This weekend’s series will again see the Central League contenders vs the pretenders as the league-leading Tigers are at the Carp, the second-place Giants are at the Dragons, and the third-place Swallows play host to the BayStars at Tokyo Dome.
By the time Sunday’s game rolls around, the BayStars, whose home park was the venue for Olympic baseball and softball, will have played nine of their last 12 games at Tokyo Dome, three as the home team, three as visitors against the Giants, and three as visitors against the Swallows, whose home park is still unusable due to its proximity to National Stadium during the Olympics and Paralympics.
The Pacific League has two series between the four contenders, the fourth-place Hawks at the first-place Buffaloes and the third-place Marines at the second-place Eagles. The other final series is between the last-place Fighters at the fifth-place Lions, who started play on Friday 4-1/2 back of the Hawks.
Live chat with former NPB star Leon Lee
Monday, Aug. 30, 11 am Japan; Sunday, Aug. 29, 7 pm Pacific Daylight Time.
Lee, who played 1,255 games over 10 years in Japan from 1978 to 1987 for the Lotte Orions, the Taiyo Whales, and Yakult Swallows. In addition to his accomplishments, Lee is a keen observer with a knack for explaining complicated things simply.
Bring your questions and enjoy.
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Marines 3, Eagles 1
At Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi, Masahiro Tanaka — the man who runs forgot — battled for seven innings before the Lotte Marines broke a 1-1 tie against Tomohiro Anraku (3-1) in a two-run eighth.
Anraku who was fortunate to work an inning without allowing a run in the Eagles’ 7-6 win over the Buffaloes, gave up a leadoff homer to Shogo Nakamura and walked the next two batters, allowing another run to score.
Marines starter Kota Futaki allowed a run over six innings, and new Marine Yuki Kuniyoshi (1-0) worked a scoreless seventh. Chihaya Sasaki stranded two runners in the eighth. Alan Busenitz kept the Eagles in the game with a scoreless ninth before Lotte closer Naoya Masuda shut things down for his 27th save.
The Eagles struck in the first. Leadoff man Hiroto Kobukata singled on a shot off Futaki’s foot and scoring on a Daichi Suzuki double. Although the Eagles collected base runners, runs did not result and the Marines tied it 1-1 in the fifth, when Hisanori Yasuda appeared to be looking for a first-pitch slider, and Tanaka hung one inside that he pulled into the right-field stands for his seventh home run.
Tanaka, who matched his season high with three walks, survived a couple of scrapes in the sixth and seventh, when Yasuda hit a jam-shot for his third hit of the game, before leaving after throwing 100 pitches.
By scoring one run over seven innings with Tanaka the pitcher of record, his run support this season fell to 2.42 runs per nine innings. The Eagles entered the game scoring 3.88 runs per game.
Buffaloes 2, Hawks 0
At Kyocera Dome Osaka, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (11-5, 1.64) allowed four hits while striking out nine in his second straight complete-game victory, beating Nick Martinez (7-3, 2.09) in a duel of Tokyo Olympic standouts.
The biggest threat Yamamoto faced came in the third inning after a pair of no-out singles. But it quickly evaporated as the second-half “these aren’t the Hawks we’re used to” moments continued, when a sacrifice attempt saw both existing SoftBank runners tagged out at third base. Olympic bunting hero Takuya Kai didn’t get down a good one, but did beat the return throw from third to first.
But when the dropped throw was dropped and rolled away from first baseman Kota Nakagawa, Kenta Imamiya had a “when in Rome moment” or a “when in Osaka do as the Buffaloes do – or did rather” brain fart. The ball stopped rolling and Nakagawa gunned Imamiya down at third to complete a 2-5-3-5 double play.
Ryo Nishimura’s two-run double off the wall put the Buffaloes up 2-0 after Masataka Yoshida drew a leadoff walk and Yutaro Sugimoto singled with no outs. Left fielder Ryuya Kurihara threw out Nishimura trying to score on a single, a call that withstood a review for obstruction on Kai, who made the tag as Nishimura slid into his foot blocking the plate.
Had the umpiring crew been given better monitors than the Buffaloes’ owners pay for at Kyocera Dome, they might have overturned the call, since Kai blocked the plate when he did have the ball – legal in the MLB but not in Japan — and his glove may have missed the runner’s leg anyway.
With the lead in hand, Yamamoto began stomping the breath out of the Hawks. After Kurihara doubled with two outs in the seventh, Yamamoto struck out Alfredo Despaigne despite falling behind 3-0. A two-out ninth-inning single brought PL home run leader Yuki Yanagita to the plate, and Yamamoto won that battle, striking him out on eight pitches to end it.
Fighters 7, Lions 2
At MetLife Dome, Nippon Ham’s top two hitters, Daiki Asama and Haruki Nishikawa combined to reach base seven times and score four runs, while No. 3 hitter Yuki James Nomura and Kensuke Kondo (batting cleanup?) scored three runs and drove in four.
Shuta Tonosaki opened the scoring for Seibu, leading off the bottom of the second with his second home run, but the Fighters made it 2-1 on Kondo’s two-run fourth-inning triple. Nomura’s fifth-inning RBI single made it 3-1 but Lions rookie Yoshinobu Mizukami got the final two outs and left the bases loaded.
Seibu’s Takumi Kuriyama made it 3-2 in the sixth with a leadoff homer, his fourth, in a battle of veterans between the 37-year-old left-handed hitter, and 36-year-old side-arm lefty Naoki Miyanishi. Kondo, however, walked and scored on a sac fly in the seventh off Reed Garrett, and the Lions’ fifth pitcher, Matt Dermody surrendered three more in the eighth.
BayStars 4, Swallows 0
At Tokyo Dome, Masaya Kyoyama (2-3, 5.09) allowed two hits and no walks while striking out seven over seven scoreless innings, while Yakult rookie
Yasunobu Okugawa (5-3, 3.89) gave up three seventh-inning solo home runs in his 6-2/3 innings.
Toshiro Miyazaki broke up a scoreless game with a two-out homer, his 10th. Neftali hit Okugawa’s next pitch for his 18th home run and Shugo Maki followed with his 15th home run. A pair of no-out walks in the eighth set up a DeNA insurance run.
Dragons 4, Giants 1
At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, Yudai Ono (4-8, 3.31) gave up one run on three hits and two walks over seven innings, and Dayan Viciedo drove in four runs with a pair of two-run singles off Shun Yamaguchi (2-3, 3.53), who was gone after two innings.
Viciedo singled in two runs in the first after Yamaguchi allowed the leadoff man to reach by failing to catch a throw at the bag. A one-out single and Masaru Watanabe’s second hit, a double, set the table for Viciedo’s second two-run single.
Kazuma Okamoto got the Giants on the board with a solo homer, his Japan-best 32nd, and the Giants bullpen was rock solid for seven, but the damage had been done.
Katsuki Matayoshi worked a 1-2-3 eighth, and Raidel Martinez retired Hayato Sakamoto, Zelous Wheeler and Okamoto in the ninth to record his 12th save.
Carp 6, Tigers 4
At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Daichi Osera (6-3, 3.09) allowed two runs, one earned, over six innings, and Shogo Sakakura and Ryosuke Kikuchi each drove in a fourth-inning run to put the Carp up for good.
Yuki Nishi (4-9, 3.50) gave up three runs over six innings, but Raul Alcanatara surrendered two more in the seventh as the Carp pulled away. Rookie Carp closer Ryoji Kuribayashi struck out Jerry Sands and retired Yusuke Oyama in the ninth to work around a walk and a single and record his 21st save.
Mel Rojas Jr. made it 1-0 in the second with his fifth home run. Nishi singled and scored on a throwing error to make it 2-0 Tigers in the third. An error contributed to Hiroshima’s first run, on Ryoma Nishikawa’s third-inning RBI single, before the Carp went ahead in the fourth.
A night after they combined for five runs and nine RBIs against the Giants, Seiya Suzuki doubled and scored on Sakakura’s RBI single. Kikuchi doubled Sakakura home to make it 3-2. Suzuki doubled in two runs in Hiroshima’s seventh.
Saturday’s starting pitchers
Eagles vs Marines: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Takayuki Kishi (6-6, 3.14) vs Roki Sasaki (1-2, 3.73)
Lions vs Fighters: MetLife Dome 5 pm, 4 am EDT
Tatsuya Imai (6-4, 2.80) vs Takayuki Kato (3-6, 3.72)
Buffaloes vs Hawks: Kyocera Dome (Osaka) 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Hiroya Miyagi (11-1, 2.01) vs Shuta Ishikawa (4-8, 3.13)
Swallows vs BayStars: Tokyo Dome 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Cy Sneed (2-1, 4.50) vs Fernando Romero (0-2, 4.91)
Dragons vs Giants: Vantelin Dome (Nagoya) 2 pm, 1 am EDT
Yuya Yanagi (8-5, 2.20) vs Shosei Togo (8-5, 3.91)
Carp vs Tigers: Mazda Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yusuke Nomura (0-4, 6.12) vs Shoki Murakami (0-0, 19.29)
Active roster moves 8/27/2021
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 9/6
Central League
Activated
| BayStars | P | 43 | Takuya Shindo |
| Swallows | P | 11 | Yasunobu Okugawa |
Dectivated
| BayStars | P | 34 | Shingo Hirata |
Pacific League
Activated
| Hawks | P | 48 | Yuta Watanabe |
| Marines | OF | 79 | Leonys Martin |
| Eagles | OF | 54 | Ren Wada |
| Buffaloes | P | 35 | Motoki Higa |
Dectivated
| Hawks | P | 67 | Shunsuke Kasaya |
| Marines | OF | 38 | Akito Takabe |
| Eagles | IF | 9 | Brandon Dixon |
| Buffaloes | P | 63 | Soichiro Yamazaki |
