Seibu Lions 2018 Weekly Digest: Genda sets new records

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The Saitama Seibu Lions finished a combined 4-2 against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Chiba Lotte Marines and Fukuoka Softbank Hawks for the final week of the regular season. They clinched the pennant on Sunday for their first in 10 years.

With this week having little meaning in teh standings, we'll just provide some notes and extras regarding what went down:

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-Shuta Tonosaki returned to the lineup for the first time in a month. By having two strikeouts, he had 100 on the season, becoming the 6th Lion to have that distinction. The other five are Sosuke Genda, Hideto Asamura, Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura, Tomoya Mori and Hotaka Yamakawa.

-Asamura reached 127 RBIs, which is a new franchise record, beating Alex Cabrera and Okawari-kun's previous single-season high of 123.

-The Lions went 68 innings without a traditional timely hit from September 22 to October 1 when Asamura broke it having a timely single, plating two runners. They scored only through the home run or an RBI groundout in that stretch.

-Daiki Enokida picked up his 11th win against the Fighters on Tuesday, which set a new career-high. He previously had four in his lone starting season with the Hanshin Tigers back in 2013.

-Shinsaburo Tawata will finish 2018 as the NPB wins leader with 16. The Lions forced a win when he pitched eight innings having a high pitch count. Shogo Akiyama hit a solo HR in the top of the 9th to secure Tawata's win.

-Kona Takahashi and Sho Ito earned wins as spot starters against the Fighters and Marines, respectively. Both pitchers were highly dependent on the defense in their wins, but Kona went eight innings to earn his victory after escaping a bases loaded no out situation.

-Sosuke Genda broke a 70-year record for assists and double plays in a single season. He is also the first Japanese player to play every single inning for his first two seasons in NPB.

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It's been a fine week overall with no injuries as the team will have 10 days off until the final stage of the Climax Series. This should be interesting as the first stage won't involve the Lions when the Hawks and Fighters battle to the death.

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