It was a fun night in NPB on Wednesday, which ended with Chunichi’s former wunderkind Akira Neo doing a hero interview. Elsewhere, Kona Takahashi looked like his old self, the Nippon Ham Fighters resumed their home run attack after a day off, with the lone dinger spoiling one of the season’s best pitching performances, and the Yakult Swallows finally sacrificed.

Wednesday’s games

Swallows 3, Tigers 2: Easton Lucas was sharp in his second Japan outing for Hanshin, allowing a first-inning run on a fluke triple and a sacrifice fly while striking out six over five innings. The Tigers got some good swings in the first to take the lead against Yakult starter Kengo Matsumoto, who limited the damage on four hits and a walk to just two runs. Lucas pitched out of the only serious jam he faced, when he surrendered back-to-back no-out singles in the fifth followed by the Swallows’ first sacrifice bunt of the season.