It may be back to the drawing board for Orix Buffaloes ace Chihiro Kaneko after the right-hander allowed six runs in three innings on Saturday in a 6-5 loss to the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Kaneko (0-1), who swept the postseason awards last season, was pitching in his first game since having shoulder surgery in November. After a scoreless first inning, the first three Marines batters reached in the second, when Kazuya Fukuura's double made it a 1-0 game. Later, a mental error by Buffaloes second baseman Masahiro Nishino turned an easy grounder into an infield single to load the bases with no outs.
With one out and the bags still juiced, Kaneko tried to go inside but missed over the plate with a 1-1 two-seam fastball to Ikuhiro Kiyota. The red-hot Marines leadoff hitter blasted it into the seats well above the left-field wall at Kyocera Dome for his first career grand slam.