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The Saitama Seibu Lions went 4-2 to complete a 9-game road trip with the Chiba Lotte Marines and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. They currently sit in 5th place of the Pacific League.
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Game 1: Kona Takahashi vs. Yuta Omine
Takahashi had 6.1 no-hit innings and the Lions cruised to an easy victory. Omine played his first ichi-gun game since 2017 and was recently promoted from an ikusei contract, but turned back the clock to some lean years of his career. Sosuke Genda had a modasho and Hotaka Yamakawa hit a 3-run HR to break this game open early. It was Takahashi's second outing with seven innings as thee Lions won 9-1.
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Game 2: Tetsuya Utsumi vs. Kazuya Ojima
Both pitchers did not allow a hit through four innings and conceded two each in the fifth. The Lions scored first on a throwing error from Leonys Martin. Fumikazu Kimura made it 2-0 on a solo HR ii the seventh inning, but drama came in the bottom of the frame. After Utsumi had five successful shutout innings and Ryosuke Moriwaki struck out eh side in the 6th, Kaima Taira walked in a run during the bottom of the 7th.
Tetsu Miyagawa came in with an inherited bases-loaded situation and struck out Katsuya Kakunaka as well as forcing a groundout from Shogo Nakamura to end the threat. Yusuke Azuma gave the Lions just enough insurance in the top of the 8th, when he walked in two runs with full count pitches to Kimura and Sena Tsuge. Both Reed Garrett and Tatsushi Masuda struggled, but only allowed one run in the 9th for the Lions fourth straight win by a score of 4-2. It was Utsumi's first career ichi-gun with in a Lions uniform. His previous ichi-gun win with the Giants came in 2018 and it took 733 days to get another.
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Game 3: Katsunori Hirai vs. Daiki Iwashita
Hirai dug himself a 2-0 hole, but Yuji Kaneko tied the game in the 5th with a two-run HR. The bottom of the 5th is where the disaster began, when Martin his a solo HR to give the Marines the lead for good. After Hirai loaded the bases, Hiromasa Saito couldn't clean up the damage and gave up several hits afterwards, leading to his deactivation the following day. The Marines and Lions traded runs afterwards as the latter lost 8-5.
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Game 4: Zach Neal vs. Toshihiro Sugiura
Tomoya Mori hit a two-run HR and Hotaka Yamakawa had a three-run HR to give the Lions a simple win. Neal went 5.1 innings, scattering eight hits with his defense doing work behind him. Cory Spangenberg, Fumikazu Kimura and even defensive replacement Masato Kumashiro made key plays to keep the Fighters off base. This 6-2 win was Neal's first victory since July 17.
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Game 5: Sean Nolin vs. Kohei Arihara
Nolin went six innings, but had a no decision as the game was tied 2-2 through seven frames. Arihara was able to go eight innings as the Lions bats were mostly stifled minus a home run from Ernesto Mejia. The biggest problem came in the bottom of the 8th, when Reed Garrett loaded the bases and gave up a bases-clearing triple to Haruki Nishikawa, ending any hope of a Lions win as they lost 6-2.
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Game 6: Wataru Matsumoto vs. Drew VerHagen
Matsumoto had early damage with two runs conceded, but the Lions came back on timely hits from Shuta Tonosaki and Sosuke Genda. They took the lead in the fourth inning when Masatoshi Okada recorded his first hit of 2020. Matsumoto successfully went six innings and scattered his hits and walks to prevent further damage.
With Garrett's struggles being amplified, the Lions used Ryosuke Moriwaki in the 7th, Kaima Taira in the 8th and Tatsushi Masuda in the 9th to finish the job as the Lions took the series with a 4-2 win.
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With a 4-2 week and a 6-3 road trip adding the series from Sendai, the Lions showed they're not completely done compared to Orix, who at one point dropped to 20 games under .500. There's still work to do, but at least they didn't give up and pitched better.
This was a week that may have poked the bear on Reed Garrett, where the team finally had enough of him pitching in the 8th inning. Let's hope Moriwaki continues a strong season and the Lions hit better.
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