Interleague front-running Hawks KO Dragons with 1 run
The SoftBank Hawks are making it look easy by winning some tough games.
Lefty Hiroki Yamada baffled the Dragons over seven innings and Seiichi Uchikawa used one swing to help the Hawks win their ninth straight interleague decision, blanking Chunichi 1-0 on Tuesday at FYJ Dome.
Yamada, a second-year pro who started his career on the club’s instructional squad, earned his fifth win (with two losses) as the Pacific League front-running Hawks improved to 9-0-2 against the Central League. He didn’t allow a runner to reach third, scattering four hits with a walk, a hit batter and eight punchouts.
The Hawks finished 14 games over .500 in May -- a month that saw them win 18 games -- and they frustrated the CL’s top team, which came in a game behind them in the interleague standings.
Uchikawa, batting .377 for the team he joined as a free agent in the offseason, provided the offense, belting a Maximo Nelson fastball into the seats in left with two out in the first.
“I got all of it,” Uchikawa said. “He made a mistake, and I’m glad I was able to hit it out.”
Said Hawks skipper Koji Akiyama: “Uchikawa’s home run was big -- it was good for us to score first.”
The Dragons haven’t scored a run the past two starts for Nelson (3-3), who has a long way to go to reach Nippon Ham’s Masaru Takeda -- the lefty with the misfortune of starting five straight games in which in his team was shut out.
Nelson went 6.2 innings, scattering six hits and three walks with a half-dozen Ks.
GIANTS 4, LIONS 1
Rookie Hirokazu Sawamura (2-3) scattered four hits and a walk on 130 pitches for his first complete game as Yomiuri downed host Seibu.
Second-year pro Hisayoshi Chono put the Giants in front in the seventh inning with his sixth longball as the Giants scored more than two runs for the first time in seven games to give Sawamura the lead, and the righty gave the Giants only their second complete game this season.
SWALLOWS 3, MARINES 1
Shohei Tateyama (4-1) scattered four hits and a walk over eight innings and Kazuhiro Hatakeyama hit a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth as Yakult struggled past Lotte at The Q.
Lim Chang Yang put two on with one out in the ninth before retiring the final two batters for his 10th save.
EAGLES 1, CARP 0
Satoshi Nagai (0-0) fired 7.1 shutout innings and Kazuo Matsui’s sixth-inning home run helped Rakuten snuff Hiroshima at The Kleenex Box.
Matsui took rookie Yuya Fukui (2-1) deep for his third of the season and Nagai and the bullpen closed it out -- Ryan Speier working a 1-2-3 ninth to nail it down. The Carp, who have lost five straight, are scoreless their past 35 innings.
BUFFALOES 2, BAYSTARS 1
Michael Hessman had a solo blast and Keiji Obiki doubled in a run in the seventh to back Hayato Terahara (4-4), who worked six scoreless innings to help Orix top Yokohama at Kyocera Dome.
FIGHTERS 5, TIGERS 0
Brian Wolfe (5-1) blanked Hanshin on three hits and
a walk over six innings and Yuji Iiyama put the game away with a bases-clearing triple in the eighth as Nippon Ham shut out Hanshin at Sapporo Dome.
[Edited by: jgibson on Jun 27, 2011 12:48 PM]
The SoftBank Hawks are making it look easy by winning some tough games.
Lefty Hiroki Yamada baffled the Dragons over seven innings and Seiichi Uchikawa used one swing to help the Hawks win their ninth straight interleague decision, blanking Chunichi 1-0 on Tuesday at FYJ Dome.
Yamada, a second-year pro who started his career on the club’s instructional squad, earned his fifth win (with two losses) as the Pacific League front-running Hawks improved to 9-0-2 against the Central League. He didn’t allow a runner to reach third, scattering four hits with a walk, a hit batter and eight punchouts.
The Hawks finished 14 games over .500 in May -- a month that saw them win 18 games -- and they frustrated the CL’s top team, which came in a game behind them in the interleague standings.
Uchikawa, batting .377 for the team he joined as a free agent in the offseason, provided the offense, belting a Maximo Nelson fastball into the seats in left with two out in the first.
“I got all of it,” Uchikawa said. “He made a mistake, and I’m glad I was able to hit it out.”
Said Hawks skipper Koji Akiyama: “Uchikawa’s home run was big -- it was good for us to score first.”
The Dragons haven’t scored a run the past two starts for Nelson (3-3), who has a long way to go to reach Nippon Ham’s Masaru Takeda -- the lefty with the misfortune of starting five straight games in which in his team was shut out.
Nelson went 6.2 innings, scattering six hits and three walks with a half-dozen Ks.
GIANTS 4, LIONS 1
Rookie Hirokazu Sawamura (2-3) scattered four hits and a walk on 130 pitches for his first complete game as Yomiuri downed host Seibu.
Second-year pro Hisayoshi Chono put the Giants in front in the seventh inning with his sixth longball as the Giants scored more than two runs for the first time in seven games to give Sawamura the lead, and the righty gave the Giants only their second complete game this season.
SWALLOWS 3, MARINES 1
Shohei Tateyama (4-1) scattered four hits and a walk over eight innings and Kazuhiro Hatakeyama hit a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth as Yakult struggled past Lotte at The Q.
Lim Chang Yang put two on with one out in the ninth before retiring the final two batters for his 10th save.
EAGLES 1, CARP 0
Satoshi Nagai (0-0) fired 7.1 shutout innings and Kazuo Matsui’s sixth-inning home run helped Rakuten snuff Hiroshima at The Kleenex Box.
Matsui took rookie Yuya Fukui (2-1) deep for his third of the season and Nagai and the bullpen closed it out -- Ryan Speier working a 1-2-3 ninth to nail it down. The Carp, who have lost five straight, are scoreless their past 35 innings.
BUFFALOES 2, BAYSTARS 1
Michael Hessman had a solo blast and Keiji Obiki doubled in a run in the seventh to back Hayato Terahara (4-4), who worked six scoreless innings to help Orix top Yokohama at Kyocera Dome.
FIGHTERS 5, TIGERS 0
Brian Wolfe (5-1) blanked Hanshin on three hits and
a walk over six innings and Yuji Iiyama put the game away with a bases-clearing triple in the eighth as Nippon Ham shut out Hanshin at Sapporo Dome.
[Edited by: jgibson on Jun 27, 2011 12:48 PM]