MacLane wins for 3rd time at The Q; Orix gets 1st homer
Second-year lefty import Evan MacLane (2-0) only won three games last season for the Orix Buffaloes, and the first one came at QVC Marine Field.
It’s safe to say he was right at home on Thursday when he took the mound against the Lotte Marines -- at least the 3-1 result says he was.
Takahiro T.O. Okada slugged the team’s first homer of the season, snapping a club-worst stretch of 10 straight games without a longball. His solo shot added an insurance run in the top of the ninth after pitching set the tone for Orix.
MacLane kept the Marines to one run on two hits and a walk with four Ks over six innings, and three relievers slammed the door to preserve MacLane’s fifth career win in 10 games in Japan. Two of MacLane’s victories have come at The Q.
“It’s a whole new year and I’ve just got to keep pitching,” MacLane said in the hero interview.
He was pushed back a day, but he responded well to the extra day of rest.
“It’s just an adjustment that everybody has to make and I’ve done it a lot in the past and I was definitely prepared for it,” he said.
Tomotaka Sakaguchi gave Orix the lead with an RBI single in third inning, and Aarom Baldiris’ double in the fifth gave MacLane some breathing room. The Marines scored a run in the bottom of the fifth, but couldn't rally.
HAWKS 4, FIGHTERS 0
Kenji Otonari (1-0) fanned 11 in a three-hitter for his first shutout since July 25, 2008 as SoftBank blanked Nippon Ham.
It was SoftBank’s second shutout victory of the season.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 3, DRAGONS 2
Spotty fourth-inning defense led to a bases-loaded single from Shinnosuke Abe, and Yohei Oshima let the all three runners score when the ball got behind him as Yomiuri downed Chunichi at Tokyo Dome.
Giants starter Tetsuya Utsumi (1-2) went eight strong innings, allowing six hits with a half-dozen strikeouts -- including the 1,000th of his career -- to notch his first win of the season.
BAYSTARS 4, SWALLOWS 0
Daisuke Miura (2-0) scattered six hits with three walks and five Ks in his first shutout since Sept. 4 last year as Yokohama blanked Yakult for back-to-back wins at Jingu Stadium.
Toshiki Kurobane gave the BayStars the lead with a two-run double in the fourth and Miura, and Norihiro Nakamura also had RBI hits to lead Yokohama in its first back-to-back shutout wins since 2009.
TIGERS 1, CARP 1, 10 INNINGS
Hiroshima loaded the bases in the 10th inning, but Kyuji Fujikawa fanned Tsubasa Aizawa to help give Hanshin a tie at The Zoom.
Pinch-hitter Shinjiro Hiyama’s clutch RBI single in the seventh pulled Hanshin even.
MacLane wins for 3rd time at The Q; Orix gets 1st homer
Second-year lefty import Evan MacLane (2-0) only won three games last season for the Orix Buffaloes, and the first one came at QVC Marine Field.
It’s safe to say he was right at home on Thursday when he took the mound against the Lotte Marines -- at least the 3-1 result says he was.
Takahiro T.O. Okada slugged the team’s first homer of the season, snapping a club-worst stretch of 10 straight games without a longball. His solo shot added an insurance run in the top of the ninth after pitching set the tone for Orix.
MacLane kept the Marines to one run on two hits and a walk with four Ks over six innings, and three relievers slammed the door to preserve MacLane’s fifth career win in 10 games in Japan. Two of MacLane’s victories have come at The Q.
“It’s a whole new year and I’ve just got to keep pitching,” MacLane said in the hero interview.
He was pushed back a day, but he responded well to the extra day of rest.
“It’s just an adjustment that everybody has to make and I’ve done it a lot in the past and I was definitely prepared for it,” he said.
Tomotaka Sakaguchi gave Orix the lead with an RBI single in third inning, and Aarom Baldiris’ double in the fifth gave MacLane some breathing room. The Marines scored a run in the bottom of the fifth, but couldn't rally.
HAWKS 4, FIGHTERS 0
Kenji Otonari (1-0) fanned 11 in a three-hitter for his first shutout since July 25, 2008 as SoftBank blanked Nippon Ham.
It was SoftBank’s second shutout victory of the season.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 3, DRAGONS 2
Spotty fourth-inning defense led to a bases-loaded single from Shinnosuke Abe, and Yohei Oshima let the all three runners score when the ball got behind him as Yomiuri downed Chunichi at Tokyo Dome.
Giants starter Tetsuya Utsumi (1-2) went eight strong innings, allowing six hits with a half-dozen strikeouts -- including the 1,000th of his career -- to notch his first win of the season.
BAYSTARS 4, SWALLOWS 0
Daisuke Miura (2-0) scattered six hits with three walks and five Ks in his first shutout since Sept. 4 last year as Yokohama blanked Yakult for back-to-back wins at Jingu Stadium.
Toshiki Kurobane gave the BayStars the lead with a two-run double in the fourth and Miura, and Norihiro Nakamura also had RBI hits to lead Yokohama in its first back-to-back shutout wins since 2009.
TIGERS 1, CARP 1, 10 INNINGS
Hiroshima loaded the bases in the 10th inning, but Kyuji Fujikawa fanned Tsubasa Aizawa to help give Hanshin a tie at The Zoom.
Pinch-hitter Shinjiro Hiyama’s clutch RBI single in the seventh pulled Hanshin even.