The weekend’s interleague series at Pacific League parks wrapped up on Sunday with a clean PL sweep, the first time that’s happened in four years, when the Central League won all six games for the third time. The PL’s sweep was its fifth but its first in seven years.

The six wins, three in close games, three in blowouts, lifted the PL to 19-17 this year while outscoring the CL 147-118.

The day’s highlight was probably Takumi Kuriyama’s first pinch-hit sayonara home run in five years or perhaps it was the Fighters’ Kenshi Sugiya’s attempt to have a salmon body pillow answer “hero interview” questions while wearing one of those Fighters’ fish head hats. Maybe next time he’ll try the “kitsune dance” instead.

Sunday’s games

Lions 3, BayStars 2: At Seibu Dome, there were four home runs hit and the only run not scoring on the long ball was on a third-inning sac fly by Hotaka Yamakawa. Junichiro Kishi’s second homer made it 2-0 in the fourth, before Shugo Maki hit his 13^th in the fifth and Keita Sano tied it with his fifth homer, in the sixth, off Dietrich Enns.

Continue reading NPB news: May 29, 2022 →