The Central and Pacific leagues re-opened for business after the all-star break on Friday, and like magic, the nonsense talk in the All-Star game about batters carrying over their performance from those exhibitions into the regular season actually came true for Munetaka Murakami, who did what he does best, while his team, the Yakult Swallows did what they’ve done a lot of this year, lose, something Hiroya Miyagi could relate to Friday.
Friday’s games
Tigers 5, Dragons 1: At Koshien Stadium, Teruaki Sato and Yusuke Oyama had first-inning RBI singles as Hanshin grabbed an early 2-0 lead against Shinnosuke Ogasawara (4-7). Chunichi halved that in the fifth on back-to-back two-out doubles from Sho Nakata and Orlando Calixte. Ogasawara left after retiring Sato with two on in the seventh so right-hander Kento Fujishima could face Shota Morishita, who hit a three-run homer. Shoki Murakami (4-7) allowed 11 hits over six innings but got the win for Hanshin.
Hawks 5, Buffaloes 1: At Fukuoka “Your company’s name can go here” Dome, Orix’s Hiroya Miyagi (3-6) struck out 12 and retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced, but also allowed four hits, two first-inning singles and two first-inning two-run homers, to Hotaka Yamakawa and Tomoya Masaki. Carter Stewart Jr. (5-2) was in-between those highs and lows for six scoreless innings, in which he hit a batter and surrendered just three singles thanks to some outstanding defense behind him. He left with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh and one run scored on a wild pitch.
Marines 6, Eagles 1: At Miyagi Stadium, Rakuten starter Seiryu Uchi (4-7) issued a bases-loaded walk to open the scoring in the third before Lotte’s Akito Takabe cleared them with a three-run double. Hiromi Oka one of three players to homer twice in this week’s all-star games, singled in two runs in the eighth for the Marines.
Giants 5, BayStars 2: At Yokohama Stadium, Shugo Maki who also hit a pair of all-star homers this week, put DeNA ahead in the fifth with a solo shot before Takumi Oshiro re-tied it with a sixth-inning RBI single to make it 2-2. DeNA starter Andre Jackson (4-6) left with two on and no outs in the eighth. Kou Nakagawa got emphatic strikeouts of Kazuma Okamoto and Oshiro but walked Hayato Sakamoto before surrendering Yukinori Kishida‘s two-run double and a Yuta Izuguchi RBI single. Taisei Ota got his 15th save as Yomiuri remained one game ahead of the Carp in the CL lead.
Carp 9, Swallows 6: At Jingu “Tokyo’s sacrifice to corporate greed and governmental malfeasance” Stadium, Masaya Yano‘s no-out bases-loaded triple got Hiroshima on the board in a 15-batter, nine-hit, nine-run second after Munetaka Murakami opened the scoring in the first by hitting a two-run homer, his third in three games – although two don’t count since they were All-Star games. Murakami hit his second two-run homer in the fourth and walked in the Swallows’ two-run fifth. He now leads both leagues with 19. Ryo
Fighters 1, Lions 1, 12 innings: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, Shuta Tonosaki chased Nippon Ham starter Takayuki Kato with two outs in the ninth by singling in the tying run on his 106th pitch. Seibu starter Yutaro Watanabe allowed a run over eight innings while striking out six.
