We had five games on Thursday as two teams completed three-game sweeps that were unusual in one way or another, while one team kind of swept–a tie followed by two wins, and two bounced back from Game 1 losses to take two out of three, including the Fighters in their red-and-black Tsuyoshi Shinjo uniforms.
I’ve also got some thoughts on Chunichi Dragons manager Kazuyoshi’s attempt to model his managing style on that of his mentor, the late great Senichi Hoshino, and why it ain’t working.
Thursday’s games
Tigers 4, Dragons 1: At Nagoya Dome, where the Hanshin Tigers have a long history of surprising futility, Hanshin swept a road series against Chunichi for the first time in six years, and equaled their 1985 Japan Series championship team by being 10 games over .500 37 games into the season.
New import Johan Mieses crashed Dragons starter Yuya Yanagi‘s party early with a two-out three-run first-inning double. Koji Chikamoto, who sparked the three-run first with a leadoff single, doubled in Seiya Kinami in the second, and lefty Masashi Ito (2-0) didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning.
