After canceling their Thursday game against the Hanshin Tigers, the DeNA BayStars postponed their weekend series at Yokohama Stadium due to a rash of coronavirus infections.
After nine cancellations in 2021, NPB has now hit six in two weeks. I want to say the pandemic is getting easier, but obviously it isn’t. So please stay safe out there.
Friday night which is typically ace night in NPB, really only saw one pitchers’ duel. Ready for the action? Let’s get started.
Marines 5, Buffaloes 0: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Ayumu Ishikawa (2-0) allowed four hits and a walk over eight innings to outlast Orix’s Taisuke Yamaoka.
Leonys Martin, dropped from his natural habitat closer to the top of the order to the sixth spot, was hit by a pitch, doubled and broke a scoreless seventh-inning tie with a two-run home run, his first of the season, off Yamaoka (1-1).
Lefty reliver Nobuyoshi Yamada took over in the eighth and surrendered four straight singles to Hisanori Yasuda, Hiromi Oka, Brandon Laird and Toshiya Sato that made it 5-0.
The big question about this game was why anyone thought it was a good idea to have the Marines don their black jerseys and white pants while the Buffaloes were in navy and white, because they’re sooo different.
Eagles 3, Fighters 0: At Sapporo Dome, some rookie overexuberance cost the Nippon Ham Fighters in a duel between two of last year’s marquee rookies, Hiromi Ito of the Fighters and Takahisa Hayakawa of the Eagles.
Hayakawa (2-0) worked seven innings. He allowed a walk and two hits, both of which came in Nippon Ham’s ill-fated third inning. Tomohiro Anraku struck out two in a scoreless eighth, while closer Yuki Matsui earned his third save.
Ito (0-2) allowed just one run in the third after the Eagles loaded the bases with one out for 2021 RBI leader Hiroaki Shimauchi. The right-hander struck out Shimauchi, but walked Daichi Suzuki to force in a run.
The Fighters then threw away a run in the home half. A Shingo Usami single and a Kyohei Ueno double, his first major league hit, put two on with one out. Yuki James Nomura drove a pitch well into left center, plenty far for a sac fly, except for Ueno’s eagerness to get to third on the play. Third baseman Yoshiaki Watanabe cut off the ball and tagged out Ueno as he passed for the third out before Usami could coast home.
José Marmolejos singled to open the Eagles’ two-run fourth. Ryosuke Tatsumi walked, and they both came home after a sacrifice and a Haruki Nishikawa single against the team that non-tendered him over the winter.
Hawks 8, Lions 1: At Seibu Dome, SoftBank opened the scoring against Kona Takahashi (0-2) in the third on a Seiji Uebayashi single, a hit batsman and a Taisei Makihara single, but Seibu tied it in the home half. Wu Nien-ting drew a leadoff walk. A sacrifice and a Shohei Suzuki infield single put runners on the corners. Wu scored on a fielder’s choice, but ace Kodai Senga (2-0) pitched out of further trouble.
Akira Nakamura singled to open the Hawks’ fourth and scored on Tatsuru Yamagimachi’s double. Back-to-back singles by Freddy Galvis and Uebayashi made it 3-1. After a passed ball advanced the runners to second and third, Masaki Mimori singled both in.
Nomura and Makihara plunged the final daggers into the Lions in the ninth with an RBI single and a two-run home run, Makihara’s first.
Senga walked three and allowed three hits over seven innings while striking out seven.
Swallows 7, Giants 2: At Tokyo Dome, Juri Hara (1-1) worked 6-1/3 innings, allowing two runs on two walks and six hits as the Swallows gained a measure of payback after being swept at Jingu Stadium in the teams’ first weekday series of the season.
Yakult opened the scoring in the second, cleanup hitter Munetaka Murakami leading off with a single and scoring after a sacrifice and a double from rookie shortstop Hideki Nagaoka. Tetsuto Yamada reached to open the Swallows’ fourth on an uncaught third strike and scored after a hit batsman and a Jose Osuna single.
Yakult knocked Tomoyuki Sugano (2-1) out of the game in the fifth. With leadoff man Kengo Ota on first with a single, Norichika Aoki lined a pitch off the instep of Sugano’s right foot, the ball shot straight up, allowing Aoki to reach on a single, while Sugano had to be helped off the field.
Murakami doubled in one run off Ryuta Heinai, and Takeshi Miyamoto doubled in two more.
The Giants chased Hara in the seventh after he surrendered Kazuma Okamoto‘s leadoff homer, his fourth, Yoshihiro Maru‘s one-out walk and Seiya Matsubara‘s one-out flare single. Taichi Ishiyama surrendered an RBI single to Takumi Oshiro before former Giant Kazuto Taguchi struck out pinch-hitter Adam Walker to end the inning.
Two walks and a two-out RBI double by reserve outfielder Daiki Watanabe completed the scoring in the top of the ninth for the Swallows.
Tigers 3, Carp 3, 12 innings: At Koshien Stadium, Hiroshima closer Ryoji Kuribayashi worked a 1-2-3 12th, striking out veteran Yoshio Itoi to end this game in a tie.
Tigers starter Shintaro Fujinami walked two batters in the first and Shogo Sakakura rolled over over a pitch only for his two-out two-on grounder to just get through the infield and open the scoring. The Tigers also had runners on the corners with two out in the home half, but unlike Sakakura’s miss-hit ball, Yusuke Oyama’s ended up as a routine fly.
Hiroshima’s Takashi Uemoto doubled with one out in the second and scored on Ryoma Nishikawa single. These two repeated the feat in the fourth on a one-out Uemoto walk, a sacrifice by Osera and a Nishikawa triple.
Oyama got a good swing on a hanging curveball in the fourth for his second home run of the year, while the Tigers trimmed the deficit to one in the fifth on singles by pinch-hitter Seiya Kinami and Koji Chikamoto a sacrifice and an Itoi sac fly.
The Tigers tied it in the sixth on a Kento Itohara single, a sacrifice and a Mel Rojas Jr. pinch-hit RBI double that chased Carp ace Daichi Osera.
Friday’s games
Saturday’s starting pitchers
Matt Shoemaker will make his Tokyo Dome debut in a Giants uniform, 7-1/2 years after he pitched at Osaka Dome and Sapporo Dome while competing in the 2014 Japan MLB All-Star series. He went 1-1 against Samurai Japan. The series was a 3-3 tie, because the final game in Naha, won by Japan, was an exhibition and not counted in the overall win total.
Fighters vs Eagles: Sapporo Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Ryusei Kawano (0-1, 6.75) vs Hideaki Wakui (0-1, 1.50)
Lions vs Hawks: Seibu Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Chihiro Sumida (1-1, 1.50) vs Nao Higashihama (1-0, 2.57)
Marines vs Buffaloes: Chiba Marine Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Kazuya Ojima (0-0, 1.50) vs Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2-0, 0.00)
Giants vs Swallows: Tokyo Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Matt Shoemaker (-) vs Yasuhiro Ogawa (0-1, 7.00)
Tigers vs Carp: Koshien Stadium 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Takumi Akiyama (0-1, 4.76) vs Masato Morishita (1-0, 2.40)
Active roster moves 4/8/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 4/18
Central League
Activated
| Swallows | IF | 39 | Takeshi Miyamoto |
| Giants | P | 17 | Shun Yamaguchi |
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 19 | Masanori Ishikawa |
| Giants | P | 49 | Thyago Vieira |
| Giants | P | 91 | Kenshin Hotta |
| Dragons | P | 19 | Hiroto Takahashi |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | P | 45 | Shota Abe |
| Buffaloes | C | 32 | Sho Fukunaga |
| Buffaloes | IF | 5 | Masahiro Nishino |
| Marines | P | 11 | Chihaya Sasaki |
| Marines | IF | 23 | Ryo Miki |
Dectivated
| Buffaloes | P | 54 | Yuta Kuroki |
| Buffaloes | C | 44 | Yuma Tongu |
| Buffaloes | IF | 6 | Yuma Mune |
| Marines | OF | 31 | Tsuyoshi Sugano |
