Interleague Day 13
The Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers each managed a ninth-inning run on Tuesday to turn a loss in Osaka into a tie for the Giants and a tie in Sapporo into a win for the Tigers. The PL teams, playing six straight games at home, started with a 3-1-2 day, pulling even in this season’s interleague, 33-33-9 while leading in runs scored 350-307.
Those games were both decided when the home teams opted to play a shallow outfield defense with two outs and a runner on second — as Japanese teams routinely do — and paid the price for their decision: See “Shallow thinking.”
Tigers 3, Fighters 2
At Sapporo Dome, Jerry Sands doubled and pinch-hitter Fumihito Haraguchi drove in the winning run in the top of the ninth off closer Toshihiro Sugiura (0-2) with a two-out fly ball double against the drawn-in outfield as the CL-leading Hanshin Tigers scraped past the PL’s last-place Nippon Ham Fighters.
Fighters starter Naoyuki Uwasawa allowed two runs in the first, one earned, as gave up walked three, struck out six and allowed two hits over seven innings. Nippon Ham tie it in the sixth off Yuki Nishi, who was charged with two runs on seven hits and two walks over 5-2/3 innings.
Shintaro Fujinami worked a scoreless seventh, followed by one zero apiece from Keisuke Baba (2-0) and Robert Suarez, who stayed tied with Rakuten’s Yuki Matsui for the Japan save lead with his 18th.
Eagles 5, Dragons 2
At Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park, Rakuten’s Takayuki Kishi (3-4) pitched out of couple of jams before surrendering a fourth-inning leadoff homer to Nobumasa Fukuda, his third. Kishi struck out the next three batters, Hiroaki Shimauchi hit his ninth homer to open the bottom of the inning and Kishi left after six leading Chunichi’s remarkable Yuya Yanagi (5-2) 3-2.
The Eagles beat Yanagi up for two more runs in the seventh and that was the game. Yuki Matsui finished up with his 18th save. Kishi, who hadn’t won since April 6, struck out eight.
Lions 8, BayStars 3
At MetLife Dome, Cory Spangenberg had three hits and highlighted a six-run fourth inning with his a two-run home run, his seventh, that chased Michael Peoples (2-2), who allowed six runs in three-plus innings.
Wataru Matsumoto (5-3) allowed 11 hits and two walks but still managed to allow just two runs over 5-2/3 innings.
Marines 7, Swallows 4
At Zozo Marine Stadium, Lotte battered rookie Yasunobu Okugawa (2-2) for six runs in five innings, with Brandon Laird doubling in two first-inning runs and hitting a solo homer, his 14th, in the fifth to make it a 6-3 game.
Kota Futaki (3-3) allowed three runs in six innings despite surrendering home runs to Yasutaka Shiomi, his eighth, and Norichika Aoki, his third, to open the game. Naoya Masuda earned his 15th save.
Buffaloes 3, Giants 3
At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Seiya Matsubara tripled in the tying run in the ninth inning, when middle-infielder-turned-center-fielder Shuhei Fukuda misjudged a catchable two-out line drive.
Matsubara opened the game with his fifth home run, off Taisuke Yamaoka, and Zelous Wheeler doubled the leadoff man home in the fifth to make it 2-0. Giants starter Nobutaka Imamura worked five scoreless inning before Tatsunori “Three-pitcher minimum” ran through eight relievers.
Orix’s Adam Jones, playing in his first game since May 12, delivered the first of three RBI singles as the Buffaloes came from 2-0 down in the eighth.
Hawks 1, Carp 1
At Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome, SoftBank speedster Ukyo Shuto was caught stealing in the ninth and Yuki Yanagita ended the game trying to stretch a single into a double as the Hawks’ chance of a walk-off win evaporated on the base paths, allowing rookie Carp closer Ryoji Kuribayashi to extend his scoreless game streak to 21.
The Hawks’ Shota Takeda struck out 10, and the Carp’s Daichi Osera struck out six as each allowed one run on a solo homer over seven innings. Kenta Imamiya hit his third in the sixth inning before Tsubasa Aizawa tied it with his second in the seventh.
Starting pitchers
Interleague
Fighters vs Tigers: Sapporo Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Takayuki Kato (3-3, 2.95) vs Takumi Akiyama (5-2, 2.65)
Eagles vs Dragons: Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Takahiro Norimoto (5-2, 3.02) vs Shinnosuke Ogasawara (3-2, 2.29)
Lions vs BayStars: MetLife Dome 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
Matt Dermody (0-2, 4.21) vs Koo Nakagawa (0-0, 4.42)
Marines vs Swallows: Zozo Marine Stadium 5:45 pm, 4:45 am EDT
Daiki Iwashita (4-3, 3.42) vs Kazuto Taguchi (2-4, 3.17)
Buffaloes vs Giants: Kyocera Dome (Osaka) 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Hiroya Miyagi (5-1, 2.43) vs Angel Sanchez (4-3, 4.59)
Hawks vs Carp: PayPay Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Nao Higashihama (0-0, 3.09) vs Yusuke Nomura (0-3, 4.55)
Active roster moves 6/8/2021
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 6/18
Central League
Activated
| Giants | P | 26 | Nobutaka Imamura |
| Tigers | P | 42 | Jon Edwards |
| Tigers | P | 66 | Ippei Ogawa |
| Tigers | OF | 97 | Dan Onodera |
| Swallows | P | 11 | Yasunobu Okugawa |
| Swallows | IF | 46 | Kengo Ota |
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 68 | Kohei Miyadai |
Pacific League
Activated
| Hawks | OF | 32 | Tatsuru Yanagimachi |
| Lions | P | 12 | Yutaro Watanabe |
| Eagles | P | 11 | Takayuki Kishi |
| Buffaloes | OF | 10 | Adam Jones |
Dectivated
| Lions | P | 64 | Towa Uema |
