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The Saitama Seibu Lions split a six-game week against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Rakuten Eagles. They still sit at 5th place in the Pacific League.
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Game 1: Kona Takahashi vs. Naoyuki Uwasawa
Takahashi struggleed out of the gate, giving up three runs in the first two innings. However, he settled in to go six frames without further damage. The Lions failed to get a hit on Uwasawa until the 4th inning and had opportunities to cash in on runs, but only scored off him through a hit by pitch and wild pitch. An error by Shohei Suzuki allowed a fourth run to score for the Fighters and the bats remained cold, resulting in a 4-3 loss.
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Game 2: Daiki Enokida vs. Toshihiro Sugiura
Enokida failed to last three innings and allowed seven runs, including a three-run HR from Christian Villanueva. Cory Spangenberg hit a three-run HR, but it was already too late. In a salvaging losing effort, Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura recorded his 1,500th career hit on an infield single. The Lions scored five runs in the 6th, but it wasn't enough in a 8-5 defeat.
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Game 3: Keisuke Honda vs. Ryusei Kawano
Honda gave up two 2-run HRs to Taishi Ota and Sho Nakata, but the Lions came back chipping away at a 4-0 Fighters lead. This included a two-run HR from Hotaka Yamakawa. In the 5th, Takumi Kuriyama had a timely hit to give the Lions a 5-4 lead and Sena Tsuge hit his first career HR in the 6th.
Things looked like it would be easy, but Reed Garrett gave up three runs in the top of the 8th where Po-Jung Wang, Ota and Haruki Nishikawa did the damage. The bottom of the 9th didn't feature the usual Fighters closer as Mizuki Hori was in and it gave a chance for the Lions. With the bases loaded and one out, Hotaka Yamakawa made contact with the outfield playing in, leading to the game winning sayonara hit ad a 7-6 Lions victory to salvage the lost series.
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Game 4: Zach Neal vs. Takahiro Norimoto
This proved to be a tough pitcher's duel as both sides didn't score through four innings. Fumikazu Kimura broke the deadlock with a timely hit in the top of the 5th, but the Eagles responded in the bottom of the frame with an error by Tomoya Mori. An unearned run came in and Takero Okajima delivered for a the Eagles with his own timely hit. While the damage was limited, the Lions bats couldn't figure out Norimoto through six innings and their bullpen held on for a tight 2-1 loss.
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Game 5: Sean Nolin vs. Takahiro Shiomi
Nolin's debut proved to be a good one, as he went six innings and didn't allow a hit until the fourth. Tsuge hit a two-run HR in the third and and Cory Spangenberg hit a two-run HR in the fourth to give Nolin a cushion. Nolin's only blemish was a two-run to Hideto Asamura and a solo HR by Stefen Romero. Kaima Taira and Reed Garrett allowed multiple base runners, but no damage as the Lions took game two against the Eagles, leading to Nolin's first career win at an ichi-gun level of baseball since 2015.
Wow 🤔 It has been a long time and a lot of hard work to get back to this point. I’m glad I’m back on track 🙏🏻 https://t.co/m7iKXQ8niO
— Sean Nolin/ショーン・ノリン (@Sean_Nolin) August 30, 2020
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Game 6: Wataru Matsumoto vs. Yuya Fukui
Both pitchers didn't allow a run through five innings while the Eagles switched to Tomohiro Anraku in the 6th. Matsumoto gave up a leadoff double to Daichi Suzuki and that's when things unraveled. After he moved to third base, a wild pitch gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Eigoro Mogi added another run on an error from Shuta Tonosaki to make it 2-0 in the 8th. The Lions had several chances botched, including a runner in scoring position with Yuji Kaneko up in two different situations. They resulted in two weak flyouts to end any shot at scoring.
However, the game was't over yet. With Alan Busenitz pitching, Yamakawa walked and Mori singled with two outs and the latter had two strikes. Ernesto Mejia had two strikes, but took a ball deep and it barely cleared the LF fence for a three-run home run. This proved to be the game winner as the Lions took the game and series.
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A .500 week isn't the end of the world. At least it ended on a high note and credit to Ryosuke Moriwaki where it's due mostly pitching well until the last game this week. Reed Garrett has the bigger concerns, struggling to miss bats and has to rely on putting the ball in play. It's unlikely this week will turn around the season as the halfway point is here, but there was progress.
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