On Wednesday in Japan, a young Lion threw his first shutout, Orix manager Satoshi Nakajima questioned his players’ attitude, Jake Scheiner decided a shutout, a castoff continues to have a happy time in Hokkaido, while another player celebrated having a new baby, and a player better known for his arm had a big day with the bat.
Wednesday’s games:
Lions 6, Buffaloes 0: At the domed stadium formerly known as “Prince,” 23-year-old Seibu right-hander Minato Aoyama (1-2) threw his first career complete game, a three-hit three-strikeout 106-pitch shutout.
“His weapon is changing speeds,” Lions GM and interim skipper Hisanobu Watanabe said. “He doesn’t have an amazing fastball, but he is able to jam hitters.”
Orix’s Hiroya Miyagi (3-5) allowed just one walk over the first 5-1/3 innings while striking out six, but surrendered four straight hits, a sacrifice fly and two more hits before he left the mound trailing 5-0. Lions rookie Takayoshi Yamamura homered to complete the scoring in the eighth.
In their last six games, all on the road, the Buffaloes have been shut out four times, and manager Satoshi Nakajima said it didn’t help that players were acting like everything is normal.
“It’s absolutely no good putting on a calm face and going about your business,” he said. “I think that’s our weakness right now.”
Giants 4, Tigers 3: At Tokyo Ugly Dome, Yomiuri came from two runs down to maintain their grip on first place in the Central League.
Back-to-back second-inning doubles by Teruaki Sato and Yusuke Oyama, and a Ryuhei Obata single made it 2-0 in the second against Haruto Inoue. The Giants tied it on sacrifice flies in the third and fourth. Obata drew a leadoff walk in the Tigers’ fifth, and scored on a Ryo Watanabe single.
Yomiuri’s bullpen retired 11 of the next 13 Tigers hitters, Naoki Yoshikawa doubled and scored on an Elier Hernandez single to make it 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth before Kazuma Okamoto doubled in the go-ahead run off Kotaro Otake, who lasted just 4-2/3 innings. Taisei Ota recorded his 12th save.
Carp 3, BayStars 0: At Yokohama Stadium, Masato Morishita (7-3) repeatedly worked out of trouble in a pitchers’ duel with DeNA’s Katsuki Azuma (8-1), who surrendered the game’s first runs on a two-out three-run home run by first-year Carp import Jake Scheiner, his first, broke up the scoreless game in the seventh inning. Ryoji Kuribayashi saved his 24th.
“That was the greatest home run from Scheiner,” Carp skipper Takahiro Arai said. “Mori’s pitching well made that scene possible.”
Fighters 6, Eagles 2: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, Shoma Kanemura (4-4) worked 8-2/3 innings in his bid for a first career complete game, but needed closer Seigi Tanaka to throw one pitch with the tying run at the plate to earn his 14th save.
Shun Mizutani hit rookie Tatsuki Koja‘s first pitch of the game out for his fourth home run, and Chusei Mannami hit his 13th in the third. A Daiichi Suzuki triple and a groundout got the Eagles a run in the fifth. Earlier in the day, Mizutani was voted in as the last player on the Pacific League All-Star team, adding another laurel to his major league debut season.
Mizutani spent the first five years of his pro career on the Hawks’ farm team until he was rescued by Nippon Ham through December’s active-player “second-chance” draft. He has since been a steady contributor, and was named interleague MVP.
The Fighters broke it open in the eighth. A Mizutani leadoff walk, and a pinch-runner’s stolen base opened first base, and with a 3-0 count on Mannami, the Eagles put him on. After a sacrifice, Rakuten walked hot-hitting Franmil Reyes intentionally. Ariel Martinez celebrated the birth of his second child with a two-run double, and Kazunari Ishii singled in two more.
“Since he (Martinez) learned of the birth of his child, I believed he would have a big game,” manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo said.
Rakuten manager Toshiaki Imae praised his starting pitcher, Koja.
“He threw (a career-high) 8-1/3 innings,” Imae said. “He gave up two homers, but that’s experience. He was calm in tight spots, and I think he pitched well.”
Hawks 6, Marines 4: At Fukuoka “Your company’s name can go here” Dome, Hawks catcher Takuya Kai went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, an RBI single and a two-run double as SoftBank took two of three from Lotte. Gregory Polanco and Hiromi Oka homered for the Marines, while Akito Takabe went 2-for-4 and scored twice.
