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Golden Week was in full bloom as the Saitama Seibu Lions went 3-3 against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Rakuten Eagles. They sit at .500, but remain on the bubble for A-class as the Fighters, Eagles and Lions are all within a game of each other.
Here is how it all went down:
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The first game against the Fighters had Mizuki Hori against Kona Takahashi. This one was over early as Takahashi was lit up by timely hits from Sho Nakata and Haruki Nishikawa early on.
The Fighters used the opener tactic for Hori with Bryan Rodriguez taking the middle frames and it threw the Lions off balance. Hotaka Yamakawa and Shogo Akiyama had solo HRs, but it was too late.
Fighters 7, Lions 2
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Game 2 had Daiki Enokida making his first start of 2019 against Chihiro Kaneko. Both teams traded a run early on, but the fifth inning decided this one.
Tomoya Mori and Akiyama had HRs with the former hitting a two-run home run. Enokida went eight strong innings en route to his first win of the year, besides the Lions first win of the Reiwa era.
Lions 5, Fighters 3
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The final game of the series had Makoto Aiuchi taking on Takayuki Kato. Aiuchi was lit up from the very beginning with three runs allowed in the 2nd and another five in the 4th inning. With the Fighters batting around in the 4th, this one was a laugher as Aiuchi was deactivated after the game.
Fighters 10, Lions 3
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The homestand continued with the Eagles coming in with Minabu Mima facing Shinsaburo Tawata. This game had a nightmare start from Tawata giving up four runs from timely hits to Eigoro Mogi, Louis Okoye and Toshiaki Imae.
Offense wasn't an issue as Shogo Akiyama and Tomoya Mori had timely hits. Mori would later hit a HR to tie the game at 4-4 in the 6th inning.
The bullpen decided this game as Katsunori Hirai gave up the go-ahead run to the Eagles from a timely hit by Imae. Kyle Martin threw a wild pitch in the 9th to pad this lead.
Despite the trail, Ernesto Mejia came in as a pinch hitter for Fumikazu Kimura and hit a two-run HR with one out in the 9th inning off Yuki Matsui to tie it. Tatsushi Masuda escaped an ugly jam in the 10th inning and the Lions offense rewarded him in the 11th.
With Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura bunted to second base after a hit, Yuji Kaneko dropped the timely hit to give the Lions a sayonara win. It was the first win of the season over the Eagles.
Lions 7, Eagles 6 (11 innings)
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The second came had Tatsuya Imai facing Ryota Ishibashi. Akiyama hit a solo HR in the first inning and that's all the offense the Lions needed. Tomoya Mori added a timely hit and Hotaka Yamakawa hit a two-run HR in the 6th to make it 4-0.
This game was all about Imai, as he earned his first career shutout with only three hits allowed, four walks and five strikeouts.
Lions 4, Eagles 0
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The final game of the Golden Week Holiday had Yuya Fukui facing Keisuke Honda. An early score by the Lions came from Mejia hitting a deep sacrifice fly to make it 1-0 in the second inning. However, Honda gave up a solo HR to Ryosuke Tatsumi to tie things up.
Both teams had chances, but teh Eagles cashed in on theirs with a wild pitch in the 4th and a timely infield single in the 6th. Honda was pulled in the 6th inning while Yasuo Sano couldn't clean up the mess.
Ken Togame took the 7th inning and disaster struck even further. Without recording an out, he gave up five runs, which included a three-run HR to Jabari Blash, which sealed the deal for this game.
Takumi Kuriyama had a timely hit in the 8th, but it was already too late.
Eagles 8, Lions 4
Game note:
-Ryosuke Moriwaki made his ichi-gun debut in the 7th inning.
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Not the best week, but it could have been worse. Mejia's home run saved a complete disaster with the 9th inning comeback. Enokida and Imai were both encouraging this week. Can only hope for more when Tetsuya Utsumi returns. but the outlook isn't good for Zach Neal who was deactivated a few weeks ago.
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