 1: At Jingu Stadium, Hirotoshi Takanashi (2-0) allowed a run over six innings to earn the win after lefty Kazuto Taguchi pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh when the bullpen nearly blew up the game.
Yakult opened the scoring in the second when reserve catcher Naoki Matsumoto homered with two outs and rookie shortstop Hideki Nagaoka on base. The Dragons halved the hosts’ lead in the fourth on a Yuki Okabayashi double and a Toshiki Abe single.
Taichi Ishiyama followed Takanashi to the mound, allowed a leadoff single and struck out two, but also issued two walks. Taguchi retired Okabayashi to ened the inning. Noboru Shimizu, who surrendered the winning run in Tuesday’s loss, survived a walk and an error in the eighth before Scot McGough’s 1-2-3 ninth earned him his second save.
Thursday’s starting pitchers
Hawks vs Buffaloes: Fukuoka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Colin Rea (-) vs Sachiya Yamasaki (0-0, 0.00)
Swallows vs Dragons: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Masanori Ishikawa (0-1, 4.05) vs Hiroto Takahashi (0-1, 7.20)
Tigers vs BayStars: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Takumi Akiyama (0-1, 4.76) vs Haruhiro Hamaguchi (1-0, 0.00)
Carp vs Giants: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shogo Tamamura (0-0, 3.60) vs Kenshin Hotta (1-0, 0.00)
Active roster moves 4/6/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 4/16
Central League
Activated
| Carp | OF | 59 | Minoru Omori |
| Dragons | P | 24 | Koji Fukutani |
| BayStars | IF | 55 | Hayato Tanabe |
Dectivated
| Carp | OF | 37 | Takayoshi Noma |
| BayStars | IF | 31 | Tatsuhiro Shibata |
Pacific League
Activated
| Marines | P | 49 | Fumiya Motomae |
| Eagles | OF | 50 | Atsuki Muto |
| Fighters | IF | 48 | Kyohei Ueno |
Dectivated
| Eagles | IF | 42 | Chris Gittens |
| Hawks | P | 29 | Shuta Ishikawa |
