We had four games Thursday, after the Swallows and Dragons were rained out, and the BayStars and Carp were called in the top of the fourth on a night of thundershowers in the Tokyo area. The Hanshin Tigers, unfortunately, were rained on indoors.
In Sendai, five different Rakuten Eagles homered, while Takeya Nakamura turned back the clock and turned out the lights on the Buffaloes.
Thursday’s games
Eagles 10, Marines 1: At Miyagi Stadium, Ginjiro Sumitani opened the scoring off Fumiya Motomae () with a two-run second-inning homer, his fourth. Takero Okajima singled in a run with one out, Ryosuke Tatsumi squeezed in another, Daichi Suzuki hit a two-run homer, his third, Eigoro Mogi hit his fifth. Sumitani walked and Haruki Nishikawa hit his seventh.
Hiroaki Shimauchi homered to lead off the Eagles’ fourth. Takayuki Kishi () retired 14 of the first 16 batters he faced before Hiromi Oka tripled and scored on an Adeiny Hechavarria sac fly.
Lions 3, Buffaloes 2: At Seibu Dome, six-time PL home run leader Takeya Nakamura opened the scoring with his fifth homer of the season, a two-run fourth-inning shot off Sachiya Yamasaki. With the score tied 2-2 and one out in the ninth, Nakamura, whose nickname “Okawari-kun” means the kid who wants another helping, came back for seconds, ending the game with a solo homer off Jacob Waguespack (2-5).
Seibu’s Wataru Matsumoto faced a minimum of trouble through four innings but one-out singles by Joe McCarthy and Kotaro Kurebayashi and a hit batsman loaded the bases and Ryoichi Adachi singled in two. Matsumoto pitched out of two-on no-out jam in the sixth but finished with a 1-2-3 seventh. Two relievers retired six of the seven batters they faced to set up Nakamura’s sayonara homer.
Giants 7, Tigers 0: At Tokyo Dome, rookie Iori Yamasaki (3-3) allowed three hits over eight innings, singled in the Giants’ fourth run in a five-run second to chase Aaron Wilkerson (5-5) and retired the final 15 batters he faced.
The win was the Giants’ first in three games since they canceled six games after most of their roster was infected with the coronavirus.
Yoshihiro Maru hit one of the Giants’ late home runs, making it the seventh straight season the two-time CL MVP has hit 20 or more.
Fighters 3, Hawks 3, 12 innings: At Sapporo Dome, Colin Rea walked four batters through four innings, but did not allow a hit until Ryusei Sato and Yuki Umebayashi singled to open the fifth. A sacrifice and a groundout trimmed the Hawks’ lead to 3-1 before Chusei Mannami tied it with his 11th home run.
Ukyo Shuto hit the game’s first pitch for his fourth home run off Toshihiro Sugiura, who left the bases loaded in the second. The Hawks loaded the bases with no outs in the third on singles by Hikaru Kawase and Alfredo Despaigne and a fielder’s choice before Taisei Makhihara’s single made it 3-0.
Conner Menez got the first out when catcher Umebayashi picked off Despaigne and once more ended an inning with the bases jammed with Hawks. Menez worked two scoreless innings, as did Kosei Yoshida, as a host of relievers kept the Hawks off the bases.
After the game was tied, it was the Fighters’ turn to waste opportunities, stranding five runners over the next three innings and leaving the bases loaded in the 10th.
Friday’s starting pitchers
Lions vs Marines: Seibu Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Tatsuya Imai (2-1, 2.88) vs Ayumu Ishikawa (6-4, 2.36)
Buffaloes vs Fighters: Osaka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Daichi Takeyasu (0-0, 2.00) vs Cody Ponce (2-2, 2.90)
Hawks vs Eagles: Fukuoka Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Kazuki Sugiyama (1-3, 7.71) vs Ryota Takinaka (2-6, 3.53)
Swallows vs Giants: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Yasuhiro Ogawa (5-5, 2.59) vs Kenshin Hotta (1-2, 7.20)
Dragons vs BayStars: Nagoya Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Kotaro Ueda (0-3, 4.50) vs Shinichi Onuki (7-4, 2.36)
Carp vs Tigers: Hiroshima Citizen’s Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Daichi Osera (7-6, 4.12) vs Yuki Nishi (7-6, 2.05)
Active roster moves 8/4/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 8/14
Central League
Activated
| Tigers | P | 37 | Masaki Oyokawa |
| Tigers | P | 46 | Hiroya Shimamoto |
| Tigers | P | 52 | Aaron Wilkerson |
| Dragons | P | 22 | Yudai Ono |
| BayStars | P | 14 | Kenta Ishida |
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 47 | Keiji Takahashi |
| Tigers | P | 92 | Yuta Watanabe |
| Tigers | OF | 24 | Mel Rojas Jr. |
| Carp | P | 28 | Hiroki Tokoda |
Pacific League
Activated
| Marines | P | 49 | Fumiya Motomae |
| Marines | P | 92 | Yuki Kuniyoshi |
| Marines | IF | 13 | Taiga Hirasawa |
| Hawks | P | 26 | Colin Rea |
| Fighters | P | 22 | Toshihiro Sugiura |
| Lions | P | 17 | Wataru Matsumoto |
| Lions | P | 54 | Burch Smith |
Dectivated
| Marines | P | 45 | Tayron Guerrero |
| Marines | C | 22 | Tatsuhiro Tamura |
| Hawks | IF | 27 | Yurisbel Gracial |
| Lions | P | 40 | Ichiro Tamura |
