TOKYO — The Cubs took the field at the Tokyo Dome Saturday afternoon (Japan time) against the Hanshin Tigers and fell flat.
The Tigers’ top prospect, 20-year-old lefthander Keito Mombetsu threw five perfect innings against Cubs hitters, likely the same lineup that will take the field Tuesday against the Dodgers, and that was enough for the Cubs to drop their exhibition opener, 3-0.
I didn’t attend this game, figuring it was too quick a turnaround from my evening arrival in Tokyo Friday, instead opting to take in some of the scene around Tokyo Dome City near the stadium. I’ll get to that, but first, just a couple highlights from the game.
Seiya Suzuki’s first at-bat brought a warm ovation [VIDEO].
Miguel Amaya broke up the perfect game bid with one out in the sixth [VIDEO].
Suzuki got more loud applause after this seventh-inning single [VIDEO].
Nine Cubs pitchers threw in this game. Six of them did not allow a run; the three who did were Caleb Thielbar, Tyson Miller and Porter Hodge. Hodge’s outing wasn’t great; he allowed a single and two walks, even while striking out two.
Here’s a first-inning strikeout by Julian Merryweather [VIDEO].
And a second-inning K by Ryan Pressly [VIDEO].
Attendance for Saturday’s game was 41,878, about 5,000 or so short of a sellout at the Tokyo Dome.
What I wound up doing instead of the game was hanging out at TGI Fridays. Yes, the restaurant chain ubiquitous in the USA also has an outlet at Tokyo Dome City, and the Cubs made this place their official fan headquarters Saturday. Thus my first meal in Japan this trip was… a hamburger. Good, too. So was the local beer, brewed by Suntory. (Definitely checking out more of the local cuisine later on this trip.)
Here’s what that looked like on the outside:
Al Yellon
More people came in and out as the morning and afternoon went by, and some of them bought the same beer bat you can get at Wrigley Field:
Al Yellon
¥3,000, at the current exchange rate, is about $20 — so this is a better deal than you get at Wrigley.
One of the reasons I hung out there was that this line for the merch store was insanely long:
Al Yellon
See the end of the building in the background? The line went around that corner, to the other end of the building, and up a long set of stairs. I’ll wait to check out Tokyo Series merch at the game tomorrow.
Here’s a closeup of the photo on the window:
Al Yellon
I also randomly ran into baseball writer Molly Knight and had a delightful time sharing baseball talk. You might know Molly from her writing at ESPN and The Athletic. Now she has her own Substack newsletter called “The Long Game” which I highly recommend.
You’ll be reading this recap early Saturday morning in the USA, at which time I’m likely going to be asleep, catching up on that. Then I will be attending the exhibition game Sunday evening (early Sunday morning Chicago time) between the Cubs and the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome. The Dome is the Giants’ home field so I would expect many of their fans to attend, and possibly make the game a sellout.
Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs and is expected to be piggybacked by Matthew Boyd. The expected starter for Yomiuri is Foster Griffin, a former first-round pick of the Kansas City Royals (2014) who had some brief time in the majors with the Royals and Blue Jays from 2020-22 and who’s pitched in NPB for the last two seasons.
Game time Sunday is 5 a.m. CT. Yes, there will be a game preview as usual two hours before game time, at 3 a.m. CT. TV coverage will again be on Marquee Sports Network and there will also be a radio broadcast via 670 The Score.