Masahiro Tanaka pitched the coronavirus-hit Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to a 7-3 Pacific League win against the Saitama Seibu Lions on Tuesday, allowing two runs over seven innings as his team returned to action.
Rakuten had canceled its home games against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks over the weekend after reporting infections of eight players and a pitching coach in the past week. In its first game in four days, the team was quick in giving the former New York Yankee the lead.
Haruki Nishikawa led off with a single in the first inning, Seibu lefty Shunsuke Sato (1-1) loaded the bases with a hit batsman and a walk before Daichi Suzuki doubled to right to drive in two opening runs at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi.