Japan had its third no-hitter of the year on Tuesday, and the fourth game in which a pitcher no-hit his opponents through nine innings. There have been three no-hitters in a year several times, the last in 2012, the second year of Japan’s lifeless uniform ball. But this is the first time since 1966 that we’ve had three so early in the season.

The league’s split the Tuesday’s games, and with 30 games remaining, the CL holds a 42-36 lead while being outscored 272-252.

Meanwhile the Giants played the kind of chaotic game that has been their brand this season, something I kind of guessed, but didn’t really know until I dug into this year’s data of blown leads and comebacks.

So let’s get to it.

Tuesday’s games

BayStars 2, Fighters 0: At Sapporo Dome, Shota Imanaga (3-0) walked one batter while striking out nine, and saving his no-hitter with a reflex catch on a liner through the box after he hung an 0-2 curve in the sixth inning to Yuma Imagawa.

Imanaga’s command was exceptional most of the game, and his fastball, particularly, up in the zone was electric. The lefty threw 11 first-pitch strikes.

The Fighters got yet another solid start from Takayuki Kato, who allowed no runs on four hits while striking out six over six innings. The BayStars waited until the ninth to get on the board, after a Keita Sano leadoff single and a sacrifice, rookie Tatsuo Ebina walked against Naoya Ishikawa (1-1).

Ishikawa struck out the BayStars’ biggest bat, Shugo Maki but surrendered a two-out double to Toshiro Miyaguchi.

Buffaloes 6, Swallows 1: At Osaka Dome, Orix won the first rematch of last year’s seven-game Japan Series thriller thanks to an outstanding start from Taisuke Yamaoka (4-2), who had a brief run of trouble in the fourth inning, when he walked in a run.

The right-hander, however, got out of the bases-loaded jam after missing badly with a hanging breaking ball that Kengo Ota watched before hitting into an easy inning-ending double play.

Cy Sneed (3-1) attacked the zone as he usually does but his command was not that sharp, and the Buffaloes responded by swinging aggressively on pitches in the zone.

No-out Torai Fushimi and Shuhei Fukuda doubles in the third made it 1-0, and Fukuda scored on a Keita Nakagawa single. Joe McCarthy hit his second home run, into the third deck to open the fourth and restore the Buffaloes’ two-run lead, and Orix chased Sneed in the fifth after Fukuda and Yuma Mune singled to open the inning.

The Buffaloes’ win was their sixth straight as they moved within 3-1/2 games of the second-place Rakuten Eagles.

Tigers 2, Hawks 0: At Fukuoka Dome, Yuki Nishi (4-4) pitched out of one tough spot over six innings in which he struck out seven, Yusuke Oyama drove in both Tigers runs with a two-out sixth-inning RBI double as he continued to cut through the PL like a Marvel superhero.

Yuta Iwasada, Raúl Alcántara, and Suguru Iwazaki closed out the Hawks over the final three innings with Iwazaki getting his 12th save.

Carp 2, Eagles 0: At Miyagi Stadium, Hiroshima’s Hiroki Tokoda (6-3) continued his strong run of form, allowing a run on two singles and three walks over seven innings to out-pitch Masahiro Tanaka (4-5).

Tanaka surrendered back-to-back singles to Shogo Sakakura and Ryuhei Matsuyama. With two outs, Tanaka missed with a first pitch to veteran catcher Tsubasa Aizawa, who lined it through the infield to single in the game’s first run with two outs. Takayoshi Noma followed with an RBI double.

Hiroshima’s second pitcher, Daisuke Moriura worked out of a two-on one-out pickle in the eighth before Ryoji Kurihashi recorded his 12th save.

The Carp’s win pulled them to within 2-1/2 games of the second-place Giants.

Lions 9, Giants 4: At Seibu Dome, Yomiuri played one of its prototypical games by blowing a big early lead on Gakuto Wakabayashi‘s two-run sixth-inning single before Seibu turned it into a rout.

Aito Takeda opened the scoring with two outs in the second with his fourth home run, off Matt Andriese. The right-hander allowed three runs, two earned over 5-1/3 innings on seven hits and one walk while striking out six.

The Giants took a 4-1 lead in the third on one-out doubles by Yoshihiro Maru and Adam Walker, a Naoki Yoshikawa walk off rookie Shunsuke Sato, a Kazuma Okamoto double and a two-out two-run single by Riku Matsuda.

Takeda made it 4-2 in the bottom of the inning. He singled with two outs, Brian O’Grady, who had two hits including an RBI double, walked to keep the inning alive and Shuta Tonosaki doubled in Takeda.

Hotaka Yamakawa‘s second hit, a double, opened the Lions’ sixth. Takeda reached on a one-out error against rookie Taiki Kikuchi (0-1), who struck out O’Grady before walking two straight to force across a run. New pitcher Takuya Kuwahara then surrendered Wakabayashi’s single.

Marines 6, Dragons 2: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Chunichi opened the scoring in a two-run sixth off Ayumu Ishikawa (5-3) before Shinnosuke Ogasawara (3-4) surrendered three in the bottom of the inning on Koki Yamaguchi‘s fourth home run.

Ariel Martinez and Dayan Viciedo doubled to open the Dragons’ sixth, and rookie Kosuke Ukai singled in another run with two outs.

Adeiny Hechavarria doubled in three runs in the bottom of the eighth to seal it.

Wednesday’s starting pitchers

Fighters vs BayStars: Sapporo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Kenta Uehara (1-0, 1.40) vs Taiga Kamichatani (2-5, 4.99)

Eagles vs Carp: Miyagi Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Wataru Karashima (2-0, 0.84) vs Atsushi Endo (3-4, 2.94)

Lions vs Giants: Seibu Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Kaito Yoza (3-2, 2.84) vs Matt Shoemaker (2-3, 3.28)

Marines vs Dragons: Chiba Marine Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Manabu Mima (2-4, 3.48) vs Hiroshi Suzuki (0-0, 0.00)

Buffaloes vs Swallows: Osaka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Jacob Waguespack (1-3, 4.40) vs Juri Hara (4-3, 4.08)

Hawks vs Tigers: Fukuoka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Nao Higashihama (5-1, 2.35) vs Junya Nishi (3-1, 3.34)

Active roster moves 6/7/2022

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 6/17

Central League

Activated

Pacific League

Activated

Dectivated

Wednesday’s starting pitchers

Fighters vs BayStars: Sapporo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Kenta Uehara (1-0, 1.40) vs Taiga Kamichatani (2-5, 4.99)

Eagles vs Carp: Miyagi Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Wataru Karashima (2-0, 0.84) vs Atsushi Endo (3-4, 2.94)

Lions vs Giants: Seibu Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Kaito Yoza (3-2, 2.84) vs Matt Shoemaker (2-3, 3.28)

Marines vs Dragons: Chiba Marine Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Manabu Mima (2-4, 3.48) vs Hiroshi Suzuki (0-0, 0.00)

Buffaloes vs Swallows: Osaka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Jacob Waguespack (1-3, 4.40) vs Juri Hara (4-3, 4.08)

Hawks vs Tigers: Fukuoka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Nao Higashihama (5-1, 2.35) vs Junya Nishi (3-1, 3.34)

Active roster moves 6/7/2022

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 6/17

Central League

Activated

Pacific League

Activated

Dectivated