Tuesday brought four shutouts, three complete games, and two big offensive games.
Tuesday’s games
Buffaloes 2, Eagles 0: At Miyagi Stadium, Orix’s Hiroya Miyagi (4-0) needed just 109 pitches to complete a four-hit shutout, thanks to rookie right fielder Tokumasa Chano, who saved two runs with a leaping one-out catch against the wall and then doubled off the runner from first to end the inning.
Rakuten’s Takahisa Hayakawa (1-3) kept the Buffaloes off the board until he surrendered eighth-inning homers to Marwin Gonzalez, his third this year in Sendai, and Kodai Sano.
Hawks 1, Fighters 0: At Kumamoto, Tomhisa Ozeki (2-3) struck out 13 and walked two and was matched by seven scoreless innings from Hiromi Ito and one from Naoki Miyanishi before the Hawks finally cashed in a runner after stranding nine over the first eight innings.
Ukyo Shuto drew a one-out walk from Bryan Rodriguez (0-2) and stole second. Takuya Kai bounced one up the middle and Shuto scrambled home to score the winning run when Fighters shortstop Daigo Kawakamibata lost the handle on the ball.
Swallows 1, Tigers: At Koshien Stadium, Yakult rookie Koshiro Yoshimura (2-1) pitched out of a sixth-inning bases-loaded pickle, and Domingo Santana became the first player to score off Hanshin rookie Shoki Murakami (2-1) this season. Santana led off the Swallows’ seventh with his fifth home run, snapping Murakami’s streak of 31 scoreless inning. Kazuto Taguchi, Yakult’s fourth pitcher, survived a leadoff double in the ninth to record his ninth save.
Tigers-Swallows highlights
Giants 9, DenialStars 2: At Niigata, Shosei Togo overcame a first-inning leadoff homer, Keita Sano‘s fourth in three games, before giving up another run in the ninth in a 143-pitch complete game in which Giants rookie Makoto Kadowaki went three-for-four with his first career homer and four RBIs.
Kazumasa Okamoto homered to tie it 1-1 in the second before Kadowaki’s two-out infield single plated the go-ahead run. Catcher Takumi Oshiro had four hits. He doubled and scored on a fourth-inning Kadowaki single and belted a two-run homer, his fifth, in the sixth inning.
Adam Walker added to the bonfire with an eighth-inning pinch-hit home run.
DenialStars-Giants highlights
Marines 6, Lions 2: At Seibu Dome, Shogo Nakamura had four hits, including a pair of RBI singles and a two-run home run, while Atsuki Taneichi (3-2) struck out six over seven innings, while giving up solo homers to David MacKinnon, his fifth, and Shuta Tonosaki, his sixth.
Carp 1, Dragons 0: At Gifu, Hiroshima played Chunichi’s game, putting runners on base but leaving them there, stranding eight over seven innings not to mention having two thrown out trying to steal. Shogo Akiyama ended the impasse by doubling to open the eighth off Daisuke Sobue (2-1) and scored on a Takyoshi Noma single.
Hiroki Tokoda (3-0) worked seven innings to earn the win, while Takuya Yasaki earned the save for the Carp while Ryoji Kuribayashi is deactivated.
