Shosei Togo wasn’t super sharp, but he was sharp enough as the Yomiuri Giants opened a three-game series with the Yakult Swallows by sticking a spear into their Achilles heel, while the Pacific League’s top two teams also squared off, with the Seibu Lions looking greedily at second place as they take on the Orix Buffaloes.

We also had a record that connected to an old friend as Takeya Nakamura made history for the Lions.

So let’s get started.

Giants 4, Swallows 1: At Tokyo Dome, Shosei Togo (8-3) had his back against the wall in the first inning after back-to-back singles had him facing the middle of the Swallows’ order with no outs, but he surrendered just a sacrifice fly, and his teammates opened the bottom of the first with five straight hits off Keiji Takahashi (6-2) and that was the game.