The Central League-leading Yakult Swallows had more COVID-19 infections, and are now without their top two catchers and one backup from the major league club as well as some key relievers and their middle infield.
This forced Yakult to postpone Sunday’s game with the Hanshin Tigers. The Pacific League-leading SoftBank Hawks meanwhile looked to salvage the final game of their home series against the last-place Nippon Ham Fighters, with the Seibu Lions now hot on their heels in second place.
So let’s get started.
Sunday’s games
Fighters 2, Hawks 0: At Fukuoka Dome, Nippon Ham journeyman Takahide Ikeda (1-1) outpitched his offseason workout partner and fellow Soka University graduate Shuta Ishikawa (3-4). Ishikawa struck out nine but had one tough inning when the Fighters scored both their runs.
Kensuke Kondo singled in one run and scored another on a Kotaro Kiymiya double. The Hawks best chance came in the ninth, when they loaded the bases with two outs only for lefty Mizuki Hori to retire veteran Nobuhiro Matsuda to end it.
Sorry but PL TV is currently down for maintenance, so the best I can do is give you the highlight links today:
Lions 6, Eagles 3: At Miyagi Stadium, Hotaka Yamakawa doubled in Tomoya Mori before scoring on Shuta Tonosaki’s fifth home run off Takahisa Hayakawa (5-6) in the first. With the Lions leading 4-2 in the fifth Mori doubled and scored on Yamakawa’s 27th homer.
Eigoro Mogi went 4-for-4 with a pair of solo homers for the Eagles.
Buffaloes 10, Marines 1: At Kobe Green Stadium, Manabu Mima (4-6) and three relievers combined to allow 16 hits and four walks. Fifth-inning doubles by Ryota Ishioka, newly acquired in a trade from Chunichi for outfielder Shunta Goto, and Yuma Mune, and a Masataka Yoshida single made it 4-1 and the Buffaloes never stopped scoring after that. Keita Sano, who doubled twice, singled, sacrificed and homered, scored a run and drove in three.
BayStars 8, Giants 4, 10 innings.: At Tokyo Dome, Yomiuri overcame a three-run deficit before losing in extra innings. DeNA’s Fernando Romero allowed a leadoff homer in the sixth to Gregory Polanco, his 12th, and got the hook after his fifth walk of the game set the table for Takumi Oshiro’s seventh homer, off reliever Kenjiro Tanaka.
Lefty Edwin Escobar got two outs in the eighth before two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Naoki Tanaka, who was robbed of an RBI single by Masayuki Kuwahara. Both teams put two men on in the ninth, before DeNA cashed in with four runs, one earned, against lefty Kyosuke Takagi (0-1).
Dragons 2, Carp 1: At Nagoya Dome, Yuki Yanagita (6-6) allowed a run over six innings, while Yusuke Nomura (1-1) also went six, while allowing two run with one earned. He was spared allowing a second earned run in the first when Shogo Akiyama threw out a runner at the plate on a foul fly to right to end the inning.
Ryan McBroom, who was charged with a second-inning error that contributed to Chunichi’s second run, singled to open Hiroshima’s seventh and scored on a Shota Dobayashi sac fly before Yanagita got out of a two-on, one-out jam to preserve his lead.
Active roster moves 7/10/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 7/20
Central League
Activated
| Carp | P | 19 | Yusuke Nomura |
| BayStars | P | 42 | Fernando Romero |
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 14 | Hirotoshi Takanashi |
| Swallows | P | 17 | Noboru Shimizu |
| Swallows | P | 34 | Kazuto Taguchi |
| Swallows | P | 44 | Hiroki Ohnishi |
| Swallows | C | 27 | Yuhei Nakamura |
| Swallows | C | 32 | Naoki Matsumoto |
| Swallows | C | 33 | Souma Uchiyama |
| Swallows | IF | 00 | Nobuyuki Okumura |
| Swallows | IF | 1 | Tetsuto Yamada |
| Swallows | IF | 39 | Takeshi Miyamoto |
| Swallows | IF | 58 | Hideki Nagaoka |
| Swallows | OF | 4 | Kazuya Maruyama |
| Swallows | OF | 9 | Yasutaka Shiomi |
| Swallows | OF | 23 | Norichika Aoki |
| Swallows | OF | 51 | Taiki Hamada |
| BayStars | IF | 3 | Kazuya Fujita |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | P | 29 | Daiki Tajima |
| Hawks | IF | 52 | Richard Sunagawa |
| Fighters | P | 52 | Takahide Ikeda |
| Lions | P | 23 | Katsuhiko Kumon |
Dectivated
| Hawks | OF | 13 | Masahiro Nakatani |
| Fighters | P | 35 | Takahiro Nishimura |
| Lions | P | 54 | Burch Smith |
Active roster moves 7/10/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 7/20
Central League
Activated
| Carp | P | 19 | Yusuke Nomura |
| BayStars | P | 42 | Fernando Romero |
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 14 | Hirotoshi Takanashi |
| Swallows | P | 17 | Noboru Shimizu |
| Swallows | P | 34 | Kazuto Taguchi |
| Swallows | P | 44 | Hiroki Ohnishi |
| Swallows | C | 27 | Yuhei Nakamura |
| Swallows | C | 32 | Naoki Matsumoto |
| Swallows | C | 33 | Souma Uchiyama |
| Swallows | IF | 00 | Nobuyuki Okumura |
| Swallows | IF | 1 | Tetsuto Yamada |
| Swallows | IF | 39 | Takeshi Miyamoto |
| Swallows | IF | 58 | Hideki Nagaoka |
| Swallows | OF | 4 | Kazuya Maruyama |
| Swallows | OF | 9 | Yasutaka Shiomi |
| Swallows | OF | 23 | Norichika Aoki |
| Swallows | OF | 51 | Taiki Hamada |
| BayStars | IF | 3 | Kazuya Fujita |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | P | 29 | Daiki Tajima |
| Hawks | IF | 52 | Richard Sunagawa |
| Fighters | P | 52 | Takahide Ikeda |
| Lions | P | 23 | Katsuhiko Kumon |
Dectivated
| Hawks | OF | 13 | Masahiro Nakatani |
| Fighters | P | 35 | Takahiro Nishimura |
| Lions | P | 54 | Burch Smith |
