Former ace day
If Friday is typically “Ace day” when teams’ Opening Day starting pitchers are most likely to go head-to-head, Tuesday is going to be “former ace day” at two Pacific League games.
At Tokyo Dome, the Fighters are going to host the Orix Buffaloes while starting former Buffaloes ace Chihiro Kaneko, while in Sendai, the Seibu Lions will go against their former ace, Takayuki Kishi, who will start for the Rakuten Eagles, and try to snap out of his recent funk — allowing 14 runs in his last 14-1/3 innings.
The Buffaloes’ game might be a case of back to the future, with extremely skilled 19-year-old rookie Hiroya Miyagi starting for Orix — a guy who could be their future ace.
The Lions will go with a newcomer, lefty Matt Dermody, who pitched well in his debut.
Pacific League
Starting pitchers
Fighters vs Buffaloes: Tokyo Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
Chihiro Kaneko (0-1, 2.20) vs Hiroya Miyagi (3-0, 1.53)
Eagles vs Lions: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Takayuki Kishi (2-3, 4.08) vs Matt Dermody (0-0, 0.00)
Hawks vs Marines: PayPay Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shota Takeda (2-1, 2.28) vs Kota Futaki (1-2, 2.90)
Central League
BayStars vs Giants: Yokohama Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
Shinichi Onuki (1-3, 7.12) vs Shosei Togo (2-2, 3.77)
Tigers vs Dragons: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yuki Nishi (3-2, 2.54) vs Shinnosuke Ogasawara (2-2, 2.88)
Active roster moves 5/10/2021
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 5/20
Central League
Activated
None
Dectivated
| Giants | P | 35 | Toshiki Sakurai |
| Giants | IF | 6 | Hayato Sakamoto |
| Giants | IF | 98 | Estamy Urena |
| Tigers | P | 49 | Joe Gunkel |
| Tigers | OF | 53 | Kairi Shimada |
| BayStars | IF | 5 | Toshihiko Kuramoto |
| BayStars | OF | 61 | Tatsuo Ebina |
Pacific League
Activated
None
Dectivated
| Marines | P | 43 | Kazuya Ojima |
| Fighters | P | 52 | Takahide Ikeda |
| Buffaloes | P | 17 | Hirotoshi Masui |
