We had an unusual intentional walk, some big home runs, a big game by another 20-year-old rookie pitcher out of the same first round that gave us Hiroya Miyagi, Roki Sasaki and Yasunobu Okugawa.

The Giants have lost their captain for the time being after Hayato Sakamoto stumbled on the turf Saturday and was deactivated due to medial collateral ligament damage in his right knee.

Seibu’s Wu Nien-ting, and Lotte’s Leonys Martin were also deactivated, Wu after testing positive for COVID-19, Martin, ostensibly because he wasn’t hitting.

On that note, shall we get started?

Lions 2, Buffaloes 1: At Osaka Dome, Seibu snuffed out a pair of late rallies, and Hotaka Yamakawa blasted his league-leading ninth home run off Jesse Biddle (3-1) in the ninth inning.

The Buffaloes came from behind three times this week and had scored eight of their 13 runs from the seventh inning on. A day after Masataka Yoshida beat them with a pair of home runs, the Lions intentionally walked him with two outs in the eighth inning. They did this despite having runners on the corners and two outs. The move, which could have backfired every which way from Sunday, didn’t cost the Lions a thing as Ryoichi Adachi grounded out to second on the second pitch he saw from Kaima Taira (1-1).

With the game tied 1-1, Jesse Biddle entered in the ninth with Yoshihisa Hirano getting the day off. Having struck out 20 of the first 59 batters he’s faced in Japan, Biddle squared up in a heavyweight matchup with PL home run leader Hotaka Yamakawa. The lefty threw a pair of sliders to set up a 1-1 pitch.

As Biddle got set, former Orix infielder Hirofumi Ogawa said of Yamakawa, “He’s struck out swinging three times today. He really hasn’t been able to time breaking pitches.”

Biddle fixed that with a high hanging curveball that Yamakawa blasted off the façade over the third deck in left field for a 2-1 Lions lead. The lefty retired the next three, but for the first time this week, Orix failed to score a late-inning run, stranding two in the ninth against Tatsushi Masuda, who saved his sixth game of the season and the 150th of his career.

Tigers 8, Giants 1: At Tokyo Dome, the Hanshin Tigers, who started the season 1-15, improved to 10-20-1 with their sixth straight win behind six innings from rookie Junya Nishi, who struck out eight and walked one. The Tigers not only won their sixth straight to pull within nine games of the first-place Giants after starting the season 1-15, they also swept a three-game series against their traditional rivals at Tokyo Dome for the first time since May 2013.

Nishi, a slugging pitcher in high school who led the 2019 Under-18 World Cup in home runs as Japan’s designated hitter, had only two black marks on his record Sunday. He surrendered Adam Walker’s second-inning solo homer and struck out swinging to end the sixth with a runner in scoring position against Ruby De La Rossa. In addition to his pitching, he beat out an infield single and lined out to center.

“I was extremely nervous before the game,” Nishi said. “But once I got started I was able to focus completely. I’m so happy because I won when my mom came to the game to see me. In the past I haven’t pitched well when she’s been there.”

The Tigers scored twice in the sixth after Teruaki Sato opened against lefty Yuki Takahashi (1-2) with a double. Kento Itohara who had four hits and a walk, singled him in to tie it, and Yutaro Umeno singled off De La Rosa to put Hanshin in front. The Tigers turned it into a rout with four runs in the eighth, starting when 40-year-old Yoshio Itoi batting for the 20-year-old Nishi, singled in two.

Giants-Tigers highlights

Dragons 4, Carp 0: At Nagoya Dome, Yuya Yanagi (3-1) struck out eight over seven innings and drove in an insurance run with a sacrifice fly, while Dayan Viciedo singled in two, and rookie Takaya Ishikawa had Chunichi’s only extra-base hit, a double, among his three hits.

Eagles 2, Hawks 1, 6 innings called due to rain: At Miyagi Stadium, a promising fifth-inning Hawks rally was cut short when Yurisbel Gracial, who started it with a one-out single, overran third base, allowing SoftBank to score just one run from five straight singles after trailing 2-0.

Fighters 9, Marines 3: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Enny Romero (2-1) who had not allowed a run since his season debut, surrendered eight, seven earned, and got started with Kensuke Kondo reaching on the first of two errors in the inning charged to third baseman Ryo Miki.

Kazunari Ishii doubled in two, another scored on Miki’s second error and three came home on Arismendy Alcantara’s three-run homer, his sixth. With two outs, Kondo singled in one to chase Romero, and Yuma Imagawa followed with a two-run homer, his sixth.

Active roster moves 5/1/2022

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 5/11

Central League

Activated

Dectivated

Pacific League

Activated

Dectivated

Active roster moves 5/1/2022

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 5/11

Central League

Activated

Dectivated

Pacific League

Activated

Dectivated