I came across the word “triaphillia” Saturday, which supposedly means a belief in the superstition that bad things occur in threes, something that might start afflicting the Hanshin Tigers and their fans after their most recent game with the Hiroshima Carp.

Also on Saturday, Matt Shoemaker got over an inauspicious start to his Japan career, thanks to Soichiro Tateoka hitting a ball where his infamous baserunning couldn’t get in the way, Brandon Laird and Yoshinobu Yamamoto each hit milestones, while the Nippon Ham Fighters scored a season-high five runs, but thanks to a solid day at the plate from new Eagle José Marmolejos, allowed a season-high eight.

Shall we get started?

Saturday’s games

Giants 3, Swallows 2: At Tokyo Dome, Yasutaka Shiomi hit Matt Shoemaker’s first pitch as a Yomiuri Giant into the stands – “I was looking fastball and timed it by counting ‘1, 2, 3′” – but settled down in a battle with another pitcher who modeled his delivery after Nolan Ryan, Swallows right-hander Yasuhiro “Nolan” Ogawa.