Sapporo – Tsuyoshi Shinjo, whose managing tenure has been highlighted by attention-grabbing stunts, earned his first win Thursday in the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters’ 6-2 victory over the Seibu Lions.
Shinjo, whose registered name with Nippon Professional Baseball this season is “BIGBOSS” and who made news outside Japan by entering Tuesday’s home opener at Sapporo Dome on a hover bike, started the season 0-5.
Fighters right-hander Kazuaki Tateno (1-0) allowed two runs over five innings to earn the win after Daiki Asama’s home run gave the hosts a two-run second-inning lead.
“I’d been having one lame at-bat after another but I got some good advice from (Kensuke) Kondo and wanted to make use of that,” Asama said.
Kondo and Go Matsumoto each drove in two runs for the Fighters, while both Lions runs scored on Brian O’Grady’s fifth-inning double.
Elsewhere, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks improved to 6-0 with a 3-1 win over the Chiba Lotte Marines, while the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles beat the Pacific League champion Orix Buffaloes 1-0.
In the Central League, the Hiroshima Carp came from behind for a 3-2 victory over the Hanshin Tigers, now Japan’s only winless team. The Yomiuri Giants beat the CL champion Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6-3, while the DeNA BayStars beat the Chunichi Dragons 1-0.
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times