Rain shortens scoreless affair

After five complete innings and no end to the rain in sight, the umpires conferred and ended the last Hawks-Swallows game for the year at Jingu Stadium at a 0-0 tie after a 22-minute delay.

The pitching matchup ended up being Sho Iwasaki instead of Tsuyoshi Wada for the Hawks against Shohei Tateyama. Tateyama was dominant, but Iwasaki was shaky in the third through fifth innings.

The Hawks righty loaded the bases in the third with a pair of walks and a single by Hiroyasu Tanaka, and things looked bleak with the dangerous Wladimir Balentien coming up. But the league's home run leader grounded out to end the inning, and Yakult's best chance of the day was lost.

The fourth inning was where the Central League park worked in the Hawks' favor, as Iwasaki had runners on first and second with two out, and with pitcher Tateyama up, he flew out to center.

More of the same was in the 5th, as once again Iwasaki foiled Balentien with runners in scoring position. With Tanaka on second, the former Seattle Mariner struck out to end the game.

SoftBank has the day off tomorrow, but the team doesn't have to go far for it's next series: at Tokyo Dome against the Yomiuri Giants.