The Pacific League-leading Orix Buffaloes have deactivated first baseman Takahiro Okada due to a minor right hamstring injury, presumably suffered after he was hit by a pitch in Saturday’s game against the Seibu Lions, Nikkan Sports reported Monday.

New import Rangel Ravelo, who might have taken Okada’s place, was hit on the left wrist in a Western League game against the Chunichi Dragons and was diagnosed with a distal fracture of the left ulna.

The Buffaloes, chasing the franchise’s first pennant since Ichiro Suzuki won his third straight MVP award with the Kobe-based Orix BlueWave in 1996. They ended the weekend three games ahead of the Rakuten Eagles and four ahead of the Lotte Marines. The SoftBank Hawks are a half-game further back in fourth.

Tuesday’s starting pitchers

Fighters vs Marines: Sapporo Dome 6:30 pm, 5:30 am EDT

Drew VerHagen (2-6, 5.76) vs Daiki Iwashita (8-5, 3.98)

Eagles vs Buffaloes: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Takahiro Norimoto (7-4, 3.45) vs Glenn Sparkman (0-0, 4.50)

Lions vs Hawks: MetLife Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Kona Takahashi (9-4, 3.14) vs Nao Higashihama (3-2, 3.14)

Giants vs Carp: Tokyo Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT

Cristopher  Mercedes (6-1, 2.25) vs Masato Morishita (6-5, 2.31)

Swallows vs Dragons: Kusanagi Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Keiji Takahashi (2-0, 2.83) vs Koji Fukutani (5-9, 4.43)

Tigers vs BayStars: Kyocera Dome (Osaka) 6 pm, 5 am EDT

Koyo Aoyagi (9-2, 1.87) vs Haruhiro Hamaguchi (5-6, 3.28)

Active roster moves 8/23/2021

Deactivated players can be re-activated from 9/2

Central League

Activated

None

Dectivated

Pacific League

Activated

None

Dectivated

Mejia chooses family over baseball

The Pacific League’s Seibu Lions said Monday they have placed first baseman Ernesto Mejia on waivers at his request so that he can return home to be with his family.

Mejia, joined the Lions in 2014, when he became the first player to lead his league in home runs after being added to the roster after the start of the season. He leaves with 142 home runs in Japan.

“For eight years since 2014, he’s fought along side us with the Lions, so this is so regrettable,” general manager Hisanobu Watanabe said, according to Daily Sports. “But I believe it couldn’t be helped since the reason is his prioritizing his family.”

“He is a man of character, and a player who had great respect for Japanese baseball. We are so grateful to him.”

Like teammate Zach Neal, Mejia was one of the Lions players who purchased bricks for the plaza outside MetLife Dome. It’s hard to tell from this image if all seven of them are from him, but at least six of them are, with one in the name of his wife Maythe and their son, Alonso.

They will definitely be missed.

Buffaloes sign former Cardinal Ravelo

The Orix Buffaloes have acquired Rangel Ravelo, a 29-year-old Cuban-born first baseman and corner outfielder, who had played briefly with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pacific League club announced Monday. Ravelo produced decent numbers in Triple-A.

This year he’s slashing .407/.504/.758 in 113 plate appearances this year for Triple-A Oklahoma City in the Dodgers organization.

Although the offense has come along, the bats have been the Buffaloes’ Achilles heel this season. Raveki