On Wednesday in Japan, Hiromi Ito and Chihiro Sumida each tossed a Maddux, while each league’s front-runner got roughed up by the rival league’s cellar dweller, including one in which an 18-year-old catcher fresh out of high school had a big major league debut. Also, the Japan Series rematch series went to Game 2 in Osaka. In other news, the Buffaloes called up Leandro Cedeno, while the Yakult Swallows brought back setup man Noboru Shimizu for the first time in a month and a half, and he said he has fixed those things that made him ineffective in April

Wednesday’s games:

Fighters 7, Dragons 0: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayers Burden Field, Hiromi Ito (6-1) struck out seven while holding Chunichi to three singles and no walks in a 98-pitch Maddux to snap the Fighters’ three-game losing streak.

Chunichi’s Shinnosuke Ogasawara (2-6) retired the first two hitters in the fourth before three singles put a run on the board and Chusei Mannami made it 4-0 with his eighth home run. Former Dragon Yuya Gunji made it 5-0 off his former batterymate Ogasawara with his sixth home run. Nippon Ham’s Daiki Narama’s two-run eighth-inning single completed the rout.