Through their first 16 games, the Lotte Marines have been the SoftBank Hawks’ worst nightmare, but all that appears to be changing.
Wednesday’s games
Other news
Senga goes to top of class
Kodai Senga (11-6) got a late start to the season but qualified for the Pacific League’s ERA title with eight innings in the SoftBank Hawks’ 2-0 win on Wednesday at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, over the Lotte Marines, who fell into third place, a game behind the Seibu Lions for the final playoff spot.
The Hawks’ win left them tied in their season series against Lotte after the three-time defending Japan Series champs starting the season 4-11-1 against the Marines.
With nine strikeouts over eight innings, Senga now leads the league with a 2.16 ERA and is tied with Orix’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the strikeout lead with 149 and tied with Hideaki Wakui for the lead in wins.
The Hawks scored on solo homers by Alfredo Despaigne, his sixth, and Ryoya Kurihara, his 17th, off former major leaguer Chen Wei-yin (0-3), and have now beaten the Marines in seven straight games. Yuito Mori notched his 32nd save.
Spangenberg, Lions feast on rookie Yoshida
Corey Spangenberg homered for the second straight night and drove in four runs as the Seibu Lions tattooed rookie Kosei Yoshida (0-2) for eight runs over two innings in a 10-3 win over the Nippon Ham Fighters at MetLife Dome.
Zach Neal (6-8) allowed three runs over five innings to pick up the win. Shuta Tonosaki homered, drove in two runs and scored three, and Reed Garrett worked a scorless inning of relief for the Lions.
Buffaloes bounce Eagles
The Orix Buffaloes broke an eighth-inning tie with two runs off Alan Busenitz (1-4) in an 8-7 win at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome over the Rakuten Eagles, who fell 3-1/2 games out of the final playoff spot with four games left to play.
Orix lit up Hideaki Wakui for six runs over five innings before the visitors came back to tie it.
Endo goes distance for Carp
Atsushi Endo (5-6) threw a four-hitter for the Hiroshima Carp in a 5-1 win over the Yomiuri Giants at Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium.
Hisayoshi Chono went 2-for-3 with two walks a homer three RBIs and his first stolen base since he was with the Giants two years ago, while Jose Pirela had three hits for the Carp.
Giants captain Hayato Sakamoto went 0-for-4 to remain three hits shy of 2,000 in his career.
Fujinami goes 6 scoreless innings in Tigers’ win
Shintaro Fujinami overcame three two-out walks to go six scoreless innings in the Hanshin Tigers’ 3-2 walkoff win over the Yakult Swallows at Koshien Stadium.
Yusuke Oyama homered in the ninth off Yugo Umeno (4-2) to end it and make a winner out of closer Robert Suarez (3-1) after the Swallows tied it with single runs in the seventh, off Suguru Iwazaki, and in the eighth, off Jon Edwards.
Takahashi lifts Dragons over ‘Stars
Dragons captain Shuhei Takahashi scored twice and hit a tie-breaking eighth-inning home run in a 5-4 win at Nagoya Dome after the DeNA BayStars tied it on home runs by Neftali Soto and Jose Lopez.
Soto’s 25th made it a 4-1 game in the fifth and Lopez’s 12th, with two on, tied it in the sixth.
Kodai Senga fastest NPB starter to 1,000 Ks
SoftBank Hawks right-hander Kodai Senga, whose family name literally means “1,000 celebrations,” notched his 1,000th strikeout in his 855-1/3 inning on Wednesday night at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium.
Only Kyuji Fujikawa, the longtime former closer of the Central League’s Hanshin Tigers, who will retire this year, reached 1,000 in fewer innings. Fujikawa notched 92 of his strikeouts in 102 career innings as a starter, but he was primarily used as a reliever whose 243 saves are fourth-most in NPB history.
Senga, however, took over the Pacific League record from Hall of Famer Hideo Nomo. Senga started his career as a reliever and has pitched 82 career innings out of the bullpen. Signed after being taken in the developmental draft, Senga notched his first strikeout on April 30, 2012, fanning Lotte catcher Tomoya Satozaki, who was working the game as an analyst on TV Tokyo.
| Name | Team | Innings |
| Kyuji Fujikawa | Hanshin Tigers | 771-2/3 |
| Kodai Senga | SoftBank Hawks | 855-1/3 |
| Hideo Nomo | Kintetsu Buffaloes | 913 |
Active roster moves 11/4/2020
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 11/14
Central League
Activated
| Giants | P | 95 | Hayato Horioka |
Dectivated
| Giants | P | 49 | Thyago Vieira |
Pacific League
Activated
| Hawks | OF | 54 | Alfredo Despaigne |
| Fighters | C | 68 | Ryo Ishikawa |
| Buffaloes | P | 21 | Daichi Takeyasu |
Dectivated
| Hawks | P | 44 | Rick van den Hurk |
| Hawks | OF | 4 | Wladimir Balentien |
| Hawks | OF | 60 | Go Kamamoto |
| Fighters | P | 35 | Takahiro Nishimura |
Starting pitchers for Nov. 5, 2020
Pacific League
Marines vs Hawks: Zozo Marine Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Manabu Mima (9-4, 4.21) vs Nao Higashihama (9-1, 2.02)
Buffaloes vs Eagles: Kyocera Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Daiki Tajima (4-6, 4.21) vs Wataru Karashima (1-3, 5.46)
Central League
Dragons vs BayStars: Nagoya Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yudai Ono (10-6, 1.91) vs Kentaro Taira (4-5, 2.30)
Tigers vs Swallows: Koshien Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yuki Nishi (11-5, 2.03) vs Yuto Kanakubo (0-0, 0.00)
Carp vs Giants: Mazda Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Kazuki Yabuta (1-2, 4.75) vs Angel Sanchez (8-4, 3.05)
