The Yakult Swallows went from being a fish food feast to creating famine in Yokohama, while the Pacific League lead changed again and another pitcher may be headed to the next “Yuki Yanagita got me too” support group, while Adam Walker had a big game, and Hiroto Kobukata made sure the PL playoff is not exclusively about three teams.
Before we get into it, one of my favorite unbelievable Yanagita homers, from the May 26, 2021, interleague game against the Giants.
Let’s get to the games:
Swallows 1, BayStars 0: At Yokohama Stadium, Yasuhiro Ogawa (7-6) went seven innings, allowing five hits but no walks while striking out four and singling in the game’s only run in the fifth inning off Shinichi Onuki (10-7). This game was not that close as Yakult stranded 10 runners. Noboru Shimizu and Scott McGough each allowed a hit in a scoreless inning with McGough earning his 36th save.
Tigers 5, Dragons 0: At Koshien Stadium, timing was everything, Junya Nishi (6-3) and four relievers scattered eight hits, a walk and a hit batsman, while another runner reached on an error, as they managed to shut out Chunichi. The Tigers’ seven hits and a walk all happened in two innings.
Fumihito Haraguchi had the third of three two-hit singles in the fourth to make it 1-0, and back-to-back two-run doubles by Teruaki Sato and Seiya Kinami made it 5-0 in the sixth.
Giants 7, Carp 0: At Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, Adam Walker doubled, homered twice, his 21st and 22nd, and scored three runs, Sho Nakata hit a three-run homer, his 20th, and Yoshihiro Maru hit a first-inning two-run homer, his 26th, to get things started.
Giants rookie Yuji Akahoshi (5-5) pitched out of a couple of jams in his five scoreless innings to earn the win.
Hawks 4, Buffaloes 3: At Osaka Dome, Yuki Yanagita hit one of those improbable opposite-field home runs he’s famous for in the first after Sachiya Yamasaki (5-8) allowed a one-out Masaki Mimori single and walked Kenta Imamiya.
Yamasaki allowed seven hits, including a home run by Mimori,; and a walk over three-plus innings, so it wasn’t like Yanagita’s homer was the only problem he had, but Orix’s bullpen threw six shutout innings, and Orix came back for two runs against Kodai Senga (10-5), and scored an unearned run in the eighth before Livan Moinelo earned his 21st save in the ninth.
The win moved SoftBank back to the top of the standings, leading second-place Seibu and third-place Orix on winning percentage.
Lions 3, Fighters 0: At Seibu Dome, Nippon Ham had plenty of base runners, but the manager who promised at his introduction that he would teach his players the secret to scoring without hits, apparently skipped the lesson about scoring when they had hits.
Takeya Nakamura broke the ice in the second with his 11th home run, off Cody Ponce (3-5), Yuji Kaneko and Sosuke Genda tripled in the third and a Tomoya Mori sac fly completed the scoring. Kaito Yoza (10-6) allowed four hits and walked three over five innings, and five relievers, ending with Tatsushi Masuda, who didn’t allow a home run for the first time in three games, earned his 30th save.
Eagles 3, Marines 2: At Miyagi Stadium, Takayuki Kishi (8-9) retired the first nine Marines before a leadoff walk and a one-out single set up Koki Yamaguchi’s sacrifice fly, and Hisanori Yasuda followed with an RBI single.
Kishi retired 13 of the 14 next batters, and after seven innings from Kazuya Ojima, Yuki Karakawa (2-1) took over and with one out and two on, Hiroto Kobukata hit his second homer of the season and Yuki Matsui saved his 30th game, pulling him to within of five of replacing Yasuaki Yamasaki as the youngest to reach 200.
Monday’s starting pitchers
Eagles vs Buffaloes: Miyagi Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Takahiro Norimoto (7-8, 3.81) vs Hiroya Miyagi (10-6, 3.07)
Marines vs Fighters: Chiba Marine Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shota Suzuki (0-2, 10.13) vs Takayuki Kato (6-6, 2.05)
Hawks vs Lions: Fukuoka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Nao Higashihama (9-6, 2.85) vs Dietrich Enns (10-6, 2.68)
BayStars vs Swallows: Yokohama Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shota Imanaga (9-3, 2.31) vs Juri Hara (7-5, 4.64)
Tigers vs Dragons: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Hiroto Saiki (4-1, 1.50) vs Yuya Yanagi (8-10, 3.66)
Active roster moves 9/11/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 9/21
Central League
Activated
| Swallows | P | 24 | Tomoya Hoshi |
| Swallows | OF | 0 | Hidetaka Namiki |
| Tigers | P | 64 | Hidetaka Okadome |
| Tigers | IF | 4 | Takahiro Kumagai |
| Dragons | P | 41 | Akiyoshi Katsuno |
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 43 | Daiki Yamamoto |
| Tigers | P | 20 | Daichi Moriki |
| Tigers | P | 48 | Yukiya Saitoh |
| Tigers | IF | 00 | Yasuhiro Yamamoto |
| Giants | P | 42 | C.C. Mercedes |
| Carp | P | 19 | Yusuke Nomura |
| Carp | P | 43 | Sotaro Shimauchi |
Pacific League
Activated
| Marines | OF | 1 | Kyota Fujiwara |
| Lions | OF | 7 | Yuji Kaneko |
Dectivated
| Marines | P | 45 | Tayron Guerrero |
| Lions | OF | 51 | Manaya Nishikawa |
