Matsunaka’s HR helps Hawks win 4th straight
The green is almost in the black.
Nobuhiko Matsunaka broke a tie with a solo blast in the seventh inning as the SoftBank Hawks beat the Orix Buffaloes 2-1 on Monday for their fourth straight victory in their VV Green uniforms.
The joy didn’t last that long for Matsunaka, who was deactivated after the game because he tore a leg muscle while running the bases on his homer, which he didn’t think would leave the park.
Terry Doyle tossed the minimum five innings, holding the Buffaloes to a run on four hits with two walks, a hit batter and five Ks in his first appearance since being acquired on June 18. Masahiko Morifuku completed a four-inning bullpen scoreless run with a perfect ninth for his 13th save.
The win put the Hawks, last year’s Japan Series champs, a game shy of .500, while the Buffaloes fell to a season-worst 13 games under.
Seiichi Uchikawa had two hits, including an RBI single in the third inning that put the fourth-place Hawks up 1-0, but SoftBank struggled to push home another run despite collecting 10 hits and a walk.
SoftBank’s Toru Hosokawa played in his 1,000th game.
MARINES 5, EAGLES 0
Yoshihisa Naruse (9-4) tossed his career 12th shutout, and Saburo Omura connected for a three-run homer [his sixth] to help Lotte snap a six-game skid by blanking Rakuten at The Q.
Rookie Yoshinao Kamata (3-1) allowed his first homer and suffered his first pro loss in his ninth game.
LIONS 2, FIGHTERS 2
Seibu stoppoer Hideaki Wakui came on with none out and the bases loaded, and got a strikeout and two groundouts from Nippon Ham as the time limit ended action in a draw at Sapporo Dome.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 2, TIGERS 0
Edgar Gonzalez smacked his third homer, a two-run shot in the second inning, and Tetsuya Utsumi (8-6) worked 7.2 shutout frames as Yomiuri blanked Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.
CARP 3, DRAGONS 0
Kan Otake (8-2) handcuffed Chunichi on four hits and two walks with three Ks over eight innings and knocked in a run with an RBI grounder, while Jun Hirose had a two-run single in the first as Hiroshima blanked the Dragons at Mazda Stadium.
The Carp have won four straight and got to .500 and are 10-2 in July.
BAYSTARS 7, SWALLOWS 5
Takehiro Ishikawa’s tiebreaking two-run homer [his third hit of the game and first longball since Aug. 28, 2009] in the sixth gave Yokohama the lead, and five relievers combined to toss five scoreless innings as the host BayStars outslugged Yakult.
Matsunaka’s HR helps Hawks win 4th straight
The green is almost in the black.
Nobuhiko Matsunaka broke a tie with a solo blast in the seventh inning as the SoftBank Hawks beat the Orix Buffaloes 2-1 on Monday for their fourth straight victory in their VV Green uniforms.
The joy didn’t last that long for Matsunaka, who was deactivated after the game because he tore a leg muscle while running the bases on his homer, which he didn’t think would leave the park.
Terry Doyle tossed the minimum five innings, holding the Buffaloes to a run on four hits with two walks, a hit batter and five Ks in his first appearance since being acquired on June 18. Masahiko Morifuku completed a four-inning bullpen scoreless run with a perfect ninth for his 13th save.
The win put the Hawks, last year’s Japan Series champs, a game shy of .500, while the Buffaloes fell to a season-worst 13 games under.
Seiichi Uchikawa had two hits, including an RBI single in the third inning that put the fourth-place Hawks up 1-0, but SoftBank struggled to push home another run despite collecting 10 hits and a walk.
SoftBank’s Toru Hosokawa played in his 1,000th game.
MARINES 5, EAGLES 0
Yoshihisa Naruse (9-4) tossed his career 12th shutout, and Saburo Omura connected for a three-run homer [his sixth] to help Lotte snap a six-game skid by blanking Rakuten at The Q.
Rookie Yoshinao Kamata (3-1) allowed his first homer and suffered his first pro loss in his ninth game.
LIONS 2, FIGHTERS 2
Seibu stoppoer Hideaki Wakui came on with none out and the bases loaded, and got a strikeout and two groundouts from Nippon Ham as the time limit ended action in a draw at Sapporo Dome.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 2, TIGERS 0
Edgar Gonzalez smacked his third homer, a two-run shot in the second inning, and Tetsuya Utsumi (8-6) worked 7.2 shutout frames as Yomiuri blanked Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.
CARP 3, DRAGONS 0
Kan Otake (8-2) handcuffed Chunichi on four hits and two walks with three Ks over eight innings and knocked in a run with an RBI grounder, while Jun Hirose had a two-run single in the first as Hiroshima blanked the Dragons at Mazda Stadium.
The Carp have won four straight and got to .500 and are 10-2 in July.
BAYSTARS 7, SWALLOWS 5
Takehiro Ishikawa’s tiebreaking two-run homer [his third hit of the game and first longball since Aug. 28, 2009] in the sixth gave Yokohama the lead, and five relievers combined to toss five scoreless innings as the host BayStars outslugged Yakult.