More Fighters games postponed
NPB announced Sunday that in addition to that day’s canceled game at Sapporo Dome against the Seibu Lions, the virus-hit Nippon Ham Fighters, with 10 first-team infections, have ceased baseball activities until cleared fit by local health authorities.
Their Pacific League series against the Lotte Marines in Chiba from Monday to Wednesday have been postponed with further postponements likely.
Sato cleans up
Tigers 7, Carp 3
At Koshien Stadium, Hanshin rookie Teruaki Sato batted fourth, which was salivation material to begin with before he hit a game-changing grand slam. His homer turned a mediocre start from Joe Gunkel (5-0) into a winning effort. Gunkel started the season with four wipe-out starts, but has been more ordinary since, allowing three runs over five innings on Saturday.
Hiroshima’s Yusuke Nomura (0-3) allowed five runs in four-plus innings, leaving after Sato took him deep in the fifth.
Hanshin leadoff man Koji Chikamoto and No. 3 hitter Jefry Marte each reached base five times. Chikamoto stole two bases and scored three runs, while Marte scored one and drove in one.
BayStars 10, Swallows 2
At Yokohama Stadium, DeNA’s Tyler Austin homered off the scoreboard, singled twice walked and scored three runs to help power the BayStars. The home run was his fourth and his third in four days. Neftali Soto doubled in a run in DeNA’s six-run seventh.
Southpaw Edwin Escobar (1-0) struck out two in a 1-2-3 sixth to earn the win and Kevin Shackelford worked a perfect eighth for the BayStars, while Hirotoshi Takanashi (2-1) allowed four runs, one earned, over five-plus innings and took the loss.
Eagles 6, Marines 5
At Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park, the marquee pitching matchup between first-year left-handers was interrupted by rain and turned into a slug fest, that was decided when leadoff man Takashi Ogino slammed a fastball off closer Yuki Matsui (0-1) to break a ninth-inning tie.
Rakuten’s Ryosuke Tatsumi dealt the first big blow, capping a three-run fourth off Shota Suzuki with his sixth home run. Eagles starter Takahisa Hayakawa threw a high straight fastball to Brandon Laird, whose third homer of the year, a three-run shot in the sixth made it a 5-4 game. The Eagles tied it against Frank Herrmann in the seventh with the help of an error.
The game was notable for balls getting stuck in odd places. The Marines opened the scoring after a drive from Hisanori Yasuda got stuck between the padding atop the left field wall and the screen atop it. Another stuck ball, in Rakuten catcher Hikaru Ota’s mask in the ninth, allowed a runner on base to advance.
Buffaloes 5, Hawks 4
At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Orix outslugged SoftBank thanks to two-run homers by Steven Moya, his third, and Yuma Mune, his second, and a solo shot by Torai Fushimi, his first. Sachiya Yamasaki (1-3) allowed two runs in six-plus innings.
Yurisbel Gracial hit his fifth homer of the year for the Hawks, a two-run shot in the eighth, that made it a one-run game.
Pacific League
Starting pitchers
Lions vs Buffaloes: MetLife Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
Matt Dermody (-) vs Hiroya Miyagi (2-0, 1.26)
Hawks vs Eagles: PayPay Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Akira Niho (-) vs Ryota Takinaka (1-2, 7.90)
Central League
Dragons vs BayStars: Vantelin Dome (Nagoya) 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Kodai Umetsu (-) vs Michael Peoples (-)
Carp vs Giants: Mazda Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Masato Morishita (3-2, 1.80) vs Seishu Hatake (2-1, 4.95)
Active roster moves 5/2/2021
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 5/12. Players marked with an asterisk are coronavirus activations and deactivations, meaning they can be recalled as soon as they are cleared even before 10 days pass.
Central League
Activated
None
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 14 | Hirotoshi Takanashi |
Pacific League
Activated
| Buffaloes | P | 58 | Kazuyuki Kaneda |
| Buffaloes | OF | 69 | Stefen Romero |
Dectivated
| Lions | P | 40 | Ichiro Tamura |
| Lions | P | 45 | Keisuke Honda |
| Fighters | C | 60 | Takuya Kori |
| Fighters | IF | 53 | Ronny Rodriguez* |
| Fighters | IF | 91 | Yuto Takahama* |
| Buffaloes | P | 63 | Soichiro Yamazaki |
| Buffaloes | IF | 36 | Tatsuya Yamaashi |
