Sorry this is coming out so late, but things happen. Tuesday was a home run night with 14 in 12 games. But because it’s now 2 a.m. and I’m dead tired, I’m going to skip videos and such so my apologies.
Tuesday’s games
Marines 1, Buffaloes 1, 12 innings : At Chiba Marine Stadium, Atsuki Taneichi and Hiroya Miyagi locked horns in a pitchers’ duel with each giving up one run. Taneichi gave up three hits and two walks while allowing a run on Kotaro Kurebayashi‘s first homer. He struck out nine over Miyagi was not as sharp as usual, missed his spots and a couple of fourth-inning singles set up Lotte’s tying run.
Giants 9, Swallows 8: At Shizuoka, Yuto Akihiro broke a 5-5 seventh-inning tie with a two-run double, and Naoki Yoshikawa doubled in two more as the Giants beat up on Yakult’s fourth-pitcher Taichi Ishiyama (3-2) on his return from COVID deactivation.
But on a night when home runs were the name of the game across the country, Yakult narrowed the gap in the home half on a pair of pinch-hit singles and a three-run jack from leadoff man Yasutaka Shiomi. Taisei Ota, who gave up runs in both of his last two relief appearances, put the tying runner on but ended the game by striking out Japan WBC teammate Munetaka Murakami.
Kazuma Okamoto and Akihiro singled in first-inning runs and Okamoto his sixth home run to open a two-run third off rookie Kojiro Yoshimura as Yomiuri spotted Shosei Togo () to an early four-run lead.
Yakult shortstop Hideki Nagaoka, who’s been red hot of late, doubled and scored in the third, while Domingo Santana doubled and Jose Osuna walked to set the table for Shingo Kawabata, the former CL batting champion and resident pinch-hitter came off the bench to tie it with his first homer in two years and his second in the last five.
Tigers 9, Dragons 4: At Toyohashi, Shoki Murakami (3-1) left the bases filled with Dragons in the second to preserve a 1-0 lead, Johan Mieses singled in a first-inning run.
Takumu Nakano and Sheldon Neuse, who set up that run with back-to-back one-out singles, singled to open the Tigers’ fifth. Yusuke Oyama singled in one and Teruaki Sato doubled in another before Koji Fukutani (2-2) could get an out. After striking out Mieses for the second straight time, Seishiro Sakamoto singled in a run and Seiya Kinami did the same to make it 5-0.
Murakami, who was virtually untouchable until May, let the Dragons back in the game in the fourth, when Seiya Hosokawa singled in a run and Takaya Ishikawa blasted a three-run shot.
Eagles 3, Hawks 0: At Morioka, SoftBank created scoring chances but not runs, and Tsuyoshi Yamasaki broke up a scoreless game with a fourth-inning leadoff home run against Tomohisa Ozeki (2-4). The lefty surrendered four hits in the eight-inning complete game loss, and allowed solo eighth-inning homers to Hideto Asamura and Maikel Franco.
Rakuten lefty Takahisa Hayakawa (2-3) left after 124 pitches and seven innings in which he gave up seven hits and walked one. Yuki Matsui earned the save.
Lions 4, Fighters 2, 12 innings: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, a single, and two errors on the ensuing sacrifice allowed Seibu to break a 2-2 12th-inning tie. Takeya Nakamura opened the inning with a single. When Wu Nien-ting bunted, pitcher Toshihiro Sugiura wheeled and threw so high his shortstop couldn’t get it. Center fielder Taiga Egoshi failed to make a sliding stop on the ball, but it kicked off his glove, rolled through his legs and the runner scored as he gave chase.
Aito Takeda doubled in Wu to make it 4-2.
Seibu’s Tatsuya Imai retired 14 of the first 16 batters he faced, got a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth when David MacKinnon led off with his seventh home run, but surrendered that when Taiga Egoshi opened the home half with his third since coming over from Hanshin in an offseason trade.
Another even newer Fighter, Alen Hanson, drew a leadoff walk in the eighth, when Nippon Ham took the lead on rookie Tatsuki Mizuno‘s pinch-hit single only for Seibu to tie it in the ninth on rookie Shinya Hasegawa‘s first pro homer, off Nippon Ham’s current closer, Seigi Tanaka.
Carp 7, DenialStars 5: At Yokohama Stadium, Lefty Hiroki Tokoda (4-0) allowed three runs over seven innings, including one on Neftali Soto‘s second home run as Hiroshima beat up on DeNA’s former Cy Young Award winner.
Shogo Akiyama, Ryan McBroom and Ryoma Nishikawa each drove in a pair of runs early as Hiroshima jumped out to a 7-0 lead in two innings against the DeNA import who found a safe haven in Japan in a season in which he’s being paid over $20 million not to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. After winning his first game in Japan, he’s now allowed 15 runs, 14 earned, in 15 innings.
Akiyama and McBroom each hit first-inning RBI doubles before Nishikawa belted a two-run home run to cap a four-run first. Akiyama and McBroom then singled in one run apiece in the second. Akiyama went 4-for-5. His third hit gave him 1,500 career knocks in NPB.
