Sunday saw two complete-game shutouts, not an unusual occurrence in recent years, with Japan’s official balls getting deader and deader with each passing season since 2020. What was unique was that each shutout was thrown by a Rookie of the Year-winning former closer. We also had a comeback clash of sorts in Fukuoka, a rare opening-series setback despite a big game from Bobby Dalbec, and a rare road sweep.
Although we have had a slew of home runs in Fukuoka, which hosted the Hawks-Fighters openers, there have been six team shutouts so far, and there might have been seven if Miguel Sano had not failed to catch a throw from his teammate in Hiroshima today.
I won’t spit out home run totals today, but I have looked at the average percentage of fly balls that resulted in home runs since 2014. Here are the percentages?
| Year | PL | CL |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 6.3 | 7.2 |
| 2015 | 6.5 | 6.0 |
| 2016 | 6.6 | 7.4 |
| 2017 | 8.1 | 7.7 |
| 2018 | 8.6 | 8.6 |
| 2019 | 8.7 | 8.7 |
| 2020 | 7.5 | 8.5 |
| 2021 | 7.0 | 7.8 |
| 2022 | 5.4 | 5.2 |
| 2023 | 6.0 | 6.5 |
| 2024 | 4.9 | 4.8 |
| 2025 | 5.3 | 5.4 |
Sunday’s games
Hawks 8, Fighters 4: Carter Stewart Jr, appearing in his first official game at any level since suffering an oblique muscle injury last year in spring training, allowed three runs on five hits, two walks and a hit batsman while striking out six over five innings to defeat Kohei Arihara in his first game back with the Fighters since 2020.
Arihara, who joined SoftBank in 2023 after two injury-filled seasons in the U.S., allowed seven runs, five earned in six innings. The Fighters continued to blast home runs at a blistering pace with Chusei Mannami, Kotaro Kiyomiya, and Yuya Gunji each going deep to give Nippon Ham eight for the season. But Taiga Kamichatani provided three innings of solid relief for the Hawks, who took Arihara to the woodshed en route to completing a series sweep.
Carp 1, Dragons 0: Former closer Ryoji Kuribayashi, the Central League’s 2021 rookie of the year, threw a 95-pitch one-hit Maddux in his first career start, spoiling an outstanding effort from Chunichi right-hander Hiroto Takahashi. Both pitchers struck out nine, but Takahashi walked one and allowed eight hits (seven singles) and an unearned run over eight innings in the complete-game defeat.
After a pair of two-out sixth-inning bouncers found holes for singles, the game’s only run scored when 32-year-old former MLB regular Miguel Sano failed to catch a throw at first base for the final out. The Carp won swept the series in Hiroshima.
Buffaloes 5, Eagles 4: Orix came from two runs down in the first, and held on in an eight-pitcher bullpen game, with Venezuela international Andres Machado pitching around a leadoff single to record the save.
Tigers 12, Giants 6: Hanshin lefty Masashi Ito brought his team from a run down in the second with a blistering two-run double, but was yanked by manager Kyuji Fujikawa after his 39th pitch forced in Yomiuri’s second run with a third-inning bases-loaded walk.
New Yomiuri import Bobby Dalbec, who doubled in the Giants’ first-inning run drew the walk, and tied it 5-5 with a two-run fifth inning homer. Yuto Izuguchi’s solo homer made it 6-5 Giants in the seventh. Hanshin retied it in the eighth and took the lead on an infield single, with a second run scoring as the ball was fumbled.
The Tigers tacked on four more in the ninth as Yomiuri lost a season opening series for the first time in 14 years.
Lions 4, Marines 0: Former Seibu closer Kaima Taira, the Pacific League’s 2020 rookie of the year, made his first start since 2024, threw a five-hit 119-pitch shutout. New Lion Masayuki Kuwahara reached base three times, and scored in the first after leading off with a single.
The loss was Lotte’s first of the season.
Swallows 5, BayStars 3: Yakult right-hander Hirotoshi Takanashi allowed a run over six innings, allowing the Swallows to overturn a 2-0 seventh-inning deficit in a five-run eighth. Domingo Santana did the damage with a no-out three-run double on DeNA starter Yutaro Ishida’s 103rd pitch to put Yakult ahead en route to sweeping a three-game road series for the first time since April 1, 2024.
I didn’t have an opportunity to see this game, and was hoping to see highlights, but alas the BayStars are supplying the highlights for their home games and declined to show any of the Swallows’ highlights–once more revealing the degree to which NPB owners are trying to build their overall product.
