Six-time Pacific League home run champ Takeya Nakamura reached a couple of milestones, Yudai Ono threw a four-hit shutout, Ryoma Nishikawa is banging like nobody’s business, a former Fighter had the last word against his old team, Masataka Yoshida is definitely back in the swing, as was Neftali Soto as the BayStars continued to pitch and play well, while Masataka Murakami hit another home run in another Swallows loss.
Here are the details:
Friday’s games
Lions 5, Eagles 1: At Miyagi Stadium, Nakamura broke the ice leading off the second against former teammate Takayuki Kishi (7-6) with his eighth home run, becoming the 14th player in Japanese pro baseball to hit 450 home runs. He also scored his 1,000th run.
Tatsuya Imai (3-1) struck out nine in 6-2/3 scoreless innings for the Lions, and Hotaka Yamakawa made it 3-0 in the sixth with his 34th. In the seventh inning, with the infield in and runners on second and third, Shuta Tonosaki’s roller tipped off Kishi’s glove and into right field for a two-run single.
Buffaloes 6, Hawks 3: At Fukuoka Dome, Masataka Yoshida homered twice, opening the scoring with a two-run first-inning homer and tied it 3-3 in the fifth with his 14th of the season. Kotaro Kurebayashi capped the three-run inning with a two-run blast. Yoshihisa Hirano recorded his 26th save.
Marines 3, Fighters 2: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Lotte closer Naoya Masuda (1-2) allowed a run for the second straight game, this time on two walks, two hits and a wild pitch, but earned the win when Akito Takabe singled with one out off Bryan Rodriguez (1-2), stole second, took third on a throwing error and scored on a single by former Fighter Hiromi Oka.
Kenta Chatani’s two-run second-inning home run opened the scoring off Cody Ponce. Chusei Mannami’s 12th homer halved the visitors’ deficit in the fifth off Ayumu Ishikawa.
Carp 6, Giants 5: At Tokyo Dome, Ryoma Nishikawa continued to tear it up, doubling in two runs in the first off Kenshin Hotta and doubling in an eighth inning run to tie it 5-5 with his third hit of the game and then scoring the go-ahead run on a Kaito Kozono sacrifice fly.
Yoshihiro Maru tied it 2-2 in the first off Daichi Osera () and singled in the go-ahead run in the third before Sho Nakata homered to make it 5-2. Shogo Akiyama’s sac fly and a Ryan McBroom double made it a one-run game. McBroom singled to open the eighth and Nishikawa tied it.
Ryoji Kuribayashi recorded his 23rd save.
BayStars 4, Swallows 3: At Jingu Stadium, Shinichi Onuki (9-4) allowed solo homers to Munetaka Murakami, his 41st, and Jose Osuna, his 13th, over six innings but was able to pitch out of a pair of jams against Domingo Santana.
The BayStars tied it in the third against Yasuhiro Ogawa (5-7) on a Tatsuhiro Shibata single and Masayuki Kuwahara double. Fourth-inning doubles by Neftali Soto, off a fat pitch, and Hiroki Minei on a flare over first base, made it 2-1. After Osuna tied it in the fifth, Toshiro Miyazaki singled to open the sixth and Soto followed with his 10th homer.
The Swallows cost themselves the game in the eighth, when a missed bunt with two on and no out led to the lead runner being put out on the bases. A run could have scored on Yasutaka Shiomi’s single off Edwin Escobar but cautious base running prevented that on a play in which the BayStars threw the ball around.
A hit batsman (Murakami reaching for the fourth time) loaded the bases for Taisei Irie, who struck out Santana, walked Osuna, but popped up Tetsuto Yamada, who came on as a pinch-hitter, effectively ending the game with Yasuaki Yamasaki doing the final honors in the ninth for his 25th save.
The BayStars’ eighth win in nine games left them six back of the Swallows, who lost seven straight for the first time this season.
Dragons 4, Tigers 0: At Osaka Dome, Yudai Ono (5-7) scattered four singles, two walks and a hit batsman in a 103-pitch shutout.
Three two-out singles by Toshiki Abe, Dayan Viciedo and Ryosuke Hirata, and an error gave Chunichi a 2-0 first-inning lead against Yuki Nishi (8-7). Hirata singled with two outs in the eighth and scored on Takuya Kinoshita’s sixth homer off Nishi.
Saturday’s starting pitchers
A typhoon is headed Tokyo’s way, so games up here will likely be affected.
Eagles vs Lions: Miyagi Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Masahiro Tanaka (6-8, 2.81) vs Kaito Yoza (8-3, 1.97)
Marines vs Fighters: Chiba Marine Stadium 5 pm, 4 am EDT
Kazuya Ojima (2-7, 2.59) vs Takayuki Kato (4-4, 1.79)
Hawks vs Buffaloes: Fukuoka Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Shota Takeda (1-0, 1.42) vs Sachiya Yamasaki (3-6, 3.04)
Giants vs Carp: Tokyo Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Daisuke Naoe (0-1, 3.72) vs Atsushi Endo (3-5, 3.13)
Swallows vs BayStars: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Reiji Kozawa (2-1, 4.56) vs Yuya Sakamoto (0-3, 5.18)
Tigers vs Dragons: Osaka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shintaro Fujinami (0-1, 3.95) vs Shinnosuke Ogasawara (5-6, 2.99)
Active roster moves 8/12/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 8/22
Central League
Activated
| Carp | P | 98 | Robert Corniel |
| Dragons | OF | 30 | Hironori Miyoshi |
| BayStars | P | 64 | Koh Nakagawa |
| BayStars | IF | 5 | Toshihiko Kuramoto |
Dectivated
| Carp | P | 21 | Shota Nakazaki |
| Dragons | OF | 8 | Yohei Oshima |
| BayStars | P | 35 | Tomoya Mikami |
| BayStars | OF | 23 | Tyler Austin |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | P | 45 | Shota Abe |
| Marines | C | 99 | Tomoya Kakinuma |
| Eagles | P | 30 | Shinri Komine |
| Eagles | P | 71 | Kazuki Yoshikawa |
| Eagles | IF | 33 | Ginji Akaminai |
| Hawks | P | 40 | Kazuki Sugiyama |
| Hawks | IF | 52 | Richard Sunagawa |
| Lions | P | 27 | Tetsuya Utsumi |
Dectivated
| Buffaloes | P | 26 | Atsushi Nomi |
| Marines | P | 16 | Atsuki Taneichi |
| Marines | C | 66 | Takuma Kato |
| Eagles | P | 23 | Hayato Yuge |
| Eagles | P | 52 | Taisei Tsurusaki |
| Eagles | OF | 6 | Haruki Nishikawa |
| Hawks | P | 49 | Ryo Akiyoshi |
| Hawks | IF | 12 | Kenta Kurose |
| Lions | P | 26 | Takeru Sasaki |
