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The Saitama Seibu Lions finished with a 2-4 week against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Chiba Lotte Marines for a six game road trip.
They currently sit in fifth place of the Pacific League with a 4-5 record.
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Game 1: Shunsuke Sato vs. Naoki Uwasawa
Hotaka Yamakawa hit two solo HRs and it was all the Lions needed in a ose shutout win.
Sato made his debut with five scoreless innings, four hits, two strikeouts and one walk. Kaima Taira also made his first ichi-gun appearance for the year getting out of a jam.
The Fighters stranded a pair of runners in both the 7th and 9th innings as the shutout was solidified.
Lions 4 Fighters 0
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Game 2: Wataru Matsumoto vs. Takayuki Kato
The Lions had seven consecutive base hits with two outs in the top of the sixth inning for five runs as their offense of the game.
Kato was initially dealing with a perfect game through four innings until Takeya Nakamura broke it up with a double in the fifth.
It ended up being a third time through the order penalty striking Kato hard.
Matsumoto overcame a slow start only allowing a sacrifice fly in the first inning, but settled in until the sixth, where he allowed two more runners on base who eventually scored.
This game was locked down by the bullpen Yoshinobu Mizukami, Kaima Taira and Tatsushi Masuda to secure a fourth straight win.
Lions 5 Fighters 3
Game note: Hotaka Yamakawa left the game in the sixth with a leg injury after being told by third base coach Kuroda to stop running.
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Game 3: Kaito Yoza vs Kazuaki Tateno
Daiki Asama hit a two-run HR and the Fighters never had to look back. Kensuke Kondo had a timely hit in the third.
Brian O'Grady had a two-run double in the 5th, but that was all the Lions could score in Sapporo for the night.
Errors by the Lions sparked two unearned runs and Go Matsumoto took advantage of one of them as Yoza couldn't get a shutdown 5th inning.
G. Matsumoto put the game away for the Fighters with another timely hit in the 7th inning.
Nien Ting Wu started at 1B in place of Yamakawa and Jantzen Witte made his debut as a pinch hitter, striking out.
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Game 4: Kona Takahashi vs. Ayumu Ishikawa
This one ended up being a pitcher's duel of who could strand runners the most. Kona Takahashi went six innings where his only run allowed happened on a wild pitch in the first.
Offensively, the Lions weren't a threat against Ishikawa as they only scored off a sacrifice fly from Jantzen Witte in the 8th inning to tie it.
The Lions threatened multiple times in the 6th, 9th and even 10th innings, but failed bunt attempts and no clutch hits led to a loss. Toshiya Sato ended this one with a sacrifice fly off Katsunori Hirai in the 10th.
Marines 2 Lions 1 (10 innings)
Game note: Hotaka Yamakawa was taken off the ichi-gun roster with Yoza as Bo Takahashi took a vacant spot.
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Game 5: Chihiro Sumida vs. Kota Futaki
Brandon Laird hit a two-run HR in the fourth inning and that's all the Marines needed for offense. Sumida allowed a third run in the fifth off a sacrifice fly from Leonys Martin.
The Lions were unable to score in the first inning in their chance opportunity and had a double play in the 5th.
Chiba put this game away when Ren Ohmagari took the 7th inning and gave up five runs.
Haruka Yamada had the only timely hit for the Lions in the 8th to prevent a shutout. What hurt in this game was Tomoya Mori leaving with a fracture, expected to be out for two months.
Marines 8 Lions 1
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Game 6: Yutaro Watanabe vs. Roki Sasaki
Sasaki pitched eight innings allowing only one run and three hits against a hapless Lions offense.
Taiga Hirasawa, Akita Takabe and Ko Matsukawa played four runs for the Marines as Yutaro Watanabe was knocked out in the sixth inning.
Marines 4 Lions 2
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It's safe to say the nightmare scenario just happened for the Lions with Yamakawa and Mori lost in the same week. Some players like Bo Takahashi and Jantzen Witte we're forced to come up earlier than expected.
As earlier written, this is a developmental year and it won't be about wins and losses at this rate.
While it's not good to give up on the season, expectations should be lower.
As a short announcement, I'll be on vacation next week with no writeups for the time being.
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