Yuki Yanagita | jballallen.com

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

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

Towa Uema

Interleague Day 5 – Respect for the elderly

Sapporo Dome held a respect for the elderly promotion on Saturday giving up four hits to players 40 and over, and 44-year-old Kosuke Fukudome, Nippon Professional Basesball’s oldest active player, cashed in with three singles and a double, two RBIs. He left after his eighth-inning leadoff single put the go-ahead runner on ahead of Dayan Viciedo, who broke the tie with an RBI double.

So show Kosuke some respect. He’s earned it.

On Sunday, we’ll get to see if the Yomiuri Giants have any similar promotions planned for when they face 40-year-old Tsuyoshi Wada in Fukuoka. The Giants have now lost 11 straight official games to the Hawks, including all eight from the 2019 and 2020 Japan Series.

The losing streak started with a loss to Wada at Tokyo Dome on June 23, 2019, in the finale of a three-game series in which the Giants won the middle game. Wada started and won Game 4 of the 2019 series and started Game 4 last autumn, but left after allowing a run over two innings in SoftBank’s 4-1 clincher in Fukuoka. He’s 6-3 against them over his career. His last loss to them was on May 28, 2009.

Dragons 7, Fighters 4

At Sapporo Dome, the Fighters came back to tie it 4-4 on a two-out two-run Wang Po-jung pinch double, but Bryan Rodriguez couldn’t hold the line in the eighth, after Fukudome’s leadoff single, he surrendered an RBI double to Dayan Viciedo. Takuya Kinoshita, who put Chunichi ahead 3-2 in the fifth with his sixth home run, was intentionally walked and scored on Daiki Mitsumata’s two-run double.

Drew VerHagen started for Nippon Ham and allowed four runs over six-plus innings on eight hits and a walk while striking out five.

Eagles 1 BayStars 1

At Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park, Masahiro Tanaka was extremely sharp over eight innings, but one of his few mistakes cost him, when he missed down the pipe to Tyler Austin, who teed off on it to blast his eighth home run and give DeNA a 1-0, sixth-inning lead. Tanaka allowed five hits and hit a batter while striking out six.

Lefty Haruhiro Hamaguchi twice pitched out of tight spots, two on with no outs in the first and a no-out bases-loaded can of worms in the fourth to allow a run over six-plus innings. He left after allowing a leadoff single in the seventh, a runner the bullpen allowed to score.

Eagles closer Yuki Matsui pitched out of a no-out bases-loaded jam in the ninth, while former DeNA closer pitched a scoreless ninth against the bottom of the Eagles order to seal the tie.

Marines 7, Carp 3

At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, Adeiny Hechavarria went 3-for-5 with a homer and five RBIs, while Lotte leadoff man Takashi Ogino homered, walked twice, doubled and singled as the Marines overran Hiroshima.

Manabu Mima (3-2) allowed two runs over six innings, while Frank Herrmann surrendered another in the seventh, but the last seven Carp hitters bit the dust, while Hechavarria made mincemeat of the visitors’ bullpen.

Swallows 7, Buffaloes 4

At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Yakult’s Yasuhiro Ogawa (5-1) allowed three runs over seven innings – on a three-run seventh-inning Steven Moya pinch-hit home run, Jose Osuna doubled, singled, homered and drove in three runs, and Scott McGough struck out the side in the ninth for his fifth save. Domingo Santana also homered and singled for the Swallows.

Hawks 8, Giants 3

At Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome, Yuya Hasegawa delivered a rare performance in a rare start for SoftBank. He hit two of the Hawks’ five home runs, one that tied the game 2-2 in the second and a three-run shot that broke the game open and chased Angel Sanchez (4-3) in the fifth inning. Hasegawa also made a terrific catch in left on a foul ball over the railing to end the Giants’ fifth with a man on.

Nick Martinez (4-1) allowed three runs over seven innings, in which he struck out 10 and walked one. He gave up Zelous Wheeler’s seventh home run, a two-run shot in the first, and allowed another run on four straight one-out singles in the sixth.

Yuki Yangita hit his 12th homer to start the Hawks’ second-inning fightback, while catcher Takuya Kai broke the 2-2 tie with a two-run fourth-inning home run, his fifth, and Nobuhiro Matsuda completed the carnage in the sixth with a solo shot that was his sixth of the season.

Lions 1, tigers 0

At MetLife Dome, Seibu’s Hotaka Yamakawa hit his fifth home run and Tatsuya Imai (3-2) outdueled rookie Masashi Ito (3-2). Imai, whose professional existence has been plagued by walks, struck out six without a walk, while allowing three hits over 5-1/3 innings, when he left the game after a batted ball struck him on the left hand.

Tetsu Miyagawa retired the first three batters he faced before Hanshin loaded the bases in the seventh on a single and two two-out walks. Rookie Teruaki Sato, who blasted three home runs the night before, went down swinging for the second out, and veteran Yoshio Itoi struck out pinch-hitting to end the inning.

A night after Reed Garrett blew a two-run ninth-inning lead, Kaima Taira came into hold the lead in the ninth. After a leadoff walk and a stolen base, Taira struck out Sato and retired Mel Rojas Jr. on a fly out against the foul netting, that Tigers manager Akihiro Yano argued long after the video replay upheld the ruling.