The Saitama Seibu Lions went 4-2 against the Rakuten Eagles and Chiba Lotte Marines in an irregular week. They currently sit in second place of the Pacific League and are 1.5 games ahead of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
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Rakuten Eagles
Tatsuya Imai was lit up in Game 1 as the Lions had no chance with Yasuo Sano coming in relief. Once Sano gave up several base hits, this was a laugher as Hayato Yuge went seven shutout innings.
In Game 2, Daiki Enokida and Takahiro Norimoto were both vulnerable, but neither gave up more than three runs and couldn't last six innings. With the game tied going to a no-decision, it was an improbable infield single from Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura with the bases loaded for the go-ahead run. Takumi Kuriyama also added a HR to keep the game close.
The last outing in Omiya had no pitching as Wataru Matsumoto could only go four innings. Our old friend Hideto Asamura had several key RBIs and the Eagles should have won in nine innings, but Fumikazu Kimura hit two HRs including one in the 10th to extend it. Kyle Martin walked multiple batters which led to his downfall and the Lions conceded four runs without a base hit to lose the series.
Game 1: Eagles 10, Lions 0
Game 2: Lions 4, Eagles 3
Game 3: Eagles 11, Lions 7 (11 innings)
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Chiba Lotte Marines
The Lions went across Kanto with Kona Takahashi in the first game. Kota Futaki was lit up as the Lions had a home run derby off his pitches while Ryusei Sato, Shuta Tonosaki and Sosuke Genda had home runs. Timely hits from Okawari-kun were also a factor, but Sato hit his first career HR in this one. Takahashi allowed several runners, but only had three runs on the board earning his first win since June.
For the second game, Ken Togame looked like he would have a difficult outing, but the Marines continued to strand runners and only score twice from it. The Lions came back after the third time through the order penalty hit Atsuki Taneichi with Tomoya Mori having a timely hit and Fumikazu Kimura tying the game in the 7th on a HR.
Kuriyama reached his 100th career HR in the 8th off the Marines bullpen which proved to be the game winner. Ryuya Ogawa escaped a jam while Katsuori Hirai and Tatsushi Masuda both got through the game in relief to take the series.
Zach Neal came in for the third game and gave up an early HR to Leonys Martin, but the Lions responded in the later innings with taking advantage of a timely error on the Marines. Tonosaki and Hotaka Yamakawa each had a two-run HR to put the icing on the cake. It also helped that Yuji Kaneko returned from his injury,
Game 1: Lions 8, Marines 3
Game 2: Lions 4, Marines 2
Game 3: Lions 9, Marines 2
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It was an ugly front end, but a redeeming back end in Chiba. To pull away from the Marines while gaining ground on the Fighters as well as the rest of the Pacific League. There is still no breathing room, but it's encouraging that Kaneko is back at the ichi-gun from his injury of being hit by a pitch. There is still a long journey to go, but the sweep in Chiba could go a long way.
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