Tomoyuki Sugano won a former ace veteran throw down on Saturday, Lotte’s Atsuki Taneichi looked like the strikeout machine he was the last couple of years, and the Carp didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth when offered a chance to bat against Akira Neo.
Saturday’s games:
Hawks 3, Fighters 2: At Fukuoka “Your company’s name can go here” Dome, Nippon Ham’s Hiromi Ito and SoftBank’s Tomohisa Ozeki battled in an enthralling pitchers’ duel, that was decided by the bullpens, when Fighters’ closer Seigi Tanaka blew a one-run lead in the ninth as SoftBank won on a walk-off.
Ryoya Kurihara, who opened the scoring with fourth-inning home run off Ito, singled to open the ninth, Hotaka Yamakawa doubled. Kensuke Kondo, who has terrorized his former team this year was walked intentionally, but it didn’t matter. Tomoya Masaki tied it with a sacrifice fly and Tatsuru Yanagimachi ended it with a single.
Through six innings, SoftBank managed just a two-out third-inning Ukyo Shuto double and Kurihara’s solo homer. On the other side, the Fighters could only manage a walk and a hit batsman through six innings against Ozeki.
Franmil Reyes got the Fighters’ first hit with one out in the seventh, and Yuki James Nomura put Nippon Ham ahead with a two-run pinch-hit homer.
“That was the one big mistake pitch I threw, and he took me for a home run,” Otake said. “That is really frustrating.”
Ito went eight innings. Rookie Ryotaro Sawayanagi (2-1) issued a walk but was helped out when catcher Takuya Kai nailed the runner trying to steal second.
Marines 3, Buffaloes 0: At Osaka UFO Dome, Atsuki Taneichi (6-5) struck out eight over seven innings and left with the 1-0 lead he protected since he took the mound in the first. Hiromi Oka hit the second pitch of the game from Ryuhei Sotani (5-7) for his seventh home run. Lotte got some insurance in the ninth, when Shogo Nakamura singled with one out, Kyota Fujiwara drew a two-out walk, and was hit by a pitch, and pinch-hitter Ryusei Ogawa doubled in two runs.
Shota Suzuki worked around a leadoff single in the ninth for his fourth save.
“His (Taneichi’s) best pitch is his fastball,” Marines manager Masato Yoshii said. “What he did well was attack batters with his heater.”
Giants 4 Swallows 1: At Tokyo Ugly Dome, Tomoyuki Sugano (10-2) won a battle of former-ace elder statesmen, allowing a run over seven innings, while 44-year-old lefty Masanori Ishikawa (1-3) held the Giants to two runs over five innings.
“Ishikawa is being an inspiration to all of us veteran pitchers,” Sugano said. “I too want to show people I can still get it done.”
Ishikawa who entered the game having walked 618 batters in over 3,100 innings, walked two in the first with two outs and both scored on a Takumi Oshiro double. Yakult got a run back in the fifth on a Tetsuto Yamada double, a stolen base and an Akihisa Nishida single, but Yomiuri tacked on a pair of big insurance runs in the eighth before Taisei Ota locked it down in the ninth with his 17th save.
“We were unable to solve Sugano,” Swallows manager Shingo Takatsu said. “He’s not going to just issue walks or let you get two hits in a row. It was a tough one.”
Eagles 10, Lions 5: At the domed stadium formerly known as “Prince,” rookie Seibu southpaw Shinya Sugai was gifted a 3-0 first-inning lead, but this being Japan, he “re-gifted” it, and Rakuten pulled ahead against 2022 PL rookie of the year Yoshinobu Mizukami (1-1) with two runs in the fourth before things started to get ugly in a five-run seventh off Jefry Yan and Keisuke Honda.
Maikel Franco went 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI for Rakuten, while Fumiya Kurokawa doubled in the tie-breaking run in the fourth, and had a three-run double off Honda in the seventh.
New Lion Anthony Garcia doubled for the third straight game, while another new Lion, Daiju Nomura doubled and homered for the second time in three games.
Carp 6, Dragons 4: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Akira Neo (0-1), Chunichi’s former first-round shortstop signing, former two-way player and current minor league pitcher, returned to the big league roster for the first time since two games in May. He started and allowed six runs, five earned, in three innings.
Shogo Akiyama drew a first-inning leadoff walk, three straight singles made it 2-0 Hiroshima, Shogo Sakakura doubled in one, and Masaya Yano capped the rally with a two-run double.
Alex Dickerson singled and scored in the Dragons second on a Neo double, his first extra-base hit in two years. Akiyama then homered to lead off Hiroshima’s second before Neo began getting regular outs. Dickerson also doubled, walked and scored two more runs.
Allen Kuri (5-6) allowed three runs on nine hits over six innings, and Ryoji Kuribayashi had the kind of ninth inning manager Takahiro Arai loves to see but rarely gets to watch, a 1-2-3 inning with three punch-outs for his 31st save as Hiroshima won its sixth straight.
Tigers 4, BayStars 0: At Yokohama Stadium, Hanshin’s Yuki Nishi (5-3) ran up his pitch count and only went five, but Shota Morishita doubled in a first-inning run off Anthony Kay (5-6), Teruaki Sato homered for the second straight day, with his eighth of the season, a three-run shot in the fifth, and four relievers allowed just one hit while striking out four over the final four innings.
