The Saitama Seibu Lions went 4-2 against the Orix Buffaloes and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles for the six-game road trip. They gained ground on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters as their lead is now at five games.
Plenty of offense from this week as well as a a debut took place besides some milestones. Here is how it all went down:
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The first game against Orix featured Shinsaburo Tawata against Andrew Albers. Takeya "Okawari-kun" started the scoring in the top of the second with a two-run HR. By plating two runs, he reached the milestone of 1,000 career RBIs.
Timely hits from Hideto Asamura and Shuta Tonosaki made it 4-0 and Tawata put this game on cruise control. Tawata couldn't get the shutout after leaving the game in the 8th where he tripped over a bat, but still recorded nine strikeouts and only one walk without allowing a run.
Tomoya Mori hit a two-run HR to put the game away for good. Shogo Noda and Makoto Aiuchi closed it out with no problem.
Lions 6, Buffaloes 0
Game note:
-This was the Lions first shutout victory since June 1 against the Hanshin Tigers.
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Game two had Kona Takahashi making his 2018 ichi-gun debut against Chihiro Kaneko. The Lions scored early and often with timely hits from Hotaka Yamakawa and Okawari-kun for a 4-0 lead. Takahashi gave back two of those runs, but limited the damage.
This game had Takahashi walking the tight rope, but getting the key out and continuously stranding runners. Orix eventually tied this game in the 4th and it was seesaw battle. Ernesto Mejia hit a sac fly in the 6th and Takahashi picked up the shut down inning in the bottom of the frame to put himself in line for a win.
Okawari-kun hit his 4th home run in as many games in the top of the 8th with two outs and gave the Lions some insurance to make it 7-4. Neil Wagner was brought in for the bottom of the frame after Shogo Noda and Katsunori Hirai worked a solid 7th. He failed miserably allowing multiple hits and making it a one-run game in the eighth inning. With the bases loaded and a full count, Hiromasa Saito got a ground ball for an out and escaped with a lead. Deunte Heath closed it out without trouble to take the series.
Lions 7, Buffaloes 6
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The final game from Kansai featured Tatsuya Imai against Brandon Dickson. Orix scored first through a timely by Masataka Yoshida. Tomoya Mori responded with a two-run HR and Shogo Akiyama added a solo HR in the 5th to make it 3-1. Imai looked like he was cruising, but gave up several hits in the 5th and led to a meltdown inning.
With two outs and trailing 3-2, Imai allowed a grand slam to Yoshida which gave the Buffaloes an insurmountable lead. Shota Takekuma gave up a run in the 7th and the Lions tried a comeback in the 8th with three runs, a solo HR by Yamakawa and a 2-run HR by Okawari-kun, his 5th in five straight games.
The 9th inning had drama too, but Tomoya Mori couldn't get a hit with two runners off Hirotoshi Masui as the win streak ended. Offense was just too home run dependent for the day.
Buffaloes 7, Lions 6
Game note:
-To make room for Imai, Ichiro Tamura was taken off the roster.
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The week shifted to Sendai as Yusei Kikuchi took on Takahiro Shiomi. Eigoro Mogi struck first with a two-run HR, but the Lions responded quickly with HRs of their own. Yamakawa hit a solo HR while Okawari-kun hit a HR in his sixth straight game, good for two more runs.
Kikuchi all but settled in, giving up only a solo HR in the 7th with a larger lead and didn't falter afterwards. The Lions took advantage of an error from Mogi for one run and Tomoya Mori hit a solo HR as well. Shuta Tonosaki and Asamura also had timely hits in this game to make it easy.
Lions 7, Eagles 3
Game note:
-Kyle Martin was called up while Neil Wagner was taken off the ichi-gun roster. He didn't appear in this game.
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Game two had Brian Wolfe facing our old friend Takayuki Kishi. Asamura hit a three-run HR in the top of the first and the Lions batted around the order which knocked Kishi out of the game as he left with a leg injury.
Hiroki Kondo took over from there and the Lions had no trouble scoring off him with two separate three-run innings. Timely hits came from Genda and Akiyama while Yamakawa hit a HR. Okawari-kun's HR streak ended at six games, but he still picked up a timely single.
With plenty of run support, Wolfe went seven shutout innings with five strikeouts and one walk. Makoto Aiuchi struck out the side in the 8th and Kyle Martin made his NPB debut in the 9th, where he hit a batter, but recorded a strikeout and preserved the shutout.
Lions 10, Eagles 0
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The final game of the series had Daiki Enokida against Wataru Karashima. Toshiaki Imae scored first with a timely hit.
Mori tied it in the 6th with a timely single after Yamakawa was intentionally walked. This one remained tied as the Lions stranded runners too often after Enokida did the same in the beginning. Enokida ended up going seven innings with a no decision.
It was a left on base party for the entire game as it went to extra innings. No one conceded runs on either side, but Hiromasa Saito suffered in the 12th. With one out, Eigoro Mogi hit a Sayonara two-run HR to salvage one game.
Eagles 3, Lions 1 (12 innings)
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This was a solid week with minimal complaint. Sure it's disappointing to not sweep the Eagles, but they were hot coming into the series.
If anything, the bullpen looks more stable with Hirai, Noda and Heath taking the back innings. Kyle Martin has shown more promise than Neil Wagner as well.
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