Hiroshima Carp vs Chiba Lotte Marines @ QVC Marine Field - 18:15
Starters: Maeda, Kenta (HIR) 4-1, 0.64 - Nishino, Yuji (LOT) 4-1, 2.53

Chunichi Dragons vs Softbank Hawks @ YafuOku Dome - 18:00
Starters: Cabrera, Daniel (CHU) 4-1, 2.30 - Padilla, Vicente (SOF) 0-1, 5.40

Yokohama Bay Stars vs Orix Buffaloes @ Kyocera Dome - 18:00
Starters: Miura, Daisuke (YOK) 2-3, 4.28 - Dickson, Brandon (ORI) 4-1, 2.22

Hanshin Tigers vs Seibu Lions @ Seibu Dome - 18:00
Starters: Standridge, Jason (HAN) 3-3, 1.52 - Kikuchi, Yusei (SEI) 4-1, 1.12

Yakult Swallows vs Rakuten Eagles @ Kleenex Stadium - 18:00
Starters: Muranaka, Kyohei (YAK) 3-2, 2.81 - Tomura, Kenji (RAK)

Yomiuri Giants vs Nippon Ham Fighters @ Sapporo Dome - 18:00
Starters: Sugiuchi, Toshiya (YOM) 3-1, 2.68 - Kisanuki, Hiroshi (HAM) 3-2, 3.92

Seibu Lions

Hideaki Wakui will reportedly head to the bullpen after another rough start on Sunday.

Source: Sanspo 5/19/2013

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A forty-one-year-old man was arrested after allegedly hitting a thirty-four-year-old man in the right side of the face in the bathroom on the first base side at Seibu Dome at around 3:00pm on Sunday.  A game was in progress.  Both men were reportedly Hanshin fans.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/19/2013

Softbank Hawks

Toru Hosokawa jammed his right thumb during Kazuhiro Wada's at bat in the top of the 5th inning of Sunday's game against Chunichi.  He was later replaced by a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 5th and taken to a hospital in Fukuoka for an examination.  No serious damage was found.

Hosokawa also jammed his right pinky in the 3rd inning.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/19/2013

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Hiroyuki Kawahara will be sent back down to Ni-gun for more work.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/19/2013

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Vicente Padilla joined the Ichi-gun team for workouts on Sunday.  He will start Monday's game against Chunichi at YafuOku Dome.

Kenji Otonari is scheduled to start Thursday's (May 23) game against Yokohama at YafuOku Dome.

Source: Sponichi 5/19/2013

Rakuten Eagles

Takashi Saito was examined at a hospital in Sendai on Sunday.  Tests came back negative for muscle damage or bleeding.

Source: Sponichi 5/19/2013

Ryo Sakata hurt his left shoulder while sliding into second on a stolen base attempt in the 3rd inning.  Sakata was replaced by a pinch-runner and taken to the hospital for an examination.  Tests revealed a dislocated left shoulder.  He will require about two to three months for a full recovery.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/19/2013

The Second Georgia Award for 2013 went to Tomoyuki Sugano for making a nice defensive play on April 13.

The Giants had a 1-0 lead over the Yakult Swallows heading into the top of the 6th inning.  With a runner on second and no out, Masanori Ishikawa attempted to advance the runner on a sac bunt.  But insteead of hitting the ball on the ground, he popped the pitch into the air.  Sugano was charging on contact and made a sliding catch for the first out of the inning.  The Giants won the game 3-1.  Georgia video - Box score

Yomiuri Giants

Shinnosuke Abe hit a home run off pitcher number 184 on Saturday night and moved into sole possession of first on the franchise list.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/19/2013

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1st round draft pick Tomoyuku Sugano struck out twelve hitters on Saturday.  He is the second pitcher -- behind Hirokazu Sawamura and his eleven strikeouts against Orix on May 23, 2011 -- to record double-digit strikeouts in an Inter-league game in his first year.  He became the sixth pitcher in franchise history -- behind Eiji Sawamura, Suguru Egawa, Koji Uehara, Hiroshi Kisanuki, and Yuya Kubo -- to record two or more double-digit strikeouts in their rookie season.  He also joined E. Sawamura (fourteen strikeouts on November 19, 1936), Egawa (twelve strikeouts on August 26, 1979), and Kisanuki (fifteen strikeouts on July 6, 2003 and twelve strikeouts on July 21, 2003) as the only pitchers in franchise history to record twelve or more strikeouts in a game during their first year.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/19/2013, Sponichi 5/19/2013

Chunichi Dragons

The Dragons decided to hold off on making a decision on Jesus Colome after watching him toss a bullpen session at Nagoya Dome on Saturday.

"[Colome] threw the ball well, but he has not pitched in any games.  We will give him two or three more days to prepare and then make a final decision," said Morimichi Takagi.

Colome is also scheduled to take a drug exam at a Nagoya hospital on the 20th.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/19/2013, Daily Sports 5/19/2013

Yakult Swallows

Shinya Miyamoto recorded his 2,097th hit on Saturday and is now tied with Atsuya Furuta for second most hits by a Swallows player.

Source: Sanspo 5/19/2013

Hanshin Tigers

The Tigers stole five bases (Yamato two, Takashi Toritani one, Takahiro Arai one, Shunsuke one) during a game against Softbank at Koshien on Saturday for the first time since June 14, 2006 (at Fullcast Miyagi; Norihiro Akahoshi three, Masato Akamatsu one, Makoto Imaoka one) and September 23, 2001 (at Koshien; Taichiro Kamisaka three, Akahoshi two).

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/19/2013

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1st round draft pick Shintaro Fujinami threw thirty-eight pitches in the bullpen on Saturday.  He will pitch in an Ikusei rehab game on the 21st before making a return to the active roster in time for a start against Nippon Ham on either the 25th or 26th.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/18/2013, Sponichi 5/18/2013

Pitching coach Kiyooki Nakanishi is planning to travel to Naruohama after the Ichi-gun game at Seibu Dome on the 20th to watch Fujinami pitch on the 21st.  He will then rejoin the Ichi-gun team for the Lotte series at QVC Marine on the 22nd.

Source: Sanspo 5/18/2013

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Tsuyoshi Nishioka is using a lighter bat right now: from 920 grams to 880-890 grams.

Source: Sanspo 5/19/2013

Yokohama Bay Stars

Shun Yamaguchi was taken off the active roster today.

Source: Sponichi 5/19/2013

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Tony Blanco knocked out his twentieth homer of the season on Saturday.  The shot came in his forty-second game, which is tied for third quickest in NPB history with Shigeo Nagashima (1968) and is behind Shinnosuke Abe's thirty-three games in 2004 and Alex Cabrera's thirty-eight games in 2001.

Blanco also joined Noboru Aota (1956), Takeshi Kuwata (1959), Glenn Braggs (1994), and Shuichi Murata (2006) as the only players in franchise history to be the first in either league to hit twenty home runs in a season.

Source: Sanspo 5/19/2013, Nikkan Sports 5/19/2013

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Norihiro Nakamura was left out of the starting line-up on Saturday because of discomfort in his hip joint -- he does not have any problems swinging the bat but does have problems on defense.

Source: Sponichi 5/18/2013