Hideaki Wakui and Carter Stewart Jr. both had big games on a day when two teams that have struggled to score of late piled on the runs, while Matt Davidson and Shota Suekane powered the Carp, and Keita Sano and Shugo Maki did the same for DeNA, while Wataru Matsumoto pitched his heart out with nothing to show for it.
Off the field, the season’s biggest star was deactivated .
Hawks 7, Buffaloes 0: At Nagasaki, Orix struggled to make good contact off SoftBank’s Carter Stewart Jr. (3-4), who allowed three walks and six hits while striking out just five over seven innings, while the Hawks had no trouble putting balls in play and finding holes against Jacob Waguespack (4-7), who allowed all seven runs over three innings.
SoftBank’s Isami Nomura tagged up on a pop up to shallow right field caught by the second baseman, and slid home to score the game’s first run ahead of the tag.
Deniers 3, Tigers 2: At Koshien Stadium, after a stretch of starts in which he gave DeNA no chance to win – allowing 14 runs in his previous 15 innings, Shota Imanaga’s teammates gave him no chance to win by failing to score until the ninth inning, when back-to-back homers by Keita Sano, with a man on, and Shugo Maki against Suguru Iwazaki (3-2) brought the visitors back after Hanshin scored twice in the eighth. Hanshins Yuki Nishi threw seven scoreless.
Marines 6, Fighters 0: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Lotte, rid of the burden of playing Orix, against whom they scored one run over the weekend, got eight innings from Kazuya Ojima (7-4), who faced danger in the first but not again until after the Marines scored four runs off James Marvel (2-2) in 1-2/3 innings with Yudai Fujioka’s three-run second-inning double doing the bulk of the damage. Koki Yamaguchi hit a two-run homer in the eighth and Taiki Tojo completed the five-hit shutout.
Carp 5, Giants 4: At Osaka UFO Dome, Matt Davidson hit his fourth home run in four games and his 18th in Japan, to make it 2-0 in the sixth before Yomiuri got to Allen Kuri for three runs in the sixth. Hisayoshi Chono, who returned from Hiroshima this year five years after the Carp plucked him from the Giants’ roster as free agent compensation, homered with one out, Hayato Sakamoto tied it with an RBI double, and Sho Nakata’s sac fly put the “hosts” in front.
Makoto Kadowaki’s third hit of the game made it 4-2 in the seventh, only for Shota Suekane to come off the bench and hit his second three-run homer in two games.
Eagles 2, Lions 1: At Miyagi Stadium, Seibu and Rakuten totaled just seven hits between them with both of the Eagles’ hits off Wataru Matsumoto (4-8) reaching the scoreboard. Takero Okajima had the hosts’ first hit, a one-out fifth-inning double, and he scored on Maikel Franco’s 12th home run. Takahiro Norimoto (4-8) allowed a run over 6-1/3 innings to get the win, while Yuki Matsui got his 29th save.
Dragons 3, Swallows 0: At Nagoya Dome, Hideaki Wakui (4-11) threw seven scoreless innings for the first time since March 26, 2021. The last time he was not charged with a run, on May 18, 2021, he only lasted 3-1/3 innings. Cy Sneed (6-7) surrendered Seiya Hosokawa’s two-run first-inning homer, his 18th. Yuki Okabayashi singled in the first and doubled in the eighth and scored two of the Dragons’ runs.
Giants deactivate Okamoto
Kazuma Okamoto, who leads both leagues with 34 home runs and 83 RBIs, and is second in the CL with 68 runs and third with a .392 on-base percentage, was put on the COVID deactivation list by the Yomiuri Giants along with outfielder Takayuki Kajitani on Tuesday.
