On Thursday, Gosuke Kato homered in a big league game for the first time, veteran Takumi Kuriyama hit his first homer of the season, Masahiro Tanaka won a game for the first time since April 14, while Kenta Bright, a day after getting his first start of the season, continued to shine for Chunichi.
Off the field entirely, the players union and NPB opened working group sessions to attempt to resolve their differences over management of players’ image rights.
DeNA’s Neftali Soto has been deactivated with inflammation in the second toe of his left foot, which I learned yesterday is also known in Japanese as a person’s “index toe.”
And lastly, the SoftBank Hawks have, according to multiple reports citing sources, agreed to terms with Cuba’s sports authority to bring back outfielder Alfredo Despaigne, who has 184 Japan home runs under his ample belt but was released after last season.
Wednesday’s games
Lions 4, Tigers 0: At Seibu Dome, the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers’ nine-game winning streak came to an unlikely end as Keisuke Honda went four innings for and combined with five relievers to shut out the Tigers on five hits and five walks.
Seibu scored small-ball style in the first, a Sosuke Genda leadoff single, the obligatory sacrifice and a one-out Kento Watanabe single. Takumi Kuriyama, who left two on in the first, opened the fourth with his first homer of the year. Shuta Tonosaki singled in two in the seventh.
Fighters 5, Swallows 2: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers’ Burden Field, Naoyuki Uwasawa (5-3) worked eight innings, and Gosuke Kato hit his first two big league home runs to give Nippon Ham some breathing room as the Fighters handed the Swallows to their 12th straight losing decision.
Swallows rookie Yuta Ichikawa (0-2) issued two first-inning walks and hit a batter as Nippon Ham took a 1-0 lead. Nippon Ham needed a hit to score its second run, when a hit batsman a sacrifice and a Go Matsumoto double made it 2-0 in the second. Gosuke Kato made it 3-1 in the Fighters’ third with his first homer, and 4-1 in the fifth with his second, and rookie Koki Fukuda hit Nippon Ham’s third, leading off the sixth.
Eagles 3, DenialStars 1: At Miyagi Stadium, Masahiro Tanaka (3-3) pitched out of a third-inning jam and Maikel Franco singled in the game’s first run in the bottom of the inning. Tanaka worked seven innings and surrendered Toshiro Miyazaki‘s game-tying solo homer in the sixth but earned the win after Tsuyoshi Yamasaki tripled off J. B. Wendelken (1-1) in the seventh and scored on a wild pitch.
Carp 3, Buffaloes 1: At Osaka Dome, Allen Kuri (4-2) held Orix hitless through 4-2/3 innings, but his teammates left loads of runners in scoring position. A leadoff walk in the seventh produced nothing after the runner was caught stealing, but Shogo Akiyama followed an infield single and the sixth walk issued by Orix pitchers with a liner over the right-field wall for his third home run and a 3-0 lead.
Kuri went seven innings to pick up the win, while Daiki Tajima‘s reward for constantly pitching out of trouble for six innings was no decision.
Giants 7, Marines 4: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Shosei Togo‘s first pitch reached the seats on Hiromi Oka‘s second home run. Former Giant lefty C.C. Mercedes struck out the side in the first but surrendered Kazuma Okamoto‘s 10th homer, leading off the second. The Giants snapped the tie after two walks and a single set up Makoto Kadowaki‘s two-run single.
Hayato Sakamoto reached the home run lagoon in the fifth for his seventh homer, but the Marines tied it up in the sixth. Former Giant Gregory Polanco hit his sixth, Koki Yamaguchi doubled and Hisanori Yasuda hit his fifth.
Okamoto’s two-run homer and Sho Nakata‘s eighth, made it 7-4 in the eighth, and Taisei Ota closed it out for his 10th save.
Dragons 7, Hawks 1: At Fukuoka Dome, a day after making his first start of the season and getting three hits, Kenta Bright went 2-for-5 with a game-breaking three-run triple for Chunichi.
Akira Nakamura doubled to lead off the second against Hideaki Wakui (2-6) and scored after a Kensuke Kondo single and a Yuki Yanagita sac fly. Chunichi tied it against Nao Higashihama (3-5) in the fourth when Yuki Okabayashi singled, stole second and scored on a Seiya Hosokawa single. The Dragons took their first lead of the series in the seventh on a one-out walk to Yohei Oshima and three singles, which loaded the base for Bright, who scored on a Hosokawa RBI infield single. Okabayashi added a solo homer in the ninth.
