Submarine right-hander Hayate Nakagawa, now free to bat in the Central League after being discarded by Orix over the winter, showed off the power he hadn’t utilized since high school. Meanwhile, Hiroshima survived a late scare, Takashi Ogino had a game in Chiba, and Yakult did something it’s done a lot of this year.
Saturday’s games:
BayStars 3, Dragons 2: At Yokohama Stadium, Hayate Nakagawa (2-0) allowed two runs over six innings and hit a two-run homer as DeNA consigned last-place Chunichi to its fourth straight loss.
Toshiro Miyazaki doubled to lead off the second against Takahiro Matsuba, and scored on a sac fly by catcher Yudai Yamamoto. Former Dragon Yota Kyoda singled, and Nakagawa, who hit 26 home runs as the ace pitcher and cleanup hitter for Yokohama’s Toko Gakuin High School drove in the first two runs of his pro career.
The Dragons got on the board in the fifth on a Yuki Okabayashi RBI single and a Hironori Miyoshi sacrifice fly off Nakagawa, but Hiromu Ise, Yasuaki Yamasaki and Kohei Morihara combined to allow just two runners over the final three innings with Morihara getting his 10th save.
Tigers 1, Swallows 0: At Koshien Stadium, Hanshin’s Jeremy Beasley (1-0) struck out seven over five innings in his season debut and left with a lead after the Tigers broke the scoreless tie in the fourth on back-to-back no out walks from Miguel Yajure (4-3) and a Yusuke Oyama RBI single. Javy Guerra and Suguru Iwazaki finished up an impressive four-pitcher bullpen relay in which each faced just three batters with Iwazaki earning his seventh save.
Yakult fell to 2-10 in one-run games this year.
Carp 4, Giants 3: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Hiroshima closer Ryoji Kuribayashi allowed a run on three hits and a walk but survived to record his 12th save thanks to some superb defense from rookie first baseman Shoichi Futamata and catcher Shogo Sakakura to nail the runner at the plate on an attempted safety squeeze.
Rookie Yomiuri shortstop Yuta Izuguchi singled in the first run of his career off Allen Kure in the Giants’ second, pitcher Yuji Akahoshi squeezed in a run. Hiroshima’s Ryutaro Hatsuki, who helped strand two runners in the second, doubled in Futamata in the fourth but was caught off base to end the inning.
The Carp took a fifth-inning lead on Kaito Kozono‘s two-run two-out single, and got some insurance from Sakakura’s solo homer in the sixth.
Marines 6, Fighters 4: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Takashi Ogino went 4-for-5 with a double, a run and two RBIs as Lotte overcame a big first inning from Nippon Ham, who lost for the first time in seven games.
The Fighters roughed up C.C. Mercedes in a four-run first. Ariel Martinez‘s no-out bases-loaded sac fly put the visitors on the board, Chusei Mannami followed with a booming double. With the infield in, Yua Tamiya drilled the next pitch off third baseman Shogo Nakamura, who deflected the ball into shallow left center for a two-run single.
Nakamura atoned for the error with a single after Atsuki Tomosugi‘s second-inning leadoff double that set up a Tatsuhiro Tamura sacrifice fly. Back-to-back fifth-inning doubles from Ogino and former Fighter Hiromi Oka made it 4-2 before Lotte took the lead in a three-run sixth.
Shingo Ishikawa led off with a home run before back-to-back two-out RBI singles from Ryusei Ogawa and Ogino off Bryan Rodriguez (1-1) made it 5-3 Lotte. Ogino’s eighth-inning RBI single, made it 6-4. Four Lotte relievers put up scoreless innings, with Shota Suzuki allowing the only two runners en route to his second save.
Buffaloes 8, Eagles 3: At Osaka UFO Dome, Ryo Ota went 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs as Orix overcame an early setback to beat Rakuten and snap a three-game winless stretch.
Rakuten scored in the first on Toshiki Abe‘s 10-pitch two-out bases-loaded walk. An error on shortstop Kotaro Kurebayashi let in another run against Orix starter Ryuhei Sotani (3-1) before catcher Hikaru Ota’s single made it 3-0. Kurebayashi’s two-run single and Ryo Ota’s two-run double brought Orix from behind in the bottom of the inning against Seiryu Uchi (1-4).
Masahiro Nishino followed Ota’s one-out bases-loaded single in the third with a sacrifice fly as Orix made it 6-3. Ota singled to open the Buffaloes’ two-run sixth, when Kenya Wakatsuki and Ryoma Nishikawa each singled in a run to make it 8-3.
Hawks 3, Lions 2: At Fukuoka “Your Company Name Can Go Here” Dome, Kensuke Kondo homered for the second straight game, his two-run, eighth-inning shot bringing SoftBank from behind to its fourth straight win in a game where each team managed only five hits.
SoftBank opened the scoring on two walks, a double steal and a first-inning groundout against Seibu’s Yutaro Watanabe before Gakuto Wakabayashi‘s third homer, off Ryosuke Otsu, made it 2-1 in the second.
The loss was Seibu’s fourth straight.
