The ceremony held for Shinnosuke Abe before the Yomiuri Giants' game against the Orix Buffaloes was to honor him for recently playing in his 1,000th game.
Had he not gotten hurt, there probably would've been another one afterward in honor of his exploits in game No. 1,016.
Abe hit a pair of solo home runs and Michihiro Ogasawara added another in support of starter Hisanori Takahashi, and the Giants cruised to a 6-2 win against the Orix Buffaloes in front of 40,057 fans on Monday at Tokyo Dome.