Right field appeared to be the sun field at Yokohama Stadium on Friday night, while Takayuki Kishi and Shumpeita Yamashita locked up in a battle of the ages.
Thursday’s games
Marines 7, Lions 6, 10 innings : At Tokyo Dome, Lotte’s Hisanori Yasuda, who tied the game 2-2 in the first with an RBI single, walked off the Lions with a two-out sayonara single.
Koki Yamaguchi‘s two-out two-run homer made it 4-3 Lotte in the third. Seibu’s Shohei Suzuki, who singled in a run and scored in the first, singled with one out in the fifth and scored the tying run on a David MacKinnon infield single.
The Lions jumped in front for the second time in the seventh when Takeya Nakamura doubled with two outs and scored on a Junichiro Kishi single. Ryusei Sato homered in the eighth to make it 6-4 Lions, only for Gregory Polanco to retie it with a two-run homer in the park that was his home last season with the Yomiuri Giants.
Shogo Nakamura singled, pinch-runner Koshiro Wada stole second and went to third on a throwing error. Lions manager Kazuo Matsui argued unsuccessfully that Polanco, who struck out on the play, interfered with the throw as he followed through with his swing.
Lions center fielder Kishi dutifully tried to catch Lotte in a Merkle’s boner by throwing to first to try for a force out, but Yasuda ran it out for the win.
Carp 4, Tigers 0: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Yusuke Nomura (1-0) allowed no runs on three hits and no walks over six innings for the second straight start, but this time got a decision.
Kaito Kozono opened the scoring for Hiroshima with a two-run second-inning homer off rookie Shoki Murakami (6-4), who got the most all-star votes among starting pitchers from both fans and players. A two-out Ryoma Nishikawa single made it 3-0 in the third.
Hawks 4 , Fighters 3: At Fukuoka Dome, Yuki Yanagita came within a double of achieving baseball’s stupidest statistical feat, singling in the first, hitting a two-run homer in the third, and breaking a 3-3 eighth-inning tie with an RBI triple.
Nippon Ham cut the lead to a run in the top of the fourth, on an Ariel Martinez leadoff walk, a Chusei Mannami double and a sac fly by Yuki James Nomura.
That run was canceled out on one swing by Taisei Makihara‘s fourth-inning leadoff homer, which he hit well back into the right-field stands.
With Hawks starter Tomohisa Ozeki out of the game after six innings, Taiga Egoshi homered in the seventh for the Fighters to make it a 3-2 game, and Go Matsumoto tied it in the eighth, doubling and scoring on a Martinez single. Takayuki Kato allowed three runs over seven innings for the Fighters.
Eagles 3, Buffaloes 0: At Miyagi Stadium, 38-year-old Takayuki Kishi (3-2) outpitched 20-year-old rookie phenom Shumpeita Yamashita (7-2), turning back the clock with 7-2/3 scoreless innings.
Rakuten’s Hiroto Kobukata broke the ice with a third-inning RBI single, plating Haruki Nishikawa, who was playing in his first game in over a month. With two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth, rookie Kazuki Murabayashi singled in two more before Yamashita found his groove.
Rakuten’s Tomohito Sakai retired the only batter he faced in the eighth to strand two, and Yuki Matsui worked the ninth for his 17th save.
Deniers 3, Swallows 2: At Yokohama Stadium, DeNA got a complete game out of its graduated of MLB’s sexual assault suspension program, in a game where Yakult surrendered all three runs thanks to a fifth-inning nightmare in right field.
Yakult rookie Shota Maruyama pitched out of a first-inning jam by starting a slick 1-3-2 double play and worked two scoreless innings in his first career start.
Yakult took a 1-0 lead on a flare single off a good pitch, a sacrifice and a two-out RBI single when Hidetaka Namiki ripped a hanging curve. The Swallows gave the ball to 43-year-old lefty Masanori Ishikawa (2-5) in the third, and his luck deserted him almost from the get-go.
After two one-out singles in the fourth, both runners advanced when a bouncing pitch got stuck in catcher Soma Uchiyama’s chest protector. Ishikawa got two outs after DeNA loaded the bases, but the shit hit the fan with three unearned fifth-inning runs.
Domingo Santana somehow missed a catch on the warning track for a one-out three-base error. Masayuki Kuwahara singled in the tying run, and went to third when second baseman Ryusei Takeoka dropped a high two-out pop up in shallow right. Neftali Soto then did the honors with a two-run single.
Yakult got a run back in the eighth when Kotaro Yamasaki walked with two outs, stole second and scored on a Santana single.
