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.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.