Taiwan infielder Wu Nien-ting gave some oomph to his team’s “Taiwan Day” promotion, we have a new Pacific League leader, and Yakult escaped last place thanks to Jose Osuna and an amazing catch in left field by a backup catcher.

I went heavy on the video yesterday, but after it kept me up until 3 am ahead of going to Seibu for a day game today, I’m fairly wiped out, so I’m going light tonight. Sorry for that.

Sunday’s games

Fighters 6, Buffaloes 3: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, Koki Kitayama (5-3) worked 6-2/3 innings, leaving with one out and one on in the seventh and a 5-3 lead after Marwin Gonzalez’s RBI infield single. He was charged with three runs.

Orix, who entered with a three-game win streak and a half-game lead over SoftBank, took the early lead on Kotaro Kurebayashi’s first-inning solo homer. Nippon Ham wiped that out in a four-run third when Daiki Asama doubled in two, and new Fighter Yuya Gunji singled in two more.

Kotaro Kiyomiya reached base four times with two walks and an eighth-inning solo homer, while Go Matsumoto singled twice and scored twice, to prime Fighters’ offense against Taisuke Yamaoka (1-1), who was chased by Chusei Mannami’s two-out fourth-inning single that left a mark on third baseman Yuma Mune.

Hawks 9, Lions 3: At Seibu Dome, each starting pitcher gave up an early home run. Isami Nomura hit his second home run, with a man on in the second, off Seibu’s Chihiro Sumida (3-7) while Wu Nien-ting followed a pair of two-out third-inning walks from Shuta Ishikawa with his third home run, much to the delight of fans in attendance for Seibu’s “Taiwan Day.”

SoftBank took the lead in a two-run fifth after Akira Nakamura’s leadoff walk and three straight singles. The first run came in on a little squibber on a pitch that fooled Yuki Yanagita but rolled between third and the mound for an RBI infield single. A slow roller to second prevented a play at the plate as the Hawks regained the lead.

Nomura walked to open Hawks’ sixth against reliever Keisuke Honda, was sacrificed to second, went to third on a broken-bat infield single and came home on Kenta Imamiya’s safety squeeze.

Ryoya Kurihara, who singled and scored in the first, singled with two outs in the seventh. Hikaru Kawase brought him home, with an extra-base hit that left him on third when the Lions outfield had trouble picking the ball up, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-3. Kensuke Kondo’s third hit and second double set up the Hawks’ eighth run.

Deniers 3, Dragons 2: At Yokohama Stadium, DeNA’s Katsuki Azuma (8-2) followed up his five-hit shutout in his previous start by holding Chunichi to two runs over seven innings, with both runs scoring on Takaya Ishikawa’s sixth-inning home run.

Taishi Kusumoto got DeNA started against Hideaki Wakui (3-8) in the second inning with the first of two two-out walks from the right-hander and broke the ice by scoring on reserve catcher Yudai Yamamoto’s single. Shugo Maki singled in Taiki Sekine in the third before doubling to open DeNA’s sixth and scoring the go-ahead run on Kusumoto’s sacrifice fly.

J.B. Wendelken worked a scoreless eighth for DeNA before Yasuaki Yamasaki collected his 18^th save.

DeNA-Dragons highlights

Tigers 2, Giants 2, 12 innings: At Tokyo Dome, a first-inning leadoff homer by Lewis Brinson put Yomiuri in front and Yuto Akihiro’s fourth-inning leadoff shot tied it 2-2 off tough Hanshin right-hander Hiroto Saiki. Giants lefty Yohander Méndez hit Johan Mieses to tie it 1-1 in the fourth after a Takumu Nakano double and two walks. Seiya Kinami’s two-out single briefly put the Tigers in front.

Tigers lefty Suguru Iwazaki walked two in the 12^th before fanning Adam Walker and Sho Nakata to end the game in a tie.

Eagles 11, Marines 3: At Chiba Marine Stadium, career minor leaguer Itsuki Murabayashi went 4-for-6 with five RBIs, while catcher Hikaru Ota was 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, a home run, three runs and three RBIs as Rakuten turned a 2-1 game into a rout starting with a four-run sixth.

Ota’s two-run second-inning double off C.C. Mercedes (3-4) brought the Eagles from a run down after Lotte scratched out a first-inning run off rookie Masaru Fujii (1-0), who allowed just a run despite walking five in five innings in his season debut.

Hideto Asamura led off Rakuten’s sixth with his 12^th home run, and Murabayashi’s two-out three-run double got the Eagles airborne. Eagles infielder and former Marines captain Daichi Suzuki became the 204^th player to compete in 1,500 Japanese pro baseball games.

Swallows 4, Carp 2: At Jingu Stadium, Munetaka Murakami returned to Yakult’s starting lineup, Jose Osuna hit a three-run fourth-inning homer, Domingo Santana singled in a run, Keiji Takahashi (3-5) allowed a run over six innings for his first win since April 21. Taichi Ishiyama and Noboru Shimizu each pitched a perfect inning of relief before Hiroshima threatened against closer Kazuto Taguchi.

A one-out Takayoshi Noma double and a scratch infield single by Shogo Akiyama set the stage for the play of the game. Soma Uchiyama, a reserve catcher who has shown a knack for big plays in the outfield did so again, going into the corner to rob Ryoma Nishikawa of a double by colliding with the wall and hanging onto the ball. Noma scored on the sac fly, but Taguchi struck out Shogo Sakakura to record his 16^th save.

The win moved Yakult past Chunichi into fifth place.

Swallows-Carp highlights