The Central League didn’t let the Pacific League rest on its laurels on Thursday, answering the PL’s 5-1 interleague Wednesday with a 5-1 mark the day after, although it required a big comeback from Yakult to attain that.

Elsewhere, the players union met with NPB in a working session and presented its ideas for an “active player draft” that ideally would give some players without opportunities at their present clubs another chance with a different team. The union also submitted a list of questions about NPB’s umpiring policies so that players can be better informed of how things stand. This was a response to Roki Sasaki‘s May 24 confrontation with umpire Kazuyuki Shirai.

Thursday’s games

Swallows 7, Marines 3: At Jingu Stadium, Yakult overcame an early three-run deficit to maintain their three-game CL lead.

Yakult lefty Andrew Suarez threw a bunch of first-inning strikes with mistakes in the heart of the zone and it cost him three runs.