Welcome to interleague 2022, where Day 1 looked like a summary of last year’s competition, when the Central League won the most games but was outscored. On Tuesday, CL clubs went 4-2, while PL clubs scored 21 and allowed 17.

But baseball isn’t about who is better or plays better, it’s about who wins, because the championship matters.

We also had a milestone of sorts for Tatsunori Hara, and some heroics that really got Tsuyoshi Shinjo excited.

While PL TV is once more streaming the Giants’ and Tigers’ home interleague games, the highlights are not part of the package…

Shall we get to it?

Giants 4, Buffaloes 2: At Tokyo Dome, Orix setup man Jesse Biddle (3-2) issued back-to-back no-out walks in the eighth, and Adam Walker singled in a run to break the 2-2 tie. Kazuma Okamoto, who opened the scoring with a two-run fourth-inning homer, his 13^th, off Taisuke Yamaoka, brought home an insurance run with a ground ball.

Adam Walker hero interview

The Buffaloes, last year’s interleague winners, tied it in the seventh against Giants lefty C.C. Mercedes. Keita Nakagawa, whose been on an absolute tear, doubled to open the inning with his third hit of the game. Joe McCarthy was hit for the second time, and Yutaro Sugimoto singled to load the bases. Mercedes got two outs before Kodai Sano’s pinch-hit single tied it.