We had six day games Saturday, with four teams remaining unbeaten in the two-day-old season including the Yomiuri Giants, who pummeled the Swallows behind new guys Trey Cabbage and Takuya Kai, but first a word from the sponsor…
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Saturday’s games
Giants 12, Swallows 0: At Tokyo Ugly Dome, two of Yomiuri’s new Giants continued to mash with Takuya Kai getting three hits for the second straight day, including a home run, while Trey Cabbage homered for the second straight game and drove in four as Yuji Akahoshi and four relievers combined on a three-hit shutout. Yakult starter Kojiro Yoshimura allowed seven runs despite facing just 12 batters.
Marines 5, Hawks 4, 10 innings: At Fukuoka (Softbank Subsidiary Name) Dome, Hiromi Oka‘s three-run fifth-inning homer gave newcomer Austin Voth a 3-1 lead that he surrendered on Yuki Yanagita‘s three-run blast in the home half. Neftali Soto tied it for Lotte with a sixth-inning homer, and Oka put the Marines ahead in the 10th with a two-out RBI single and Naoya Masuda worked a 1-2-3 10th for the save.
Dragons 1, BayStars 0: At Yokohama Stadium, in a typical Dragon-ball game, Chunichi put 13 runners on with catcher Takuya Kinoshita driving in the game’s only run against Trevor Bauer in the second and Takahiro Matsuba allowing both of DeNA’s singles in his seven innings.
Fighters 3, Lions 2, 10 innings: At the roofed stadium formerly known as Prince, Seibu came back from a two-run deficit. New Seibu closer Trey Wingenter got two quick outs before Yuya Gunji, who had singled in Nippon Ham’s second run, delivered a ground-rule double. Singles by two-way player Kota Yazawa and Daigo Kamikawabata brought in the go-ahead run. Seigi “Justice” Tanaka worked a 1-2-3 10th to get the save.
Tigers 3, Carp 2: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Shota Morishita‘s two-run sixth-inning homer overturned a 2-1 Hiroshima lead against Hiroki Tokoda, who had singled and scored the Carp’s go-ahead run in the fifth. Suguru Iwazaki, who needed six pitches to retire one batter Friday in his first save, needed 11 to get through the ninth inning and record his second.
Buffaloes 3, Eagles 2, 10 innings: At Osaka UFO Dome, Orix’s free-agent acquisition from the Hiroshima Carp, Allen Kuri surrendered two runs in his six-inning Pacific League debut, and was taken off the hook for the loss thanks to a Yuma Tongu seventh-inning homer and a Yutaro Sugimoto game-tying sac fly in the eighth.
Andres Machado, who blew a ninth-inning save opportunity Friday, worked a scoreless ninth only for Toshiki Abe to triple in a pair of runs in a three-run Rakuten 10th. Yuma Mune, who singled and scored Orix’s tying run in the eighth, doubled with one out in the 10th, when the Buffaloes scored twice on a Masahiro Nishino pinch-hit triple and a double by Ryoma Nishikawa, last year’s free-agent acquisition from Orix’s Hiroshima supply chain.
