Tuesday was a good night for starting pitchers at the CL parks with only 10 out of a possible 12 quality starts because two starters who allowed just one run, only went 5-2/3 innings. The best of the bunch probably came from Hiroshima’s Hiroki Tokoda.
Masahiro Tanaka got locked up in his second straight pitchers’ duel and for the second straight week, but his two runs allowed over six innings, was equal for the worst on the night and he took his second straight loss.
As a result of the Eagles’ defeat, and Yomiuri wasting their strong start in new import Matt Andriese’s Japan debut, we have a new Pacific League leader.
We also had a tough break for Chunichi.
Ishikawa out with ACL injury
Chunichi Dragons third baseman Takaya Ishikawa has suffered a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee on Friday, when he lost his balance trying to avoid a collision at first base.
“If he can come back this year, that would be the best, but we’re going to let it take its course,” manager Kazuyoshi Tatsunami said.
Ishikawa currently has a .264 OBP and a .411 slugging average.
Tuesday’s games
Lions 2, Tigers 0: At Koshien Stadium, Hotaka Yamakawa hit his 17th home run, most in Japan. Yuki Nishi (3-4) pitched well for the second straight week but took the loss time after winning his duel with Masahiro Tanaka the week before when he was outpitched.
Yamakawa took Nishi well past the remote fence in straight away left for the only run Nishi would allow over seven innings. Lions lefty Shunsuke Sato (3-3), their second pick last autumn, worked 5-2/3 innings, and three relievers completed the six-hit shutout. Osaka native Tomoya Mori singled in an insurance run in the eighth.
The Tigers’ 13th shutout loss meant manager Akihiro Yano would be asked about his team no longer being able to win the pennant by winning all their remaining games, because this is one of those things that reporters ask about but which nobody really cares.
Hawks 3, Giants 1: At Tokyo Dome, Yomiuri’s Matt Andriese worked six scoreless innings in his Japan debut and left the mound with a 1-0 lead thanks to Adam Walker’s first-inning home run, his ninth, off Shuta Ishikawa. Andriese allowed six hits and a walk while striking out seven, five relievers allowed three runs, two earned on a six hits and a walk over three innings.
Alfredo Despaigne’s one-out pinch-hit double set up the Hawks’s seventh-inning tying run, which scored on a Masaki Mimori single. Kenta Imamiya, who had two of SoftBank’s 12 hits, reached on an error in the eighth and scored from second on Kenji Akashi’s first hit of the season and his 36th career triple.
Katsuki Matayoshi stranded a pair of Giants runners in the eighth, Akira Nakamura singled in an insurance run in the ninth, and Livan Moinelo recorded his eighth save. The Hawks’ fourth-straight win lifted them into first place in the PL.
Yuki Yanagita became the 20th player in Japanese pro baseball history to strike out five times in a nine-inning game, and the eighth in the PL and the first since Rakuten’s Eigoro Mogi in 2016.
The record is six, in extra innings, by Hiroshima’s Brad Eldred in the 2014.
Swallows 1, Marines 0: At Jingu Stadium, Tetsuto Yamada hit his 10th home run, in the first inning off Ayumu Ishikawa (4-3), Cy Sneed (3-0) allowed six hits and two walks while striking out seven over seven innings, Ryuta Konna gave up just a two-out Brandon Laird single in the eighth, and Scott McGough’s 1-2-3 ninth earned him his 14th save.
The win lifted Yakult three games clear of the Giants in the CL standings.
Dragons 2, Eagles 0: At Nagoya Dome, Toshiki Abe and Dayan Viciedo each punished a bad pitch from Masahiro Tanaka (4-4) to hit his sixth home run, and lefty Shinnosuke Ogasawara (3-3) worked over the Rakuten lineup, allowing four singles and a walk over seven innings in a well-deserved win. Yariel Rodriguez pitched the eighth for the Dragons, and Raidel Martinez followed in the ninth to get his 13th save.
BayStars 4, Buffaloes 1: At Yokohama Stadium, Orix fell to 0-3 in interleague series openers. Hiroki Minei singled and scored on a two-out Keita Sano single off Taisuke Yamaoka (3-2) in the third, and Shugo Maki singled and scored on Yamato Maeda’s single to break the tie in the fourth, when the inning only ended after a bizarre scene.
Orix catcher Torai Fushimi took a bat to side of the head in the fourth inning from Minei, the DeNA catcher, collapsed and was taken off the field, shielded from view by stadium staff carrying blue fabric panels. Fushimi was diagnosed at a local hospital with a contusion.
A Yuma Mune double and a Joe McCarthy single accounted for Orix’s run in the first off Shota Imanaga (2-0), who allowed eight hits but no walks over six innings while striking out eight. Edwin Escobar issued a pair of walks in a scoreless seventh, but those were Orix’s last base runners, as Hiromu Ise and Yasuaki Yamasaki locked it down. Yamasaki recorded his ninth save.
Carp 1, Fighters 0: At Hiroshima’s Citizens Stadium, Hiroki Tokoda (5-3) allowed two hits, a walk and a hit batsman while striking out 12 over eight innings as Nippon Ham’s bullpen allowed the game’s only run.
Shota Dobayashi opened the eighth inning with a pinch-hit double off veteran lefty Naoki Miyanishi (0-2), and Ryosuke Kikuchi drove in the game’s only run with a sac fly, before Carp closer Ryoji Kuribayashi overcame back-to-back no-out singles in the ninth to secure his 10th save.
The Fighters wasted a six scoreless innings from lefty Takayuki Kato, who walked one and allowed four hits.
Wednesday’s starting pitchers
Giants vs Hawks: Tokyo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yuji Akahoshi (2-2, 3.90) vs Nao Higashihama (4-1, 2.15)
Swallows vs Marines: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Juri Hara (4-2, 3.79) vs Manabu Mima (1-4, 3.22)
BayStars vs Buffaloes: Yokohama Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Fernando Romero (3-4, 5.56) vs Jacob Waguespack (0-3, 4.91)
Dragons vs Eagles: Nagoya Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Kotaro Ueda (0-1, 5.40) vs Wataru Karashima (1-0, 1.80)
Tigers vs Lions: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Junya Nishi (2-1, 3.00) vs Kaito Yoza (3-1, 1.63)
Carp vs Fighters: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Atsushi Endo (3-3, 2.68) vs Kenta Uehara (0-0, 1.83)
Active roster moves 5/31/2022
Central League
Activated
| Swallows | OF | 0 | Hidetaka Namiki |
| Tigers | P | 19 | Shintaro Fujinami |
| Tigers | OF | 24 | Mel Rojas Jr. |
| Giants | P | 21 | Shoichi Ino |
| Giants | P | 29 | Matt Andriese |
| Giants | P | 96 | Taiki Kikuchi |
| Carp | C | 22 | Shosei Nakamura |
| Carp | C | 62 | Tomoki Ishihara |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | IF | 3 | Ryoichi Adachi |
| Buffaloes | IF | 24 | Kotaro Kurebayashi |
| Hawks | IF | 6 | Kenta Imamiya |
| Fighters | P | 47 | Kenya Suzuki |
| Fighters | C | 68 | Ryo Ishikawa |
| Lions | P | 26 | Takeru Sasaki |
| Lions | OF | 35 | Gakuto Wakabayashi |
Wednesday’s starting pitchers
Giants vs Hawks: Tokyo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yuji Akahoshi (2-2, 3.90) vs Nao Higashihama (4-1, 2.15)
Swallows vs Marines: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Juri Hara (4-2, 3.79) vs Manabu Mima (1-4, 3.22)
BayStars vs Buffaloes: Yokohama Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Fernando Romero (3-4, 5.56) vs Jacob Waguespack (0-3, 4.91)
Dragons vs Eagles: Nagoya Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Kotaro Ueda (0-1, 5.40) vs Wataru Karashima (1-0, 1.80)
Tigers vs Lions: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Junya Nishi (2-1, 3.00) vs Kaito Yoza (3-1, 1.63)
Carp vs Fighters: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Atsushi Endo (3-3, 2.68) vs Kenta Uehara (0-0, 1.83)
Active roster moves 5/31/2022
Central League
Activated
| Swallows | OF | 0 | Hidetaka Namiki |
| Tigers | P | 19 | Shintaro Fujinami |
| Tigers | OF | 24 | Mel Rojas Jr. |
| Giants | P | 21 | Shoichi Ino |
| Giants | P | 29 | Matt Andriese |
| Giants | P | 96 | Taiki Kikuchi |
| Carp | C | 22 | Shosei Nakamura |
| Carp | C | 62 | Tomoki Ishihara |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | IF | 3 | Ryoichi Adachi |
| Buffaloes | IF | 24 | Kotaro Kurebayashi |
| Hawks | IF | 6 | Kenta Imamiya |
| Fighters | P | 47 | Kenya Suzuki |
| Fighters | C | 68 | Ryo Ishikawa |
| Lions | P | 26 | Takeru Sasaki |
| Lions | OF | 35 | Gakuto Wakabayashi |
