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The Saitama Seibu Lions had another losing week, going 1-4 against the Rakuten Eagles and Softbank Hawks. However, they're not in the cellar as they're tied with the Chiba Lotte Marines in B-class, only 1.5 games out of third.
Here is how it all went down:
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The first game had Zach Neal making his first road start in a rematch against Wataru Karashima. Shogo Akiyama started the scoring with a solo HR in the third, but Eigoro Mogi responded with one of his own in the bottom of the frame. Zelous Wheeler had a timely hit with two outs to give the Eagles their first lead.
Hotaka Yamakawa had a timely gapper with two outs to make it 3-2, but Neal couldn't get a shutdown inning from a timely hit by Hideto Asamura in the bottom of the 5th. Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura hit a solo HR in the 6th inning as the Lions bullpen had to take over.
With Kyohei Nagae in as a defensive replacement, he committed a huge error which put a runner on base. With two outs, Motohiro Shima had a timely hit to tie it all at 4-4. The Lions squandered opportunities in the late innings and no score came until the bottom of the 10th, when Kyle Martin struggled to record an out. He was ejected for a dangerous pitch off Hiroaki Shimauchi and Ryuya Ogawa allowed a sayonara sacrifice fly to end the game.
Eagles 5, Lions 4 (10 innings)
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Game 2 had Keisuke Honda and Yuya Fukui. The Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead from some infield singles and a timely from Takumi Kuriyama, but that was all the scoring from the road side in the first inning.
Honda looked like he would cruise, but the third time through the order penalty hit him hard. He allowed two runs from a timely hit by Louis Okoye in the 4th, while Asamura did damage again with a three-run HR in the 5th, which decided the game. Fukui settled in and went five innings while the Eagles bullpen kept the Lions off the board. It was the 4th straight loss by the Lions against the Eagles.
Eagles 7, Lions 3
Game note:
-Sosuke Genda missed his third consecutive game. Masato Kumashiro started at SS again.
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The week shifted home to Kanto as Shinsaburo Tawata took on Kodai Senga. This one was all about Senga, who had a no-hitter through five innings before Yuji Kaneko broke it up in the 6th.
Tawata gave up two runs in the third inning off timely hits from Kenta Imamiya and Nobuhiro Matsuda while going 6.1 innings. With Senga's dominance through 8 innings, the Lions only had one chance in the 6th with runners on the corners, but Tonosaki struck out and Yamakawa flied out to end it.
As a result, the Lions lost their third straight game.
Hawks 2, Lions 0
Game note:
-Genda returned to the starting lineup batting 9th. He had an error and went 1 for 3.
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Game 2 had Roberto Suarez facing Tatsuya Imai. Kenta Imamiya started the scoring with a solo HR in the first. However, the Lions erupted for five runs in the second inning off Suarez. It was capped off from a two-out rally including a bases-clearing triple from Fumikazu Kimura as well as timely hits from Yuji Kaneko and Sosuke Genda.
Yamakawa hit a solo HR and the 6-1 lead was enough for the Lions. Imai went 6+ innings and allowed only three runs. Katsunori Hirai, Kyle Martin and Tatsushi Masuda closed out this game without issue to end the streak.
Lions 6, Hawks 4
Game note:
-Kakeru Yamanobe was called up in place of Ryusei Sato.
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The final game had Kona Takahashi facing Rei Takahashi. While Takuya Kai hit a solo HR to begin the scoring, this one was over in the fourth inning with a flurry of timely hits while Hayato Takagi couldn't cleanup any mess with inherited runners.
This laugher had the Lions give up the most runs in a single game in this young season. As a consolation, Yamanobe got to make his ichi-gun debut as a pinch hitter and recorded a bases loaded walk for his first career RBI.
Hawks 16, Lions 5
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In perspective, we have to remember that Tetsuya Utsumi, Daiki Enokida and Wataru Matsumoto are all injured. If the Lions can escape this month without a significant losing streak, it isn't the end of the world.
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