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Baseball resumed in Japan on Tuesday, although not for the Yakult Swallows who were forced to swap out most of their first team after a rash of COVID infections only to have their game in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, against the Chunichi Dragons rained out.
The Swallows weren’t the only ones with coronavirus headaches, as Seibu saw two of its starters and its head coach fail to finish the game after learning they had tested positive.
Elsewhere, Gregory Polanco and Jacob Waguespack had big games for the Yomiuri Giants, and Orix Buffaloes, respectively.
Tuesday’s games
Buffaloes 4, Hawks 2: At Fukuoka Dome, Jacob Waguespack (2-4) struck out nine while allowing a run on three hits and a walk over six innings as Orix dealt SoftBank to a season-worst fifth straight loss.
Kotaro Kurebayashi homered, singled, tripled, scored twice and drove in a run, while Yuma Mune had a pair of RBI singles, Joe McCarthy singled twice and scored a run. Richard Sunagawa hit his first homer of the year for the Hawks, whose starter, rookie Tomohisa Ozeki (6-4) allowed four runs over 6-1/3 innings.
Sano Kodai, who entered as a pinch-runner, helped preserve Orix’s two-run lead with a diving catch in center in the eighth, and Yoshihisa Hirano stranded a pair of runners in a scoreless ninth en route to his 21st save.
Marines 4, Lions 2: At Seibu Dome, Lotte took the lead for good in the fifth inning on Shogo Nakamura’s two-run homer, his sixth, off Wataru Matsumoto (5-3). Lotte lefty Fumiya Motomae (3-1) allowed four hits and four walks over five innings, but just one run, when Shinya Hasegawa doubled to open the fifth and scored on a Sosuke Genda single.
Takashi Ogino doubled and scored an insurance run in the sixth. Naoya Masuda recorded his 21st save despite allowing Aito Takeda’s pinch-hit homer in the ninth.
Shortstop Genda, who had two hits in the game, and Seibu’s starting right fielder, Wataru Takagi, were both removed from the game after the team learned of their positive coronavirus tests. Head coach Kazuo Matsui also tested positive and left the bench.
Giants 4, Tigers 0: At Koshien Stadium, Gregory Polanco hit a three-run first-inning home run, his 13th and his third in four games, Sho Nakata hit his ninth homer, off Aaron Wilkerson (4-4) and Shosei Togo (9-3) stranded 10 base runners to post his first career shutout despite allowing eight hits, two walks and hitting a batter.
The fifth-place Tigers’ 13th shutout loss of the season dropped them 3-1/2 games back of the second-place Giants, who lead the third-place DeNA BayStars by two games.
BayStars 7, Carp 4: At Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Kenta Ishida (3-1) struck out nine of the 21 batters he faced over 5-2/3 innings, Masayuki Kuwahara reached base three times and scored twice, Shugo Maki singled three times, scored one run and drove in two, and Hiroki Minei broke the game open with a seventh-inning solo homer and a three-run eighth-inning double.
Shogo Akiyama made his home debut as a member of the Carp, and struck out four times, three times looking.
Wednesday’s starting pitchers
Fighters vs Eagles: Kusanagi Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Cody Ponce (0-1, 3.22) vs Takahiro Norimoto (6-3, 2.99)
Lions vs Marines: Seibu Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Dietrich Enns (5-4, 2.13) vs Ayumu Ishikawa (5-3, 1.81)
Hawks vs Buffaloes: Fukuoka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Kodai Senga (6-3, 2.00) vs Hiroya Miyagi (6-4, 3.65)
Dragons vs Swallows: Nagoya Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shinnosuke Ogasawara (3-6, 3.50) vs Keiji Takahashi (6-2, 2.85)
Tigers vs Giants: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yuki Nishi (5-6, 2.43) vs C.C. Mercedes (5-2, 2.55)
Carp vs BayStars: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Hiroki Tokoda (7-5, 2.78) vs Shinichi Onuki (6-3, 2.26)
Active roster moves 7/12/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 7/22
Central League
Activated
| Swallows | P | 56 | Yuta Suzuki |
| Swallows | P | 61 | Takuma Kubo |
| Swallows | P | 68 | Kohei Miyadai |
| Swallows | C | 30 | Akihisa Nishida |
| Swallows | C | 45 | Motohiro Shima |
| Swallows | C | 57 | Yudai Koga |
| Swallows | IF | 3 | Naomichi Nishiura |
| Swallows | IF | 6 | Hiyu Motoyama |
| Swallows | IF | 7 | Seiichi Uchikawa |
| Swallows | IF | 46 | Kengo Ota |
| Swallows | IF | 60 | Ryusei Takeoka |
| Swallows | IF | 65 | Yu Matsumoto |
| Swallows | OF | 0 | Hidetaka Namiki |
| Swallows | OF | 49 | Daiki Watanabe |
| Tigers | P | 52 | Aaron Wilkerson |
| Tigers | OF | 63 | Yutaro Itayama |
| Giants | C | 27 | Yukinori Kishida |
| Carp | OF | 5 | Hisayoshi Chono |
| Dragons | IF | 32 | Masami Ishigaki |
| Dragons | IF | 45 | Ryuku Tsuchida |
| Dragons | OF | 6 | Ryosuke Hirata |
Dectivated
| Dragons | IF | 5 | Toshiki Abe |
Pacific League
Activated
| Marines | P | 34 | Seiya Dohi |
| Hawks | IF | 0 | Tomoki Takata |
| Hawks | OF | 54 | Alfredo Despaigne |
| Lions | P | 40 | Ichiro Tamura |
Dectivated
| Lions | P | 23 | Katsuhiko Kumon |
