Giants get off to winning start with victory over Dragons

There is nothing like a good first impression.

Just ask new Yomiuri Giants Gregory Polanco and Taisei Ota, who both stood on the hero interview podium soaking up the adulation of over 38,000 fans after kicking off the new NPB season in style.

Polanco had three hits, including a tiebreaking single in the fifth inning, in his NPB debut, and Taisei, a rookie, pitched himself into a jam in the ninth before nailing down the save as the Giants opened the 2022 season with a 4-2 win over the Chunichi Dragons at Tokyo Dome on Friday night.

Polanco singled in his first two at-bats before putting the Giants ahead to stay with his hit to right off Yudai Ono in the fifth.

“I feel great,” Polanco said. “I feel great to be here. It’s a great feeling for me, especially on opening day. The fans and my teammates, everybody, the coaches, they received me with a lot of energy and I’m really happy to be here.”

Yoshihiro Maru drove in the game’s first run with a home run in the second, but the Dragons struck back with a Yuki Okabayashi RBI single in the third and a home run from Dayan Viciedo home run in the fourth.

Taishi Hirooka, Polanco and Kazuma Okamoto drove in runs to put the Giants ahead 4-2 in the fifth. The score remained the same going into the ninth, when Ota emerged from the bullpen.

The 22-year-old rookie struck out the first batter he faced before giving up singles to Yohei Oshima and Okabayashi. Ota retired the next batter, but hit Viciedo to load the bases. He retired Takuya Kinoshita on a grounder to close out the game and become the first rookie in team history to record a save on opening day.

“I really believed he was going to hold them down,” starter Tomoyuki Sugano said. “I wasn’t totally at ease,” he joked. “I was kind of anxious watching it.”

Sugano, unlike his new teammates, has been here before, with Friday’s game marking his eighth opening day start for the club.

“This was my eighth time, but I was probably the most nervous for this one,” Sugano said.

The two-time Sawamura Award winner had a difficult 2021 season and was shaky during the Giants’ spring games.

“Looking at my preseason results, there were some things I was worried about,” Sugano said. “I think I was able to do the minimum today and I think I got off to a good start.”

Sugano fared slightly better than Ono in a matchup battle of former Sawamura Award winners, allowing a pair of runs on seven hits in six innings. Sugano was credited with the victory and set a new Giants record with his fifth opening day win.

“I’m really happy,” he said. “However, this isn’t something I could achieve on my own. Even today, my teammates scored the first run for me and then came from behind.”

The teams played in front of a large crowd, as the previous attendance restrictions in place due to COVID-19 were lifted. A crowd of 38,156 was at the Big Egg. While Japanese baseball’s familiar songs and chants were still missing, that didn’t dampen Polanco’s experience.

“The atmosphere here, it’s amazing,” he said. “All the fans cheer for you and they’re so happy and they support you. I’m happy to be here and I want to do my best every game, every play to try to win games and win the championship.”

Ono (0-1) gave up four runs — three earned — in his six innings on the mound. He allowed eight hits, struck out three and walked a pair in the losing effort.

Maru opened the scoring with his home run in the second to give the Giants an early lead.

Ono hit a two-out infield single in the top of the third and moved up two bases when Oshima hit a ball into the outfield and Polanco committed an error. Okabayashi followed with an RBI single to tie the score.

Viciedo turned an unassisted double play to end the third and gave his team the lead with an opposite-field home run to lead off the fourth.

“I thought it was gone when I hit it,” he told reporters.

Yomiuri’s Naoki Yoshikawa came up with a two-out infield single, upheld after a reply review, in the fifth and came home on a game-tying RBI double by Hirooka.

Polanco hit his tiebreaking single to put Yomiuri back on top, and Okamoto tacked on another run with an RBI double that made it 4-2.

In other games

Swallows 10, Tigers 8

Carp 11, BayStars 3

PACIFIC LEAGUE

Marines 4, Eagles 0

Buffaloes 6, Lions 0

Hawks 4, Fighters 1

Source : Baseball – The Japan Times