It was a streak-ending Thursday in Japan, while Shosei Togo had a huge game for the Central League’s struggling Yomiuri Giants, and there were a pair of big comebacks in the Pacific League.
OK. It wasn’t the most exciting day in baseball this week, but it is Roki Eve, and perhaps he’ll be more impressive than his 5.48 ERA this season against Rakuten. Friday will also start another showdown series between Yakult and DeNA, so that should be fun.
Thursday’s games
Tigers 5, BayStars 0: At Osaka Dome, Junya Nishi (5-2), a former DH for Japan’s under-18 national team, spun six innings and went 2-for-3 as Hanshin snapped an eight-game losing streak, and ended DeNA’s eight-game win streak.
Mel Rojas Jr. drew a bases-loaded walk on a checked swing in the first off Fernando Romero (4-7) after the Tigers set the table with a pair of scratch infield singles. Hanshin made it 4-0 in the third when Yusuke Oyama doubled in one, Kento Itohara singled in another and an error by third baseman Toshiro Miyazaki.
Giants 2, Dragons 1: At Tokyo Dome, Shosei Togo (11-6) struck out 11 over eight innings, including the first six batters he faced. He then pitched out of a no-out bases loaded jam with the game scoreless in the third, and drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth.
Hayato Sakamoto doubled and opened the scoring on a Sho Nakata sac fly off Hiroto Takahashi (4-5), who tied it in the fifth with a squeeze after rookie Ryuku Tsuchida doubled to open the inning. Gregory Polanco doubled to open the Giants’ sixth and Togo singled in pinch-runner Shinnosuke Shigenobu. Taisei Ota worked the ninth for his 29th save.
Carp 3, Swallows 2, 10 innings: At Jingu Stadium, Masaya Yano singled with two outs in the ninth against Yugo Umeno (3-3) and scored the tie-breaking run from first on Ryuhei Matsumoto’s pinch-hit double.
Ryutaro Hatsuki doubled in the first and scored on a Ryoma Nishikawa single off Keiji Takahashi who allowed two runs on three hits and two walks over six innings while striking out eight. Hiroshima made it 2-0 after a pair of two-out fourth-inning walks and a good swing by Tsubasa Aizawa, but then made 16 straight outs before Hisayoshi Chono led off the 10th with a single.
Swallows catcher Yuhei Nakamura doubled in the fifth and scored on a Takahashi single off Yusuke Nomura. The Carp starter allowed eight base runners but got three inning-ending double plays. Nakamura walked in the seventh and scored the tying run on a Norichika Aoki pinch-hit double off Robert Corniel.
The Swallows loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but Ryuya Matsumoto retired Nakamura for the first time to end the inning and loaded them after two were out in the 10th before Ryoji Kuribayashi sealed his 24th save.
Marines 6, Lions 5: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Seiya Inoue capped a two-run eighth-inning rally off July’s PL pitcher of the month, Yoshinobu Mizukami, and Akito Takabe tripled with one out in the ninth off Seibu closer Tatsushi Masuda (2-3) and scored on Ryo Miki’s sayonara infield single.
Seibu scored three runs off Lotte’s Shota Suzuki. Shuta Tonosaki opened the game with his 10th homer, and his second in two nights. In the second, Gakuto Wakabayashi singled in Takumi Kuriyama, who doubled in Hotaka Yamakawa in the fourth. Sosuke Genda homered to open the fifth off Atsuya Hirohata.
Wataru Matsumoto gave up Ryusei Ogawa’s first career homer to open the sixth, a two-out Shogo Nakamura double and a Koki Yamaguchi RBI single. Toshiya Sato homered with two outs in the seventh.
Kuriyama homered off Lotte’s Tayron Guerrero to make it 5-3 in the eighth, but the Marines answered with three no-out singles to make it a one-run game and set up Inoue’s sac fly. Human trash got the win.
Hawks 4, Eagles 3, 11 innings: At Miyagi Stadium, the Eagles overturned a four-run first-inning lead by sending 12 batters to the plate their seven-run first inning off Yugo Bando who allowed just three more batters to reach before leaving after six.
Starting pitchers
Fighters vs Hawks: Sapporo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Hiromi Ito (9-8, 2.98) vs Nao Higashihama (7-6, 3.18)
Marines vs Eagles: Chiba Marine Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Roki Sasaki (7-3, 2.29) vs Takayuki Kishi (7-7, 3.46)
Buffaloes vs Lions: Osaka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (11-5, 1.71) vs Tatsuya Imai (3-1, 2.95)
BayStars vs Swallows: Yokohama Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shinichi Onuki (10-4, 2.57) vs Cy Sneed (6-5, 4.23)
Dragons vs Tigers: Nagoya Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yudai Ono (5-7, 2.55) vs Yuki Nishi (9-7, 2.04)
Carp vs Giants: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shogo Tamamura (1-2, 4.50) vs Iori Yamasaki (4-4, 3.11)
Active roster moves 8/25/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 9/4
Central League
Activated
| BayStars | P | 42 | Fernando Romero |
Dectivated
| BayStars | P | 95 | Tatsuya Ishikawa |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | OF | 99 | Yutaro Sugimoto |
| Marines | P | 35 | Shota Suzuki |
| Eagles | P | 41 | Yoshinao Kamata |
| Lions | P | 42 | Bo Takahashi |
Dectivated
| Buffaloes | P | 21 | Daichi Takeyasu |
| Marines | OF | 7 | Shuhei Fukuda |
| Fighters | P | 20 | Kenta Uehara |
| Fighters | P | 63 | Ryuji Kitaura |
| Fighters | C | 60 | Takuya Kori |
| Lions | P | 34 | Yasuo Sano |
