2018 Seibu Lions Weekly Digest: Kikuchi hurt as wins keep coming

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The Saitama Seibu Lions went 4-2 against the Orix Buffaloes and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in a Golden Week holiday that was mostly on the road (when counting Monday's home outing). They still maintain first place in the Pacific League and have not has a losing week this year.

Currently, they have a six game lead on the second-place Fighters. Here is how we got there:

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The first game against the Buffaloes had Hayato Takagi against Andrew Albers. Takagi started the first well, but loaded the bases all with two outs after hitting a batter and walking another. Ryoichi Adachi took the first pitch he saw into the gap and cleared the bases for a 3-0 Buffaloes lead.

Takagi looked like he'd settle in, but walked a run home in the 4th to end his day prematurely. Hirotaka Koishi came to relieve him and end the threat.

The Lions bats were mostly cold on the night, as Albers forced a double play and went seven strong innings. Fumikazu Kimura put the Lions on the board with an RBI single in the 5th and another came from Hideto Asamura in the 6th, but they failed to take advantage of the few chances.

Yuta Kuroki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto combined for the 8th and 9th inning to close the door, ending the Lions three-game win streak.

Buffaloes 4, Lions 2

/Game note:

-Ernesto Mejia and Kimura started with Albers being a left handed pitcher. Takumi Kuriyama and Tomoya Mori had the day off.

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The next game had Fabio Castillo against Brandon Dickson. It looked like an early rout when Dickson allowed hit after hit, giving up four runs alone in the top of the first for a 4-0 Lions lead.

Castillo struggled early, but appeared to be cruising through three innings. Ernesto Mejia added his first HR of the year with a solo HR in the top of the 4th to make it 5-0. Castillo had a meltdown bottom of the 4th, giving up several hits including a two-run HR to Chris Marrero and a timely hit from Shuhei Fukuda, which tied the game at 5-5.

Both pitchers went five innings, earning a no decision. Shogo Noda allowed nothing in the 6th, but Hirai gave up a solo HR to Stefen Romero, giving Orix the lead and it finished off the Lions. The Buffaloes bullpen shut the door again and the Lions lost their second straight.

Buffaloes 6, Lions 5

Game note:

-Hayato Takagi was deactivated for Naoaki Matsumoto.

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The final game of this series had Ken Togame facing Chihiro Kaneko. Hotaka Yamakawa opened the scoring in the top of the 4th with a solo HR. He added two more runs in the top of the 6th with the bases loaded to make it 3-0.

A timely double from Shogo Akiyama and RBI triple from Sosuke Genda made it 5-0 in the top of the 7th. Togame had his best performance of the season, with seven shutout innings, two walks and two hits.

Masatoshi Okada put no doubt into this game with a three-run blast for only his second career home run. Sho Ito and Naoaki Matsumoto closed it out to end the losing streak.

Lions 8, Buffaloes 0

Game note:

-This was the first shutout for the Lions in 2018.

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The week shifted into Sendai with the opening game featuring Takahiro Shiomi and Tohoku native Yusei Kikuchi. Seibu struck first in the top of the third with a gapper by Yamakawa to plate two runs. Kikuchi appeared to be cruising as he retired the first 10 batters, but the damage came in the bottom of the 4th inning.

Timely hits from Zelous Wheeler and Toshiaki Imae tied the game with two outs. Japhet Amador then hit a two-run HR to give the Eagles the lead on a line drive shot, making it 4-2.

The Lions got a run back when Shogo Akiyama hit a solo HR off Shiomi, his former college teammate. Rakuten's bullpen came in for the 6th as Yoshinao Kamta came in. Shuta Tonosaki bunted two runners into scoring position and the plan worked, as Takumi Kuriyama dropped a bloop single so that both runners ended up scoring, giving the Lions a 5-4 lead.

Kikuchi appeared to have settled in with a shutdown inning, but Eigoro Mogi tied it all up in the bottom of the 7th with a solo HR. It became a battle of bullpens as Frank Herrmann and Neil Wagner had scoreless frames for both teams in the 8th.

Yuki Matsui was in for the top of the 9th and Fumikazu Kimura reached base on a single. He stole second and struck out Sosuke Genda which should have ended the inning. However, the ball skipped away from catcher Yuichi Adachi and Genda was safe, while Kimura scored from second base to give the Lions the lead once again.

Tatsushi Masuda closed the 9th and the Lions continued their winning ways against the Eagles.

Lions 6, Eagles 5

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The second game had Shinsaburo Tawata facing Takahiro Norimoto. In the top of the 2nd, the Lions put three runs on the board from three balls that didn't leave the infield. A fielder's choice from Kimura led to everyone being safe with the bases loaded as the play at second base was off the bag. Akiyama beat out a double play for another run and Genda plated the third with an infield single, beating out a throw by Eigoro Mogi.

Rakuten got a run back from a double by Motohiro Shima. The Lions broke this one open in the top of the third. Mori hit his third HR of the year and Kimura hit a two-run HR to make it 6-1. Genda also hit an RBI double to make it 7-1.

Tawata was not dominant in this outing, where he only went 5.2 innings with three earned runs and four runs allowed overall. with eights hits and two walks allowed to go with three strikeouts. Both teams ended up trading runs for the rest of the day in what was a snoozer.

Akiyama hit another home run in the top of the 5th and two more runs came in the 8th with a timely single by Mori and bases-loaded walk from Kimura. The streak continued in Sendai as the team won their third straight.

Lions 10, Eagles 4

Game notes:

-Kikuchi was taken off the roster after this game with shoulder and neck stiffness, something he suffered as early as March 14. He will be ineligible to return until May 16.

-Tawata has won all six starts up to this point.

-Norimoto's three losses have all been against the Lions in a dominant fashion. It was his shortest outing of the year at three innings.

-Both Genda and Kimura had a modasho.

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The last game of the series had Daiki Enokida against Shoma Fujihira. Shogo Akiyama started the scoring with a solo HR in the top of the third. After Genda singled, Asamura hit a HR of his own.

Yamakawa walked and Tonosaki legged out an infield single to setup a chance. Kuriyama made no mistake about it, hitting a deep three-run home run to right field and giving the Lions a 6-0 lead.

Even more runs came in the top of the 4th for the Lions, with timely hits by Asamura and Tonosaki as well as a sac fly from Mori to make it 9-0. Enokida put in another quality start for the Lions with six scoreless frames, four hits, two walks and seven strikeouts.

With this game being a easy one, the Lions added two more runs with Mori hitting a gapper and Yuji Kaneko grounding into a double play. Sho Ito had two flawless innings while Naoaki Matsumoto closed it out in the 9th to secure the Lions four game win streak and second shutout of the season.

Lions 11, Eagles 0

Game notes:

-This was Hideto Asamura's 1,000th career ichi-gun game. He celebrated it with a modasho.

-Every Lions starter had at least one hit in the game.

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Hopefully Yusei Kikuchi will be alright after it was documented he was playing hurt the entire season up to this point. However, Enokida has been a solid pickup with three quality starts and earning three wins.

The bullpen is still shaky, but the close game in Sendai went the Lions way. A brief home stand against the Hawks will still be tough, At minimum, the winning streak in MetLife dome will likely be snapped in the four games ahead while one is in Omiya.

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