Becauase Japanese baseball allows a travel day before and after remote series, the Yakult Swallows and Yomiuri Giants had Thursday off after playing Tuesday and Wednesday in Osaka, Japan’s second largest metropolis and a transportation center, but the rules made teams traveled by steam train still rule Japanese baseball.
So only five games were scheduled for Thursday, and one of those, a Seibu Lions home game against the Nippon Ham Fighters set for Omiya in a small stadium located in a lush green park area, was rained out, while another only lasted six innings.
But if Thursday was a little slow, other than the blood-letting in Sendai, it was also Roki Eve, so let’s enjoy!
Eagles 11, Buffaloes 8: At Miyagi Stadium, Rakuten won a wild one when Yuki Matsui got the final two outs with the bases loaded in the ninth to earn his 28th save thanks to a run-saving game-ending play from second baseman Yoshiaki Watanabe.
The game started as a repeat of Wednesday’s duel between Orix’s Yuma Tongu, who doubled in two first-inning runs, and Hideto Asamura, who hit a first-inning two-run homer for the second straight night. Rakuten took a 4-3 lead into the third.
Keita Nakagawa tripled and scored his second run on a Masataka Yoshida sac fly to tie it, and Tongu homered for the third time in two nights to put Orix in front 5-4.
Daichi Suzuki singled in the tying run in the fourth, and after Asamura walked to load the bases, Hiroaki Shimauchi unloaded them off Jesse Biddle (4-5) with his 14th homer. Watanabe’s two-run sixth-inning triple made it 11-5.
BayStars 7, Dragons 0: At Yokohama Stadium, DeNA completed a sweep of Chunichi behind seven six four-hit innings from Fernando Romero (5-7). Masayuki Kuwahara hit a two-run third-inning homer off 19-year-old rookie Kotaro Ueda (0-4). BayStars catcher Hikaru Ito singled and scored on the homer and doubled in a run in the fourth, and Neftali Soto made it 4-0 with his sixth-inning RBI single.
Tigers 8, Carp 0, 6 innings, rain: At Koshien Stadium, Hiroto Saiki (4-1) continued to be tough in his comeback from Tommy John surgery walking two, striking out nine, and allowing three hits as Hanshin swept Hiroshima.
Yusuke Oyama, who was the Tigers’ big wheel in the series, went 2-for-3, scored a run, and drove in two. His RBI single opened the scoring in the third. Koji Chikamoto had four hits, including a fifth-inning solo homer. Mel Rojas Jr. doubled in a run in the fifth before Hanshin poured on five runs in the sixth before rain stopped the game.
Marines 7, Hawks 0: At Fukuoka Dome, Manabu Mima (7-6) went seven innings to win his third straight decision while Seiya “Aja” Inoue and Shogo Nakamura each homered and drove in three runs.
Colin Rea (5-4) struck out eight but walked five, hit one and gave up three hits en route to allowing four runs over seven innings.
Friday’s starting pitchers
Eagles vs Fighters: Miyagi Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Takayuki Kishi (7-8, 3.36) vs Hiromi Ito (9-9, 3.21)
Marines vs Buffaloes: Chiba Marine Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Roki Sasaki (8-3, 2.14) vs Sachiya Yamasaki (4-7, 3.40)
Hawks vs Lions: Fukuoka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Nao Higashihama (8-6, 2.99) vs Wataru Matsumoto (6-4, 3.50)
Swallows vs Dragons: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Cy Sneed (7-5, 4.25) vs Yudai Ono (6-7, 2.58)
Tigers vs Giants: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yuki Nishi (9-8, 2.19) vs Shosei Togo (11-6, 2.78)
Carp vs BayStars: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Daichi Osera (7-7, 4.46) vs Shinichi Onuki (10-5, 2.77)
Active roster moves 9/1/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 9/11
Central League
Activated
| Tigers | P | 35 | Hiroto Saiki |
| Dragons | P | 67 | Kotaro Ueda |
| BayStars | P | 46 | Kenjiro Tanaka |
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 38 | Yugo Umeno |
| Tigers | P | 18 | Kosuke Baba |
| Dragons | P | 41 | Akiyoshi Katsuno |
| BayStars | P | 45 | Robert Gsellman |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | P | 69 | Jesse Biddle |
| Eagles | P | 46 | Shoma Fujihira |
| Eagles | OF | 12 | Jose Marmolejos |
| Hawks | P | 66 | Yuki Matsumoto |
| Hawks | IF | 68 | Masaki Mimori |
| Lions | P | 19 | Shunsuke Sato |
Dectivated
| Buffaloes | P | 29 | Daiki Tajima |
| Marines | P | 62 | Ryotaro Mori |
| Eagles | OF | 4 | Louis Okoye |
| Hawks | P | 40 | Kazuki Sugiyama |
| Hawks | OF | 64 | Yusuke Masago |
| Fighters | P | 59 | Haruka Nemoto |
