It would be an awful affair for the Saitama Seibu Lions as they would go 1-5 against the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and Orix Buffaloes. They still maintain a healthy lead over Orix for A-class, but blew a chance to gain more ground on the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles.
===
The opening game from Fukuoka had Rick Van Den Hurk against Brian Wolfe. After a passed ball by Ginjiro Sumitani, Seiji Uebayashi would score later from an RBI groundout by Yuichi Honda in the bottom of the 3rd. Kenta Imamiya would slap an RBI double off the wall in the 6th and that's all that was needed to take Wolfe out after the inning was over.
Van Den Hurk shut down the Lions through seven innings with only two hits, one walk and 10 strikeouts. The Hawks would pull away in the bottom of the 7th with a three-run HR off Shota Takekuma by Imamiya. For good measure, Tomoaki Egawa would get a two-RBI hit with the bases loaded in the 8th off Makoto Aiuchi.
Hawks 7, Lions 0
Game notes:
-To make room for Aiuchi, the Lions deactivated Stephen Fife, Hirotaka Koishi and Ichiro Tamura. Kentaro Fukukura and Shogo Noda were also called up.
-Ernesto Mejia remained a pinch hitter.
===
The second game had Shunta Ishikawa facing Yosuke Okamoto. This one would be over from the very beginning as Yuki Yanagita hit a two-run HR in the bottom of the first. The Hawks would also bat around in the bottom of the 2nd for a total of four runs, creating a six run deficit after two innings.
Okamoto would also allow a three-run HR to Nobuhiro Matsuda in the bottom of the 5th, ending his night early. It would be the first time he earned a loss. With plenty of run support, Ishikawa was on cruise control with seven shutout innings and seven strikeouts, giving up only two hits and two walks.
Noda, Fukukura and Aiuchi got to pitch some mop up innings and save the bullpen, but the Lions were shutout for second straight night.
Hawks 9, Lions 0
Game note:
-Brian Wolfe was taken off after the game, Ryo Sakata was called up to start. He would go 1-2 with a walk.
===
In the final game of the series, Yusei Kikuchi would face Kenichi Nakata. Early on, Kikuchi would be called for an illegal pitch and Yanagita made him pay with an RBI double in the bottom of the 1st. Alfredo Despaigne would then hit a two-run HR into the porch for a 3-0 Hawks lead.
Mejia hit a solo HR in the top of the 2nd, but that was as close as it would get. Kikuchi would get lit up for four runs in the bottom of the 2nd, which included a three-run HR from Kenta Imamiya. Nakata would not allow a run again and go seven innings, earning run support like the previous pitchers.
Fukukura, Noda and Aiuchi would once again eat up the last six innings, combining for three more runs allowed in what was a laugher series in Fukuoka.
Hawks 10, Lions 1
Game note:
-The Lions are 1-11 when playing in Fukuoka, which includes one game in Kitakyushu.
===
The week would come back to Kanto with one final game in Omiya as Brandon Dickson would take on Ryoma Nogami. This one had the Lions jump out to a 3-0 lead after Hideto Asamura and Hotaka Yamakawa would get timely hits. Asamua added another one in the second inning with a sacrifice fly.
Mejia hit a solo HR in the bottom of the third and the rout was on. The Lions scored at least one run in each of the first six innings which also had Yuji Kaneko hit a HR. Nogami would get six shutout innings with seven strikeouts and one walk for a game that was on cruise control.
With the back end relief not pitching earlier in the week, Kazuhisa Makita, Brian Schlitter and Tatsushi Masuda took the last three innings to secure the shutout.
Lions 8, Buffaloes 0
Game note:
-Nien Ting Wu was added to the roster in place of Kyohei Nagae. He would come in as a replacement at 3B.
===
The second game from MetLife Dome had Taisuke Yamaoka against Shinsaburo Tawata. It would be a flat one from Tawata as he gave up four home runs for a 5-0 Orix lead in the first three innings. Two of them would come from Chris Marrero while Masataka Yoshida and Takahiro Okada would contribute too.
The game was out of reach and Yamaoka ended up with a shutout, striking out 10 Lions and scattering nine hits. Katsunori Hirai, Noda and Aiuchi took the last three innings giving up a combined four runs.
Buffaloes 9, Lions 0
===
The final game of this series would have Takahiro Matsuba against Keisuke Honda. Some early speed from Shuta Tonosaki and Sosuke Genda would translate into runs with a sacrifice fly from Shogo Akiyama and a timely single from Hideto Asamura. Hotaka Yamakawa added a solo HR for a 3-0 lead.
Orix responded and tied the game in the top of the second with consecutive hits and walks. The timely hits came from Shuhei Kojima and Yuki Miyazaki.
The Lions answered with two more runs of their own as Akiyama recorded a two-out timely single with Wu on third and Genda on second (after stealing). Masatoshi Okada added another run in the 3rd inning with a two-out RBI single of his own.
Honda would be taken out after 2.2 innings, where an error by Wu prevented him from finishing the third. Matsuba was taken out after two innings to make this a bullpen game.
After Katsunori Hirai had a scoreless 5th, things unraveled in the 6th inning. Kazuhisa Makita gave up multiple hits and allowed one run. Then with two runners on base, Yoshida would pull a 3-run HR to give Orix their first lead of the game at 7-6.
This one wasn't over without a fight. Yuta Kuroki would hit Asamura with a pitch in the seventh and both Yamakawa and Mori would walk. With Kuriyama's spot coming up, Hatsuhiko Tsuji chose to pinch hit with Yuji Kaneko. This call would work as he dropped a bloop double to score two runners and give the Lions a lead again.
Brian Schlitter would make things become a disaster with a leadoff double. After a bunt would move the runner over, Schlitter would walk Yoshida. Eiichi Koyano came in to pinch hit and would hit a HR on the first pitch, giving Orix a 10-8 lead. This time, Orix would hold on with only one base runner in the 8th and a solo HR from Yamakawa allowed in the 9th.
Buffaloes 10, Lions 9
Game notes:
-To make room for Honda, Shotaro Tashiro and Makoto Aiuchi were taken off the ichi-gun roster. Ryohei Fujiwara was also added.
===
Follow us on Twitter @GraveyardBall
No comments:
Post a Comment