Watanabe ties game

Ryoto Watanabe tied Orix’s game on April 21 with a solo shot, his second home run in four days against the Chiba Lotte Marines. (sports.yahoo.co.jp) Watanabe led off the top of the fourth inning at ZOZO Marine Stadium and drove the first pitch from Lotte starter Jackson into the right-field stands. Orix had been hitless through three innings and trailed 1-0 before the swing made it 1-1. (sports.yahoo.co.jp) The game did not stay tied for long. Lotte beat Orix 7-4, using Shingo Ishikawa’s three-run homer in the fifth, a go-ahead run in the sixth, and another insurance run in the seventh. (baseball.yahoo.co.jp) Watanabe’s homer stood out because it came three games after his first career home run on April 17 against SoftBank. In that 13-4 Orix win, the fifth-year outfielder reached base six times and hit a two-run shot in the eighth inning. (npb.jp) That quick burst has pushed Watanabe into a larger role for Orix early in the 2026 season. Nippon Professional Baseball’s active-player list identifies him as an Orix outfielder, and official game reports show him starting in center field in recent games. (npb.jp) On April 21, Orix again had to chase after an early mistake. Lotte scored first in the third inning after a fumble at shortstop, and Watanabe’s home run was the club’s first answer. (sports.yahoo.co.jp) Watanabe said he went to the plate looking to attack because Orix was behind, and Nikkan Sports reported he called it “a good swing.” The paper also reported the pitch was a 150-kilometer-per-hour fastball and that the homer became a tying shot rather than a winning one. (nikkansports.com) The clip spread quickly among NPB fans after the game, but the box score was less kind to Orix. Watanabe’s swing erased the deficit for a moment; by the end of the night, Lotte had restored control and handed Orix a 7-4 loss. (baseball-data-store.com)