The Saitama Seibu Lions went 2-3 against the Rakuten Eagles and Nippon-Ham Fighters for the week. They currently sit in third place, but only by half a game above the Eagles.
Here is what happened:
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The first game on Tuesday was scheduled to have Tatsuya Imai and Wataru Karashima, but it was rained out.
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Takahiro Norimoto instead too the bump for the Eagles while the Lions stuck with Imai for the first game played in Sendai. The Lions were unable to capitalize on early mistakes from Norimoto's control issues and they paid the price.
Imai failed to get a shutdown inning twice when allowing a home run to Hideto Asamura and "Ginji" Akaminai. Takeya "Okawari-kun" hit a solo HR to give the Lions a lead, but Ginji's HR was enough for the Eagles to take the series opener.
Eagles 4, Lions 3
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Game two had Karashima taking on Wataru Matsumoto. Okawari-kun's solo HR started the scoring and consecutive base hits by the Lions had Karashima taken out by the 5th inning. Matsumoto hit a career high eight strikeouts and Ernesto Mejia had a modasho with a solo HR in the 8th. It was Matsumoto's fifth win of the year.
Lions 5, Eagles 1
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The Lions week went back home with Takayuki Kato against Ken Togame. This one looked over early when Togame was tagged for seven runs in the first two innings. This included a HR from Sho Nakata and a bases-clearing double from Kensuke Kondo.
It wasn't over as the Lions fought back including home runs by Hotaka Yamakawa and Okawari-kun where it was eventually 7-7 after five innings. Ryosuke Moriwaki returned for hte top of the 6th and failed to get a shutdown inning. A bases clearing hit from Ryo Watanabe with Katsunori Hirai pitching was enough to give the Fighters the lead for good. It was a comeback just short.
Fighters 12, Lions 7
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Shinsaburo Tawata came in for his second start since returning against Hiroshi Urano. The Lions had a 4-0 lead with four solo HRs from Shogo Akiyama, Shuta Tonosaki, Tomoya Mori and Okawari-kun. This didn't help for a win as errors and poor defense led to a six-run inning by the Fighters in the top of the 5th.
Mori hit two more HRs in the game, but it wasn't enough as the bullpen continued to be tagged for runs the rest of the night.
Fighters 10, Lions 6
-Game note: Ryuya Ogawa was called up for Shota Takekuma.
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The final game had Zach Neal against Mizuki Hori. Yamakawa's timely hit had the Lions score first, but the Fighters responded with two runs in the second. He later hit a two-run HR and some timely hits appeared to have given the Lions a comfortable lead. After Neal gave up a run in thee 6th, he had no issues as he went seven innings for the night with a career-high seven strikeouts.
Sho Nakata hit a solo HR off Hirai, but it didn't look to be damaging as the Lions had insurance runs in the bottom of the 6th. With one out in the top of the 9th, Tatsushi Masuda allowed a three-run HR to Kondo and it was all tied up. In a game where Berry Goodman, the music group who performs Masuda's walkup song, "Raion (Lion)", he blew the save opportunity. Masuda had to escape with more runners on base and keep the game tied going to extra innings.
Fumikazu Kimura had a four hit game and successfully reached base with a single in the 10th. Shogo Akiyama hit a routine grounder to shortstop, but Takuya Nakashima misfielded it as the ball bounced into no-man's land and Kimura scored from first for the sayonara win, ending the small skid.
Lions 8, Fighters 7 (10 innings)
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This week could have been worse. It wasn't the end of the world, but the concern for Hirai is very real. Let's hope Masuda's blown save was just a fluke and only a Fighters issue, as his ERA against them is higher than 11.00. Offense will have its up and downs, but the pitching has not been there aside from Zach Neal's great return.
There's a lot of baseball left, but on paper, the Lions pitching means they'll come up short.
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