===
The Saitama Seibu Lions front end of the road trip was not so successful, going 2-4 against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Chiba Lotte Marines. They're barely in A-class through Sunday's games, but only one game separates second place from fourth place.
===
The first game from Sapporo featured Kona Takahashi and Takayuki Kato. This one was over early when Takahashi was unable to record an out in the second inning with continuous walks and hits. He was tagged for eight runs as the Fighters were able to cruise through easily. Shuta Tonosaki had a consolation home run in the 7th.
Fighters 9, Lions 1
Game notes:
-Shota Takekuma was called up while Shogo Saito was taken off the ichi-gun roster.
===
Game two had Ken Togame facing Toru Murata. Sho Nakata had an early timely hit, but Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura responded with a two-RBI timely of his own. Murata was taken out after three innings and the relief did its job to prevent further damage.
Poor defense and some base hits led to Togame having a meltdown inning in the fourth, where he was lit up for four runs including a timely from Haruki Nishikawa. The Lions bats were tamed for the rest of the night as the Fighters would claim the series.
Fighters 5, Lions 3
===
The final game had Zach Neal taking on Mitsuo Yoshikawa, where the latter made his first start returning to the team in a trade. Tonosaki cleared the bases with a triple in the third and ended Yoshikawa's night early.
This night was all about Neal, who had his best outing of the season going six scoreless frames with five strikeouts and two hits. Okawari-kun rewarded him in the 7th with a bases-clearing double and the Lions scored a crooked five-run inning as they salvaged one game.
Lions 8, Fighters 2
Game note:
-"Aito" Takeda was deactivated for Shohei Suzuki.
===
The week shifted to Chiba with Tatsuya Imai and Kota Futaki. Both sides couldn't score until the 6th inning, where a sacrifice fly from Sosuke Genda gave the Lions first blood. The Marines responded immediately with a bases-loaded walk from Seiya "Aja" Inoue.
Takumi Kuriyama gave the Lions a lead in the top of the 8th with a solo HR. However, the bottom of the 8th proved to be too much for Imai, as the bases were loaded and a walk from Takekuma didn't help. With inherited runners, Katsunori Hirai threw a wild pitch to tie it and Aja had the game-winning base hit for a timely, giving the Marines their only lead of the night for the Lions loss.
Marines 4, Lions 2
Game note:
-Shohei Suzuki made his first career start in LF.
===
Keisuke Honda started the next game against Hideaki Wakui. Shogo Akiyama pulled a Rickey Henderson with a first inning HR and the Lions had no trouble after that. They would score four more runs and Honda pitched 7.1 scoreless innings in what was an easy victory. Suzuki also recorded his first career hit and an RBI (in separate at-bats).
Lions 5, Marines 0
===
The final game had Wataru Matsumoto against Seiya Dohi. With no score after four innings, a bases-loaded walk from Hotaka Yamakawa gave the Lions a 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately for Matsumoto, a flurry of errors in the 5th inning led to four runs for the Marines, including one error on the pitcher himself. Ryosuke Moriwaki was lit up in the 7th inning, which included a three-run HR from Aja as the Lions lost the series.
Marines 8, Lions 2
===
It's not the ideal week on the road with a few winnable games that could have been flipped. At least Neal's performance has been encouraging, but the big test before the All-Star break comes with the defending champions on the road, including a corporate party in Tokyo Dome.
===
Follow us on Twitter @GraveyardBall
No comments:
Post a Comment