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The Saitama Seibu Lions went 4-2 combined against the Hiroshima Carp and Hanshin Tigers. They're currently 31-20 with a slim lead over the Fighters as they cling on to first place in the Pacific League.
Here is how we got there:
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The first game from Miyoshi had Yuta Nakamura against Fabio Castillo. First blood went to the Lions from a timely hit by Hotaka Yamakawa in the first inning. Tsubasa Aizawa responded with a two-run HR in the second. The Carp added a third run with a timely hit from Ryuhei Matsuyama.
This lead didn't last long, as Yuji Kaneko hit a bases-clearing triple in the top of the 4th. Yamakawa added a solo HR in the 5th to make it 5-3. Despite Castillo giving up runs, he held his ground through five innings with four strikeouts, one walk and four hits allowed.
The only scare came in the 6th inning, when Shogo Noda walked two batters and Takahiro Arai was up. Katsunori Hirai was able to get Arai to flyout on the warning track and end the threat.
When Hiroshima put in their bullpen, the game was busted open by the bats in the top of the 7th. Shuta Tonosaki dropped a bloop in RF for an RBI double and Kaneko delivered with a timely hit of his own to make it 7-3. Shota Takekuma and Neil Wagner took the 7th and 8th innings, respectively with little trouble.
Naoaki Matsumoto couldn't close it out on his own with two men on base and one strikeout, but Tatsushi Masuda was able to strikeout the Yoshihiro Maru and Kosuke Tanaka to end the three game losing streak.
Lions 7, Carp 3
Game note:
-Shogo Saito was called up while Tadasuke Minamikawa was taken off the roster.
-Yamakawa had a modasho.
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The second game from Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium had Ken Togame up against Akitake Okada. The Lions scored two runs in the first, taking advantage of walks from Okada, but only a timely from Takumi Kuriyama was the hit with RBIs.
Togame walked the tightrope through five innngs, giving up nine hits and consistently having threats. He alloewed a two-run single from Ryoma Nishikawa in the 4th to tie it up. Despite all the troubles, he lasted five innings and matched Okada until a rain delay happened before the 6th.
Yuji Kaneko had a timely in the top of the 6th to give the Lions a lead,. but Hirai gave up a two-run HR in the bottom of the 7th to Matsuyama to make it 4-3 Carp.
Ernesto Mejia tied the game with a solo HR in the top of the 9th as it forced extra innings. A big hit from Shogo Akiyama cleared the bases to give the Lions a 7-4 lead in the 10th, but Shota Takekuma coughed it all up with an error from Fumikazu Kimura hurting them. He allowed five hits, only recording one out and it ended with a sayonara bases-loaded walk to Seiya Suzuki.
Carp 8, Lions 7 (10 innings)
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The final game had Brian Wolfe facing Kazuki Yabuta. Suzuki struck first on an RBI single in the bottom of the 1st, but this lead didn't last long.
Seibu's offense erupted for 10 runs in the second inning, which included a three-run HR by Shogo Akiyama. Even Wolfe reached on an error which led to a run. Shuta Tonosaki had a ground rule double while Y. Kaneko had a modasho. This was the first time any team in NPB scored at least 10 runs in one inning for 2018.
The rest of this game was a yawner, where Wolfe went six innings and earned a win with four runs allowed. At the end, Hatsuhiko Tsuji used a request and the ruling on the field was corrected into a 6-4-3 double play for the final out as the Lions took the series.
Lions 12, Carp 7
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The week shifted back home where Yusei Kikuchi made his first start in a month, facing Yuta Iwasada. Early threats came for Hanshin, but Kikuchi got key strikeouts when it mattered in the first, stranding two runners. Shogo Akiyama responded with a Rickey Henderson solo HR in the bottom of the first.
Kikuchi dealt with many threats on base, but had nine strikeouts through six shutout innings to prevent runs from scoring. With Masahiro Nakatani having a leadoff triple, Kikuchi had to strike out three batters in the top of the 4th. Hotaka Yamakawa added to the lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the third.
Iwasada pitched the whole game at eight innings, but couldn't find run support. Katsunori Hirai helped cleanup the 7th, Neil Wagner had a 1-2-3 eight inning and Tatsushi Masuda had a scare in the 9th. With runners on the corners, he had to strikeout Kosuke Fukudome to secure the win.
Lions 2, Tigers 0
Game notes:
-Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura was also called up with Kikuchi. To make room for both players, Kazuki Kaneko and Masato Kumashiro were taken off. Okawari-kun struck out twice and walked once.
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The second game had a battle of teammates from Fuji University as Taiki Ono took on Shinsaburo Tawata. Itoi struck first with a base hit in the beginning, but Hotaka Yamakawa responded with a two-run HR in the third. Shogo Akiyama added two more from a base hit in the fourth and things looked like it would be easy with a 4-1 lead.
Kosuke Fukudome got a run back in the 5th, but the 6th inning is where all the damage came. After Kento Itohara added a run, Tawata was taken out of the game with two outs and Shogo Noda failed to record one, giving up multiple walks and hits before Itoi hit a grand slam. At 7-3, this lead was insurmountable with both teams trading runs for the rest of the day.
Yamakawa hit a consolation home run near the end, but it was too late, where Hanshin erupted for 10 runs after being shutout the day before.
Tigers 10, Lions 5
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The final game had Shintaro Fujinami against Daiki Enokida, where the latter faced his former team. First blood went to the Lions when they pulled off the double steal with Shogo Akiyama and Sosuke Genda on the corners for a 1-0 lead. Genda later scored on an RBI double from Ernesto Mejia.
There was no more scoring until the bottom of the 5th, where Akiyama and Hideto Asamura had timely singles to double the lead at 4-0. Fujinami's error helped the cause when Yuji Kaneko went to second on a bad pickoff attempt.
Despite no runs up to this point, Enokida struggled in the 6th, where he walked the first two batters and gave the Tigers life all day. They finally struck when Nakatani hit a double and the recently called up Naomasa Yokawa hit a timely single to make it 4-3.
The Lions erupted in the bottom of the 6th with Fujinami's control fading. Multiple walks loaded the bases and it ended his day. With Suguru Iwazaki pitching, the first pitch Kaneko saw turned into a timely base hit for two runs. After the bases were loaded again, Asamura walked on four pitches from Diego Moreno for one run. Yamakawa later cleared the bases on an RBI double to make it 10-3.
A late HR from Yokawa made the score closer, but that was it for the Tigers as Enokida defeated his former team.
Lions 10, Tigers 5
Game note:
-Shogo Noda was taken off for Ichiro Tamura.
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It was a fine week to take two series, but it's amazing to think the Lions should be 5-1 after a blown lead in Hiroshima. However, taking a series down there was a great start. The bullpen meltdowns are unfortunately continuing, but the Lions bats have been pretty good to begin interleague play.
A road trip into Yokohama and Tokyo Dome are next as the team still remains in Kanto. Coverage might be slim due to the inability to see games combined with a trip I (Christian) am taking ahead. We'll have plenty of writeups, but tweets could be minimal ahead.
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