Jesse Biddle made his Japan starting debut on Sunday against veteran Tsuyoshi Wada, the Nippon Ham Fighters ran into more than their share of base running outs and still came out smelling like manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo’s perfume of the day, while their opponents could have loaded the bases in every inning and still come up empty.
Gregory “El Coffee” Polanco supplied the Giants defense with the necessary buzz, Swallows manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo decided seven straight losses was the right time for some lineup juggling.
Let’s get to the games shall we?
Sunday’s games
Buffaloes 10, Hawks 2: At Fukuoka Dome, Biddle (4-4), making his first pro start since 2015, when he started all 24 of his games, 15 for Double-A Reading, and nine for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, threw five shutout innings, and Wada (3-4) melted down on a series of good swings against progressively worse pitches in a seven-run fourth inning.
Yuma Mune got the end of the bat on a decent low-and-away slider and lined it over short for a one-out single. On a run-and-hit, Kotaro Kurebayashi lined a high straight fastball for an RBI double. Wada floated a slider away but up and Joe McCarthy lined it to center. Tatsuya Yamaashi lined a first-pitch changeup to left for an RBI single. Torai Fushimi smashed a high flat fastball past short to load them up.
Shuhei Fukuda lined the first pitch he saw in the zone, another high straight fastball, to the wall in right for a two-run double. Reliever Arata Shiino surrendered a two-run double to Keita Nakagawa and walked Masataka Yoshida, and and RBI single to Mune.
Lions 6, Eagles 4: At Miyagi Stadium, Hiroto Kobukata scored the tie-breaking run in the eighth. He singled, went to second on an errant pickoff throw from reliever Yoshinobu Mizukami (4-3), was sacrificed to third and scored on a sac fly by former Lion Hideto Asamura.
The Lions opened the scoring when Rakuten starter Shoma Fujihira tried to grab a one-out third-inning bouncer past the mound with the bases loaded. Fujihira deflected the ball headed for a potential inning-ending 4-6-3 double play into right field for a two-run Sosuke Genda single.
Hotaka Yamakawa made it 3-0 in the fourth with his 35th home run before the Eagles got to Dietrich Enns in the seventh. Hiroaki Shimauchi led off with his 11th home run, and Ryosuke Tatsumi tied it with his eighth.
Nippon Ham’s frenetic base running produced a first-inning run, despite having their lead runner thrown out on the bases. A two-out delayed double steal gave them a lead only for Takashi Ogino to tie it with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning.
Fighters 8, Marines 3: At Chiba Marine Stadium, the Nippon Ham Fighters defied logic, and putting their first two run-scoring innings together after having runners thrown out on base, while Takayuki Kato (5-4) stranded seven base runners as he allowed two runs, one earned, on eight hits over six.
Manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo’s favorite play, a bases-loaded run and hit resulted in the runner on third being tagged out when Yuma Imagawa swung and missed for Strike 2 before doubling in the remaining runners and scoring on a Chusei Mannami double off Kazuya Ojima (2-8).
The Marines scratched out a run in the bottom of the inning but wasted chance after chance until the Fighters pulled away late.
Dragons 5, Tigers 4: At Osaka Dome, Chunichi broke a 4-4 tie in the ninth on a failed two-strike safety squeeze against closer Suguru Iwazaki (1-5). With runners on first and third, slugging catcher Takuya Kinoshita bunted at and missed a pitch over his head and struck out, but the runners advanced and were credited with stolen bases.
Yuki Okabayashi and Toshiki Abe singled in third-inning runs off Joe Gunkel. Shunta Goto, recently acquired from Orix, doubled in two in the fifth, with both Okabayashi and rookie Ryuku Tsuchida scoring their second run of the game.
The Tigers got to starter Yuki Hashimoto for four in the fifth inning, capped by Mel Rojas Jr’s three-run homer, his seventh. But once Hashimoto was out of the game, the Tigers only got one more batter on base. Yariel Rodriguez (5-2) got the win, and Raidel Martinez his 26th save.
Swallows 4, BayStars 1: At Jingu Stadium, manager Shingo Takatsu dropped Tetsuto Yamada into the leadoff spot and he responded with a game-tying first-inning leadoff home run. Yakult starter Reiji Kozawa allowed a leadoff single to Masayuki Kuwahara but forced in a run with a one-out walk and two hit batsmen.
Having obtained a note from the commissioner’s office, Takatsu was allowed to bat slugging import Domingo Santana second. He drew a fourth-inning leadoff walk from Yuya Sakamoto (0-4) and scored when regular leadoff man Yasutaka Shiomi hit a long opposite-field homer, his 13th. Munetaka Murakami drew a walk and scored to complete the scoring.
Kozawa got the hook with two on and one out in the fifth and the heart of the order coming up. Rookie Naofumi Kizawa (6-2) got out of the inning to earn the win after just two runners reached over the final four innings. Scott McGough worked the ninth for his 28th save.
Giants 4, Carp 1: At Tokyo Dome, Sho Nakata hit a two-run home run, his 15th, Giants left fielder Gregory Polanco saved two runs by robbing Shogo of a two-run fifth-inning double off Matt Shoemaker, but rookie Haruto Inoue surrendered the tying run on a two Ryosuke Kikuchi double.
Giants second baseman Naoki Yoshikawa singled twice, doubled and also played some superb defense, singled to open the Giants’ eighth off Nik Turley (1-2), and Yoshihiro Maru, who scored on Nakata’s home run, doubled in the go-ahead run.
Ian Krol (1-2) worked a scoreless eighth against the meat of the Carp order to earn his first win in Japan and rookie Taisei Ota got his 28th save.
Active roster moves 8/14/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 8/24
Central League
Activated
| Tigers | OF | 32 | Kouta Inoue |
| Giants | P | 97 | Haruto Inoue |
| Giants | C | 94 | Ryusuke Kita |
| Carp | P | 12 | Haruki Omichi |
| Dragons | P | 13 | Yuki Hashimoto |
| BayStars | C | 36 | Shuto Takajo |
| BayStars | OF | 52 | Seiya Hosokawa |
Dectivated
| Tigers | OF | 97 | Dan Onodera |
| Giants | P | 54 | Daisuke Naoe |
| Giants | C | 27 | Yukinori Kishida |
| BayStars | IF | 60 | Naoto Chino |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | P | 69 | Jesse Biddle |
| Eagles | P | 46 | Shoma Fujihira |
| Eagles | IF | 34 | Tsuyoshi Yamasaki |
| Fighters | P | 14 | Takayuki Kato |
Dectivated
| Eagles | IF | 66 | Itsuki Murabayashi |
