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The Saitama Seibu Lions took two out of three from the Orix Buffaloes on Opening Weekend. With this series win, they sit in second place in the Pacific League behind the SoftBank Hawks.
Here's what happened:
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Game 1: Kona Takahashi vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto
The Lions offense died in an instant when seeing Yamamoto. Yuma Mune and Masataka Yoshida delivered on timely hits in the 6th inning with two outs.
Takahashi had an otherwise good outing, going seven innings, but Yamamoto out-pitched him. Their best chance came in the 7th with two runners on and one out, but Takeya Nakamura struck out and Shuta Tonosaki flew out.
Ken Togame put the game away for Orix when he loaded the bases and misfielded a comebacker in the 9th, leading to a two-run error as the Lions were shutout on Opening Day.
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Game 2: Chihiro Sumida vs. Hiroya Miyagi
Hotaka Yamakawa hit a three-run HR in the first inning and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.
Chihiro Sumida threw seven shutout innings in his debut, living up to the hype as the draft's top player. He only allowed one hit as the Lions shutout Orix for their first win.
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Game 3: Yutaro Watanabe vs. Soichiro Yamasaki
The Lions dug themselves a 6-0 hole which was in part due to pitching and miscues from Aito Takeda in the outfield.
They were able to chip away with base hits from Takumi Kuriyama and Brian O'Grady. A two-run HR from Yamakawa made it a one run game after six innings.
Despite getting a heavy workload, the Lions bullpen combined for six scoreless innings as it setup for a dramatic 8th inning. With a mistake by Yoshida and Shuhei Fukuda on the outfield, the Lions had the chance they needed and Tomoya Mori found a double to give them the lead for good
In a major comeback, the Lions scored seven unanswered runs to take the series.
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Sunday's comeback felt improbable given this Lions team hasn't shown they can hit in three years. Let's hope this is a sign of things to come.
Credit to the bullpen, Sumida, O'Grady and Yamakawa for this week in what was an action packed series. Can only hope Yamakawa can return to form, something he's lacked since 2020.
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