The Yomiuri Giants won the Central League pennant last season.
On Friday night at Tokyo Dome, the reigning champions kicked off the 2025 campaign with a dramatic start to their quest to repeat.
The Giants rallied from three runs down to tie the game in the ninth inning, and Gakuto Wakabayashi hit a sayonara single in the 10th to lift the Kyojin to a 6-5 win over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in the season opener at Tokyo Dome on Friday night.
Wakabayashi’s fourth hit of the night was his biggest, and a crowd of over 40,000 chanted his name as the Giants celebrated on the field.
Yomiuri trailed for most of the night and entered the ninth behind 5-2. Takuya Kai singled to start the inning and fan favorite Hisayoshi Chono hit a one-out double to put runners on the corners. Wakabayashi singled to make the score 5-3, and Trey Cabbage was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Naoki Yoshikawa tied the score with a two-run single.
Closer Raidel Martinez, one of the club’s prized free-agent pickups during the offseason, retired the Swallows in order in the top of the 10th in his Giants debut.
Kai singled to begin the 10th and was lifted for a pinch runner. Makoto Kadowaki bunted the runner over and manager Shinnosuke Abe sent Takumi Oshiro to the plate as a pinch hitter. After Oshiro struck out, Wakabayashi ended the game with a hit into left field.
Wakabayashi was 4-for-6 with a pair of RBIs.
Cabbage was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer for Yomiuri, which finished with 17 hits.
“This is awesome,” Cabbage said. “Come out on the first night and get a win, it’s amazing.”