The Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions began a three-game series at home against the second-place SoftBank Hawks, while the Hanshin Tigers, who tumbled out of second place in the Central League with six straight losses, sent their best pitcher, Koyo Aoyagi against the league-leading Yakult Swallows, who had managed just six hits off him in his two games against them this year, both shutouts.
Let’s get to the games shall we?
Tuesday’s games
Lions 2, Hawks 0: At Seibu Dome, Kona Takahashi (7-7) worked six innings, and a pair of good swings put the Lions ahead in the fourth inning against Shuta Ishikawa (4-7). Sosuke Genda singled to lead off the inning and Tomoya Mori met a flat 1-1 fastball that ran right onto his barrel and drove it well back in right field for his fifth home run.
Ishikawa gave up five hits, two walks and hit a batter while striking out six over 7-2/3 innings. Yoshinobu Mizukami, Burch Smith and Tatsushi Masuda closed it out for the Lions. Masuda’s 23rd save moving Seibu 2-1/2 games in front of second-place SoftBank.
Marines 4, Buffaloes 0, 7 innings, rain: At Kobe Green Stadium, Manabu Mima (6-6) allowed five hits over 6-1/3 innings in a rain-shortened complete game. Orix’s Taisuke Yamaoka was in control until allowing two singles and a walk to open the sixth. With two on and one out, Hisanori Yasuda hit the first pitch for his ninth home run.
The game was called with two on and one out in the bottom of the seventh.
Eagles 2, Fighters 1: At Sapporo Dome, PL batting leader Go Matsumoto returned to the Fighters lineup for the first time since July 19 but went 0-for-3. Takahiro Norimoto (7-7) allowed a first-inning solo homer to Kensuke Kondo in his seven innings.
Fighters rookie Haruka Nemoto (2-3) surrendered Hiroaki Shimauchi’s fourth-inning leadoff double, hit a batter, and with two outs, Rakuten catcher Hikaru Ito hit a two-run double. Naoto Nishiguchi and Yuki Matsui finished up with Matsui earning his 23rd save.
Carp 5, Dragons 0: At Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Masato Morishita (10-6) scattered nine hits, a walk and a hit batsman to threw his second straight shutout. Shota Dobayashi led off the first and fifth with home runs off Yuya Yanagi (7-9), and Carp rookie Masaya Yano capped a three-run second with a two-run home run, his third career hit and his first home run.
Swallows 5, Tigers 3: At Jingu Stadium, Yakult scored twice in the second inning on a Munetaka Murakami walk, a throwing error by Koyo Aoyagi (12-2) on a sacrifice, a fielder’s choice on another sacrifice, an RBI ground out and a Hideki Nagaoka RBI single. Mel Rojas Jr. kept the game from getting completely out of hand by making a run-saving catch in lefty field to end the inning.
Hirotoshi Takanashi (6-6) struck out nine as he allowed a run, on Kento Itohara’s third home run in the sixth inning.
The Swallows came back for two more in the third, on a Hiyu Motoyama double, a Murakami flare RBI single and a Yuhei Nakamura sac fly. Norichika Aoki homered to leadoff the seventh, which came in handy when things unraveled in the ninth.
With two outs, lefty Kazuto Taguchi surrendered a run on three straight singles. Scott McGough uncorked a run-scoring wild pitch and allowed a single before ending the game for his 29th save.
BayStars 3, Giants 1: At Yokohama Stadium, Shota Imanaga (7-3) allowed a run on eight hits and no walks while striking out six over seven innings, and Neftali Soto broke a 1-1 tie with fifth-inning leadoff homer against Tomoyuki Sugano (6-6), who was pitching for the first time since July 18.
Tatsuhiro Shibata followed Soto’s homer with a single and scored on a Masayuki Kuwahara two-out double. Kuwahara opened the BayStars’ first with a double and scored, but Kazuma Okamoto tied it in the second with his 23rd home run.
Hiromu Irie worked the eighth for the BayStars and Yasuaki Yamasaki recorded his 26th save.
Wednesday’s starting pitchers
Fighters vs Eagles: Sapporo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Kenta Uehara (3-3, 2.72) vs Wataru Karashima (3-2, 2.73)
Lions vs Hawks: Seibu Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Katsunori Hirai (6-5, 2.29) vs Colin Rea (4-3, 3.57)
Buffaloes vs Marines: Kobe Green Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Daiki Tajima (8-3, 2.43) vs Roki Sasaki (6-3, 1.96)
Swallows vs Tigers: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Keiji Takahashi (7-2, 2.58) vs Masashi Ito (8-3, 1.69)
BayStars vs Giants: Yokohama Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Haruhiro Hamaguchi (5-4, 2.41) vs C.C. Mercedes (5-5, 3.15)
Carp vs Dragons: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Allen Kuri (5-7, 3.25) vs Hiroto Takahashi (4-4, 2.53)
Active roster moves 8/16/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 8/26
Central League
Activated
| Swallows | P | 14 | Hirotoshi Takanashi |
| Giants | P | 18 | Tomoyuki Sugano |
| Giants | IF | 6 | Hayato Sakamoto |
| Giants | OF | 9 | Seiya Matsubara |
| Carp | P | 43 | Sotaro Shimauchi |
| Carp | IF | 35 | Takumi Miyoshi |
| Carp | IF | 54 | Yuya Nirasawa |
| Carp | IF | 61 | Masaya Yano |
| Carp | IF | 69 | Ryutaro Hatsuki |
| Carp | OF | 5 | Hisayoshi Chono |
| Carp | OF | 50 | Kento Nakamura |
| Dragons | P | 54 | Kento Fujishima |
| Dragons | IF | 0 | Wataru Takamatsu |
| Dragons | IF | 63 | Naomichi Donoue |
| BayStars | OF | 23 | Tyler Austin |
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 63 | A.J. Cole |
| Carp | P | 23 | Kazuki Yabuta |
| Carp | P | 30 | Ryuji Ichioka |
| Carp | P | 41 | Takuya Yasaki |
| Carp | IF | 0 | Takashi Uemoto |
| Carp | IF | 33 | Ryosuke Kikuchi |
| Carp | IF | 51 | Kaito Kozono |
| Carp | OF | 37 | Takayoshi Noma |
| Dragons | P | 50 | Tatsuya Shimizu |
| Dragons | IF | 1 | Yota Kyoda |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | P | 19 | Taisuke Yamaoka |
| Buffaloes | C | 2 | Kenya Wakatsuki |
| Buffaloes | IF | 3 | Ryoichi Adachi |
| Marines | P | 15 | Manabu Mima |
| Eagles | P | 60 | Ryota Ishibashi |
| Hawks | IF | 68 | Masaki Mimori |
| Fighters | OF | 12 | Go Matsumoto |
| Lions | P | 16 | Chihiro Sumida |
Dectivated
| Buffaloes | C | 33 | Masato Matsui |
| Buffaloes | IF | 53 | Sho Gibo |
