Kazuhisa Ishii struck out five in five scoreless innings in his second preseason outing as the Yakult Swallows blanked the Orix Buffaloes 8-0 on Tuesday.
Kazuhisa Ishii of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows pitches against the Orix
Buffaloes.
The left-hander, who returned to Yakult after four seasons in the major leagues, allowed just two singles in a dominant start at Jingu Stadium after giving up three runs and six hits in four innings against the Softbank Hawks last Wednesday.
Yuichi Matsumoto hit a two-run homer and went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
BayStars 7, Marines 1
Left-hander Yuji Yoshimi had a start strong enough for him to win a spot in the Yokohama starting rotation, holding Lotte to one run in five innings. Shuichi Murata and Katsuaki Furuki both went 3-for-4 and combined for three RBIs, while Lotte right-hander Shingo Ono was rocked for seven runs and 13 hits in five innings in Chiba.
Tigers 11, Fighters 7
Tomoaki Kanemoto, the 2005 Central League MVP, homered in three consecutive at-bats and drove in five runs as Hanshin outslugged Nippon Ham. Osamu Hamanaka and Andy Sheets also homered for Hanshin, while Nippon Ham slugger Fernando Seguignol went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run at Tokyo Dome.
Lions 14, Eagles 2
Hiroyuki Nakajima and Takeya Nakamura each had two hits and three RBIs for the Lions. Seibu lefty Kazuyuki Hoashi allowed just a single and hit a batter in five shutout innings, while Rakuten right-hander Hideki Asai gave up six runs in two innings in Shizuoka.
Hawks 5, Dragons 2
Softbank right-hander Nagisa Arakaki struggled with his command early on but found his rhythm to go 6-1/3 innings, allowing a run and four hits. Masafumi Hirai, vying for a place in the rotation, gave up two runs in four innings in Hamamatsu.