Wada smacks walk-off blast as Dragons win 12th straight at the dome
The slumping Chunichi Dragons didn’t exactly feast on home cooking, but they got fat off it nonetheless on Friday night.
Kazuhiro Wada slugged his second walk-off of homer of the season, a solo shot in the 10th inning, as the Dragons blanked the Yokohama DeNa BayStars 1-0 at Nagoya Dome.
Chunichi had lost five straight, getting swept by the Giants at Tokyo Dome before the Yakult Swallows bombed them in two games at Jingu Stadium. But that was on the road -- they’ve won 12 straight now at the dome.
“Actually, the best thing would be if we were winning games wherever we played, but the bad images we left with fans who cheered for us at games in the Kanto area -- at Jingu and Tokyo Dome -- we want to make up for that by winning,” Wada said in the hero interview after his fifth career sayonara homer.
The Dragons, who had nine hits and drew three walks, were kept off the scoreboard in the ninth after loading the bases with one out. But they couldn’t get a ball to the outfield or a two-out hit.
The Dragons, 25-6-5 at home [12-20-5 away], notched their Japan-best 15th shutout, Jorge Sosa (3-0) working a perfect 10th for the win.
The BayStars, meanwhile, fell to a season-high 20 games under .500.
GIANTS 6, TIGERS 3
Yoshinobu Takahashi helped Yomiuri jump out to a six-run lead with an RBI single and a run-scoring double in the first two innings, and Hirokazu Sawamura won his second straight start with 6.2 strong innings as Yomiuri dumped Hanshin at Tokyo Dome.
Yoshitomo Tani also homered for the front-running Giants.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
BUFFALOES 11, MARINES 7
Lee Dae Ho doubled twice and ripped his PL-best-tying 13th homer, and Takahiro “T.O.” Okada had three hits, including his second longball, as Orix pounded Lotte pitching for a season-high 15 hits to win in the rain at The Q.
Takayoshi Kawabata had three hits and Bobby Scales added two hits and an RBI for the Buffaloes.
Lee has hit in 13 straight games.
EAGLES 6, LIONS 2
Fill-in starter Takayuki Shiomi (6-8) threw five innings of two-run all [allowing seven hits but fanning four and walking none] and benefited from an offensive explosion to win his first game since May 19 as Rakuten topped host Seibu.
Ryo Hijirisawa went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and a sac fly and Akihisa Makida had two hits and two RBIs to back Shiomi, who stopped a personal five-game losing streak while starting in place of ace Masahiro Tanaka [should discomfort].
HAWKS 5, FIGHTERS 5
Yuichi Honda’s RBI single in the eighth pulled SoftBank even at Sapporo Dome and that’s where the scoring ended in a draw with Nippon Ham.
The Fighters stakes Yuki Saito to a 4-0 lead early, but the righty left after the fifth inning with a 5-3 lead and the bullpen couldn’t hold protect it.
The Swallows and Carp were rained out at The Zoom.
[Edited by: jgibson on Aug 16, 2012 8:57 PM]
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The slumping Chunichi Dragons didn’t exactly feast on home cooking, but they got fat off it nonetheless on Friday night.
Kazuhiro Wada slugged his second walk-off of homer of the season, a solo shot in the 10th inning, as the Dragons blanked the Yokohama DeNa BayStars 1-0 at Nagoya Dome.
Chunichi had lost five straight, getting swept by the Giants at Tokyo Dome before the Yakult Swallows bombed them in two games at Jingu Stadium. But that was on the road -- they’ve won 12 straight now at the dome.
“Actually, the best thing would be if we were winning games wherever we played, but the bad images we left with fans who cheered for us at games in the Kanto area -- at Jingu and Tokyo Dome -- we want to make up for that by winning,” Wada said in the hero interview after his fifth career sayonara homer.
The Dragons, who had nine hits and drew three walks, were kept off the scoreboard in the ninth after loading the bases with one out. But they couldn’t get a ball to the outfield or a two-out hit.
The Dragons, 25-6-5 at home [12-20-5 away], notched their Japan-best 15th shutout, Jorge Sosa (3-0) working a perfect 10th for the win.
The BayStars, meanwhile, fell to a season-high 20 games under .500.
GIANTS 6, TIGERS 3
Yoshinobu Takahashi helped Yomiuri jump out to a six-run lead with an RBI single and a run-scoring double in the first two innings, and Hirokazu Sawamura won his second straight start with 6.2 strong innings as Yomiuri dumped Hanshin at Tokyo Dome.
Yoshitomo Tani also homered for the front-running Giants.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
BUFFALOES 11, MARINES 7
Lee Dae Ho doubled twice and ripped his PL-best-tying 13th homer, and Takahiro “T.O.” Okada had three hits, including his second longball, as Orix pounded Lotte pitching for a season-high 15 hits to win in the rain at The Q.
Takayoshi Kawabata had three hits and Bobby Scales added two hits and an RBI for the Buffaloes.
Lee has hit in 13 straight games.
EAGLES 6, LIONS 2
Fill-in starter Takayuki Shiomi (6-8) threw five innings of two-run all [allowing seven hits but fanning four and walking none] and benefited from an offensive explosion to win his first game since May 19 as Rakuten topped host Seibu.
Ryo Hijirisawa went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and a sac fly and Akihisa Makida had two hits and two RBIs to back Shiomi, who stopped a personal five-game losing streak while starting in place of ace Masahiro Tanaka [should discomfort].
HAWKS 5, FIGHTERS 5
Yuichi Honda’s RBI single in the eighth pulled SoftBank even at Sapporo Dome and that’s where the scoring ended in a draw with Nippon Ham.
The Fighters stakes Yuki Saito to a 4-0 lead early, but the righty left after the fifth inning with a 5-3 lead and the bullpen couldn’t hold protect it.
The Swallows and Carp were rained out at The Zoom.
[Edited by: jgibson on Aug 16, 2012 8:57 PM]