All Star fan voting done

NPB announced the results of its All-Star fan voting on Monday, with the surprising Orix Buffaloes springing another surprise, with star outfielder Masataka Yoshida leading all players in the ballot, even popular Hanshin Tigers rookie outfielder Teruaki Sato.

Lions 5, Hawks 2

At Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome, Takeya Nakamura broke a 1-1 fourth-inning tie with a solo homer, his eighth, off Colin Rea (1-1), who allowed five runs, four earned, in six innings. Seibu’s Wataru Matsumoto (7-3) pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth to allow just a first-inning run.

Kaima Taira closed out the win for his 10th save while tying the Japan record of 38 consecutive scoreless games, set by former Tigers closer Kyuji Fujikawa in 2006.

It was bound to happen

I missed yesterday’s game recaps, and I apologize for that. I was planning to do them after I finished writing the weekly newsletter for subscribers. That’s usually the last thing I do before getting to bed in the wee hours of Monday morning, and when I finished and sent it out, I completely forgot Sunday’s games.

On Sunday

In the Central League, the Giants won 5-2, completing a three-game sweep of the Yakult Swallows after Kazuma Okamoto broke a 1-1 tie with a three-run sixth-inning home run off Albert Suarez (2-3). It was Okamoto’s 21st homer, leaving him one back of the Swallows’ Munetaka Murakami for the league lead.

The win left the Giants 2-1/2 games back of the Tigers, who were swept at home by the DeNA BayStars after an 8-3 loss as Tyler Austin homered and Neftali Soto went deep twice. In Hiroshima, the Carp and Dragons drew 1-1.

In the Pacific League, Hiroya Miyagi (8-1) went five innings in the Orix Buffaloes’ 8-3 win over the Seibu Lions that kept the Buffaloes tied for first with the Rakuten Eagles. The Eagles completed a three-game sweep of the SoftBank Hawks with a 3-2 win in Sendai. In Shizuoka, the Lotte Marines beat the Nippon Ham Fighters 8-3 with Leonys Martin pulling into a tie with Yuki Yanagita for the PL home run lead with his 18th.

Starting pitchers

Pacific League

Eagles vs Fighters: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Yoshinao Kamata (-) vs Drew VerHagen (1-6, 5.80)

Buffaloes vs Marines: Kyocera Dome (Osaka) 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Tsubasa Sakakibara (-) vs Kota Futaki (3-4, 3.86)

Central League

Giants vs Carp: Tokyo Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Angel Sanchez (5-4, 4.23) vs Daichi Osera (2-3, 3.22)

BayStars vs Dragons: Jingu Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Yuya Sakamoto (1-2, 4.97) vs Yudai Ono (3-5, 3.36)

Tigers vs Swallows: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Koyo Aoyagi (6-2, 1.96) vs Kazuto Taguchi (4-4, 2.93)

Active roster moves 6/28/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 7/8

Central League

Activated

None

Dectivated

Pacific League

Activated

Dectivated