There were supposed to be six games Saturday, but 14 coronavirus infections hit the Yakult Swallows, including manager Shingo Takatsu, second baseman Tetsuto Yamada, outfielder Norichika Aoki, relievers Kazuto Taguchi and Noboru Shimizu, starting pitcher Hirotoshi Takanashi and a pair of impressive rookies, shortstop Hideki Nagaoka and catcher Soma Uchiyama. These are not counting a few others in previous days on the farm team.
Saturday is usually a work day, but I was off attending an event much of the day with my wife, and also strained my neck working out, so I apologize but I’m going to keep this short tonight.
Saturday’s games
Fighters 7, Hawks 2: At Fukuoka Dome, Nippon Ham won three straight games for the first time in over a month, coming from behind after Hiromi Ito (7-6) surrendered two first-inning runs. Ito struck out eight over eight innings, Renato Nuñez tied it with a two-run fourth-inning homer, his fourth, off Nao Higashihama (6-3). Go Matsumoto reached base five times and scored the go-ahead run on Kensuke Kondo’s fifth-inning sac fly.
Kotaro Kiyomiya made it 4-2 in the seventh with his 11th homer, his fourth in the last six games, and Yuki James Nomura hit a two-run shot in the ninth.
The loss leaves the Hawks two games ahead of the Seibu Lions, who moved past Rakuten into second place.
Lions 6, Eagles 3: At Miyagi Stadium, Burch Smith made his second early exit of the season when he was unable to continue after throwing five pitches to the first batter in the fifth inning, but left with the game tied 3-3 after Jantzen Witte tied it with a two-run homer in the top of the fifth.
Brian O’Grady set up the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning leadoff single, Shinya Hasegawa singled in the go-ahead run and Sosuke Genda drove in two more with his fourth hit of the game and his second triple.
Buffaloes 3, Marines 1: At Kobe Green Stadium, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (9-4) struck out 11 over eight innings, Masataka Yoshida twice doubled in Keita Nakagawa off Lotte lefty Kazuya Ojima (1-7), Yutaro Sugimoto singled in an eighth-inning insurance run and Yoshihisa Hirano earned his 20th save.
BayStars 2, Giants 0: At Tokyo Dome, DeNA lefty Haruhiro Hamaguchi (3-3) juggled five hits and four walks over 7-2/3 innings, Neftali Soto hit his fourth home run, in the fourth off Matt Andriese (0-1), reliever Hiromu Ise retired Gregory Polanco to end the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded before completing his first save after Keita Sano doubled in a ninth-inning insurance run.
Carp 7, Dragons 0: At Nagoya Dome, Masato Morishita (6-5) worked seven innings, Kaito Kozono tripled in Shogo Sakakura in the second off Yudai Ono (4-6), and Hiroshima iced it in a five-run fifth on a three-run Ryan McBroom home homer, his 11th, and a two-run shot by Kozono.
Sunday’s starting pitchers
Eagles vs Lions: Miyagi Stadium 4 pm, 3 am EDT
Takahisa Hayakawa (5-5, 2.79) vs Kaito Yoza (5-3, 2.43)
Buffaloes vs Marines: Kobe Green Stadium 4 pm, 3 am EDT
Daiki Tajima (4-3, 2.28) vs Manabu Mima (4-5, 4.38)
Hawks vs Fighters: Fukuoka Dome 1 pm, 12 midnight EDT
Shuta Ishikawa (3-3, 2.76) vs Takahide Ikeda (0-1, 18.00)
Giants vs BayStars: Tokyo Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Tomoyuki Sugano (6-5, 2.90) vs Fernando Romero (3-5, 5.89)
Swallows vs Tigers: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Cy Sneed (4-2, 3.47) vs Masashi Ito (5-2, 2.19)
Dragons vs Carp: Nagoya Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Yuya Yanagi (5-6, 3.46) vs Yusuke Nomura (1-0, 3.18)
Active roster moves 7/9/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 7/19
Central League
Activated
| Giants | P | 29 | Matt Andriese |
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 41 | Daichi Shibata |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | IF | 00 | Ryota Ishioka |
| Eagles | P | 52 | Taisei Tsurusaki |
| Hawks | P | 18 | Shota Takeda |
| Fighters | IF | 44 | Uta Sakaguchi |
| Lions | P | 42 | Bo Takahashi |
Dectivated
| Buffaloes | P | 19 | Taisuke Yamaoka |
| Eagles | P | 28 | Tomohito Sakai |
| Eagles | P | 45 | Tomotaka Matsui |
| Hawks | P | 14 | Katsuki Matayoshi |
| Fighters | IF | 6 | Arismendy Alcantara |
| Lions | P | 23 | Katsuhiko Kumon |
