The Saitama Seibu Lions guaranteed a second place finish in the Pacific League with a 1-2 week against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in a shortened home stand. Here is what happened:
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The first game had Takahiro Norimoto facing Ken Togame. After a scoreless battle of Houdinis, Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura hit a two-out timely single to plate Hotaka Yamakawa in the bottom of the 4th for a 1-0 lead.
Togame was cruising through five innings, but Zelous Wheeler hit a two-run HR in the top of the 6th and ended his night early to give the Eagles a lead. It was the only downside to Togame's night, where he had six strikeouts and eight hits allowed.
The bases were loaded for the Lions in the bottom of the 6th, but Norimoto struck out Masatoshi Okada and ended the threat. Norimoto's night was done after 130 pitches as the bullpen carried the remaining load.
Daichi Mizuguchi was caught stealing in the 8th to end a chance at a rally. The bottom of the 9th saw Ernesto Mejia lining out as a pinch hitter to end the game as the Eagles kept the last three innings scoreless.
Eagles 2, Lions 1
Game note:
-Kyohei Nagae was called up to the roster.
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The second game from the series had Minabu Mima facing Yusei Kikuchi. Ginjiro Sumitani hit a solo HR in the bottom of the 2nd for the first blood of the game. An error from Kikuchi in the third inning tied the game as he failed to throw the ball to first base. Carlos Peguero added a timely single to give the Eagles a lead.
This wouldn't last long as Hotaka Yamakawa hit a two-run HR for his 22nd of the season. Kikuchi struggled with control and even Kona Takahashi was in the bullpen warming up. He would overcome several walks to keep the Lions one-run lead.
With the third time through the order penalty hitting Mima, the Lions took advantage in the bottom of the 6th. Tomoya Mori slapped an RBI double and a sacrifice fly from Takumi Kuriyama made it 5-2.
The Eagles got a run back on an RBI groundout by Kazuya Fujita in the 7th and they threatened again in the top of the 8th. Rakuten loaded the bases with no outs having two walks and a bunt fielder's choice.
Taishi Nakagawa and Yuichi Adachi struck out with Motohiro Shima as the last hope. He flew out to centerfield and the Houdini was completed.
The Lions pulled away in the bottom of the 8th where Ginjiro Sumitani hit a two-run HR for his second bomb of the night. Genda added an RBI triple and Akiyama hit a two-run HR of his own to make it 10-3.
Shota Takekuma closed out the game as the Lions secured a split.
Lions 10, Eagles 3
Game notes:
-With that triple, Genda passed Shigeo Nagashima for third most hits for a rookie as it was his 154th of the season.
-Shogo Akiyama hit his 25th HR of the year, good for second on the team.
-This would be Kikuchi's 16th win of the year, tying for the Pacific League lead.
-Shogo Saito was added to the ichi-gun with Daichi Mizuguchi being deactivated.
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The final matchup of the regular season had the Fighters come in with Yuki Yoshida and the Lions had Brian Wolfe. Toshitake Yokoo slapped a base hit with the bases loaded in the top of the first for the opening runs.
Sosuke Genda hit an RBI triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2 Fighters after one inning. Wolfe couldn't get a shutdown inning as the Fighters scored both of those runs back off timely hits from Taishi Ota and Kensuke Kondo.
Both runs would come back with solo HRs by Mori and Okawari-kun. Both teams exchanged a run in the 4th inning, where Wolfe couldn't finish his portion of the frame. The game was tied in the bottom of the 5th when Yamakawa hit a solo HR.
The tie was broken again as T. Ota would hit two-run HR off Tomomi Takahashi in the top of the 6th. Hirotoshi Masui gave the Lions one last chance with two runners on base, but Shuta Tonosaki struck out and end the game.
Fighters 8, Lions 6
Game notes:
-The Lions finished 17-8 against the Fighters in 2017.
-Rakuten would have a tie against the Chiba Lotte Marines on Wednesday, so the Lions secured second place and will be hosting the playoff series.
-Genda recorded his 10th triple of the season, a new rookie record. He also became the 4th rookie to play in every inning in his rookie season, the first since Sadayuku Tokutake in 1961.
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The postseason will begin on October 14. We here at Graveyard Baseball will provide a preview ahead with an outside shot of a podcast recording. We apologize for all the non-podcasts that have happened in the last two months due to technical computer difficulties and both of us going through transitions in our lives.
There will be a preview in writing guaranteed as they take on the Eagles, which will be a best two out of three series. We're looking forward to playoff baseball, something we as Oakland A's fans haven't done in a few years.
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