What a day, Carter Stewart Jr. squared off against Hiroya Miyagi, unheralded Carp Shota Suekane had himself a night as did Chunichi’s top signing from last year’s draft, while the Nippon Ham Fighters put a 13-game-losing streak on the shoulders of pitcher Kenta Uehara, and Norichika Aoki was hurt in a scene that brought back memories of his worst stretch in MLB>
In other news, three players were deactivated on coronavirus exemptions, two CL teams swapped under-employed players, and Chunichi has signed a journeyman former MLB pitcher. That news follows the recaps.
Wednesday’s games
Fighters 3, Eagles 2: At Miyagi Stadium, Go Matsumoto doubled in the ninth off Sora Suzuki (1-1) and pinch-runner Taiga Egoshi scored the tie-breaking run after singles by Kotaro Kiyomiya and Chusei Mannami.
Kenta Uehara struck out six over six innings in a superb pitching duel with Rakuten’s top draft signing from last autumn, Kosei Soji, who allowed his second runner of the game when he hit Ariel Martinez to open the fifth before surrendering Alan Hansen’s fourth home run.
The Fighters took that lead into the eighth. With right-hander Takahide Ikeda on face the heart of the Eagles’ order, Takero Okajima led off with a pinch-hit double. Ikeda struck out the two most dangerous hitters, Yuya Ogo and Hideto Asamura only for Daichi Suzuki to crush a 3-1 fastball to tie it with his third homer of the year.
Carp 5, Swallows 3: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Hiroshima won its ninth straight in a game that saw Norichika Aoki, whose MLB career took a huge hit when he was concussed by a pitched ball to the head while with the San Francisco Giants in 2015, taken off in a stretcher after taking a Ryoji Kuribayashi fastball to the head.
Shota Suekane opened the scoring with a flare RBI single. Just when it seemed Swallows lefty Keiji Takahashi was cruising behind a 3-1 lead thanks to Jose Osuna‘s 15th home run, a one-out fourth-inning error, an eight-pitch walk by Shota Dobayashi and a hanging changeup made it 4-1 when Seukane drove it over the fence for his second home run.
Suekane’s liner bounced out of the stands and he was huffing and puffing around the bases for all he was worth until being informed near third that it was a home run.
Hawks 7, Buffaloes 1: At Osaka Dome, Yuma Mune doubled off Carter Stewart Jr. in the first and scored on a Leonardo Cedeno ground single. The game remained 1-0 until the Hawks hit three homers off Hiroya Miyagi. Kenta Imamiya tied it in the fourth, Takuya Kai hit a three-run shot in the fifth, and Kensuke Kondo extended his career high for home runs in a season by leading off the sixth with his 13th. This game was rapidly going downhill for the lefty, but he got a called strike on a one-out 3-2 count with the bases loaded before escaping further damage.
Stewart allowed an unearned run on six hits and a walk while striking out six over six innings, lowering his ERA to 1.57.
Lions 5, Marines 3: At Seibu Dome, Takumi Kuriyama hit a solo shot for Seibu and David MacKinnon‘s 11th homer, with a man on in the sixth, made it 4-1. Katsuya Kakunaka, whose two-out ninth-inning homer on Monday handed the Hawks their 12th straight loss, came off the bench in the seventh, drew a pinch-hit walk, and singled in a run in the ninth but it was not enough as Tatsushi Masuda saved his 17th game.
Tigers 8, Giants 5: At Koshien Stadium, new Tiger Kotaro Otake cruised through 5-1/3 innings when Yomiuri’s third look at him proved fatal. With one out and one on, back-to back singles cut Hanshin’s lead to 3-1, Kazuma Okamoto tied it with a two-out double and Hisayoshi Chono, who started in left, doubled in two more.
Hanshin’s Sheldon Neuse, hitless in his previous four games, doubled in two runs in the Tigers’ two-run second against Foster Griffin, and singled and scored in the sixth to make it a 5-4 game.
Teruaki Sato tied it with a seventh-inning RBI single, Neuse walked, Seishiro Sakamoto‘s sac fly put Hanshin in front, and Ryuhei Obata‘s pinch-hit triple made it 8-5.
Tigers-Giants Highlights
Dragons 7, Deniers 1: At Nagoya Dome, Chunichi’s top signing from last year’s draft, right-hander Rea Nakachi (1-1) allowed a single and three walks over six scoreless innings, and new Dragon Seiya Hosokawa delivered big against his old team.
Hosokawa drew first blood against the team that kept him chained up in its Eastern League dungeon for years after he’d proved he could play with a first-inning RBI single off Robert Gsellman (3-5). Seiji Kawagoe – acquired in a trade eight days earlier from Seibu – led off the fourth with a single, Hosokawa walked and both scored on a Yohei Oshima double. Hosokawa also reached on an infield single and scored in Chunichi’s two-run seventh.
Dragons-Deniers highlights
3 players dropped under COVID rules
The Orix Buffaloes, Yakult Swallows and Seibu Lions each deactivated one player under NPB’s coronavirus rules, most likely because they are close contacts, and can potentially be activated earlier than the standard 10-days needed under normal deactivations. The three were starting Buffaloes shortstop Kotaro Kurebayashi, Lions pitcher Keisuke Honda and Swallows right fielder Domingo Santana. Both Kurebayashi and Santana reported feeling poorly.
Yakult and DeNA swap players
The Swallows sent 32-year-old shortstop Naomichi Nishiura to the DeNA BayStars Wednesday in exchange for 23-year-old right-hander Kosuke Sakaguchi. Nishiura was the Swallows starter in 2018, when he led CL shortstops in errors. Sakaguchi has struggled this season after leading the Eastern League with 91 strikeouts in 105 2/3 innings in 2022 with the league’s second-best ERA, 2.90.
Dragons acquire pitcher Feliz
The Chunichi Dragons said Wednesday they have signed 30-year-old Dominican right-hander Michael Feliz, who has pitched in 228 MLB games with the Pirates and four other teams. Feliz has pitched in 13 Triple-A games this year for the Yankees and nine with Yucatan in Mexico.
