Gregory “El Coffee” Polanco had a night Carter Stewart Jr. would not like to repeat on Tuesday in Japanese pro baseball, while Jacob Waguespack gave Orix a reason to keep letting him start games, and Shota Imanaga continued to get hammered early.
Marines 5, Hawks 3: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Gregory Polanco’s 16 home run, a two-run shot in the first on a hanging curve, put Lotte on top against Carter Stewart Jr. (2-4), before the Hawks tied it on Ryoya Kurihara’s two-run homer in the second off C.C. Mercedes (4-6). Shogo Nakamura’s 10th homer, in the third, made it 3-2, and though Stewart worked around a pair of two-out walks, a leadoff walk in the fifth and Nakamura’s third hit set up a Polanco RBI double and a Mike Brosseau sac fly that sealed the win.
Buffaloes 5, Lions 1: At Seibu Half Dome, Jacob Waguespack (4-6) after a year in the bullpen earned his first win as a starter since then with six scoreless innings. He struck out nine, walked two and allowed one hit. The Buffaloes loaded the bases against Dietrich Enns (1-9) in the third on a walk, a single, and a one-out hit batsman and Taishi Hirooka cleared them with a triple.
Fighters 6, Eagles 2: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, Nippon Ham roasted Takahisa Hayakawa (6-7) in the first on three triples and a two-run Yuya Gunji home run, the first of two he would hit. Fighters lefty Takayuki Kato (7-8) allowed two runs over six innings while stranding seven runners.
Tigers 4, Dragons 3, 10 innings: At Kyocera UFO Dome, Yusuke Oyama went 3-for-4 with a double, two walks, a run and a game-winning RBI single as Hanshin won a see-saw game against Chunichi.
Former Orix Buffalo Shunta Goto brought the Dragons from behind sixth-inning pinch-hit RBI single, but Hanshin tied it in the seventh after a Johan Mieses leadoff walk with rookie Shota Morishita’s two-out double plating the run. The Tigers rallied in the 10to win it when Koji Chikamoto reached on a two-out single, Takumu Nakano and Morishita walked to bring Oyama to the plate.
Carp 5, Deniers 0: At Yokohama Stadium, Allen Kuri (7-5) faced a couple of tight spots but walked none and struck out eight in a seven-hit shutout a week ahead of his 32nd birthday. Shota Dobayashi homered twice, capping a four-run first with a two-run homer off Shota Imanaga (7-3) whose early-inning funk continued unabated. It was the second four-run first inning Imanaga has surrendered in his last three starts.
Giants 8, Swallows 4: At Tokyo Ugly Dome, Yakult appeared to be cruising after coming from behind to take a 4-1 lead with a four-run sixth, but starter Reiji Kozawa surrendered two in the home half, and setup man Noboru Shimizu (1-6) had one of those days one talks to a shrink about.
With one out, Shimizu surrendered the tying run on a Yoshihiro Maru homer then the go-ahead run on a Lewis Brinson homer, left with two runners on, both of whom scored on Naoki Yoshikawa’s three-run triple.
Munetaka Murakami went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run in his return from COVID, but made a couple of good plays at third base.
