Lions outclass Eagles, continue PL charge
The days of headshaking loses have transformed into hand-clapping, high-five-slapping winning party nights for the Seibu Lions.
Hideto Asamura had three hits -- including a two-run single in a five-run sixth -- and three RBIs as the Lions mauled the Rakuten Eagles for a 6-2 win on Sunday at Seibu Dome.
The Lions, who moved percentage points above Nippon Ham for first place in the Pacific League because of front-running Nippon Ham's loss, have been snacking on opponents the since the All-Star break, going 13-4-3 since the midsummer classics.
Despite playing without All-Star Hiroyuki Nakajima, the Lions banged out 14 hits and beat up on Masahiro Tanaka (6-4), who reached 1,000 strikeouts when he fanned Takumi Kuriyama in the fifth inning.
Ken Togame (3-0) worked three innings of one-run relief for the win.
It was the last day for Seibu in the 100-year anniversary uniforms, designed by a Tokyo junior high school student named Tomoya Nojima [Thank goodness. I don’t care how young and cute the kid is, those things look like Smurfs after a Martian-eating contest].
HAWKS 10, BUFFALOES 8
Yuya Hasegawa had four hits, including his second homer, and two RBIs, and Seiichi Uchikawa had three hits and two RBIs as SoftBank outslugged host Orix.
The 4-hour, 17-minute struggle was the longest game in Japan this year.
MARINES 2, FIGHTERS 1
Shunichi Nemoto tripled in the game's first run in the seventh and scored on Katsuya Kakunaka's single as Lotte topped Nippon Ham to avoid a Sapporo Dome sweep.
GIANTS 4, CARP 3
Shinnosuke Abe blasted his sixth career walk-off homer to open the ninth inning as host Yomiuri swept Hiroshima and stretched its CL lead to 5.5 games.
The Carp made two errors and a couple other shoddy defensive plays to assist Yomiuri's comeback from 3-0.
BAYSTARS 2, DRAGONS 0
Kisho Kagami (2-1) carried a one-hitter into the ninth inning and midseason pickup Kensuke Uchimura broke a scoreless deadlock in the 10th with a clutch hit as Yokohama avoided a sweep to host Chunichi.
The BayStars broke an 11-game skid at Nagoya Dome.
TIGERS 7, SWALLOWS 1
Tony Barnette (1-2) uncorked wild pitch plated the go-ahead run in the ninth [after an error allowed a runner] and the floodgates opened as Hanshin rallied for six runs to take the rubber game against Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Lions outclass Eagles, continue PL charge
The days of headshaking loses have transformed into hand-clapping, high-five-slapping winning party nights for the Seibu Lions.
Hideto Asamura had three hits -- including a two-run single in a five-run sixth -- and three RBIs as the Lions mauled the Rakuten Eagles for a 6-2 win on Sunday at Seibu Dome.
The Lions, who moved percentage points above Nippon Ham for first place in the Pacific League because of front-running Nippon Ham's loss, have been snacking on opponents the since the All-Star break, going 13-4-3 since the midsummer classics.
Despite playing without All-Star Hiroyuki Nakajima, the Lions banged out 14 hits and beat up on Masahiro Tanaka (6-4), who reached 1,000 strikeouts when he fanned Takumi Kuriyama in the fifth inning.
Ken Togame (3-0) worked three innings of one-run relief for the win.
It was the last day for Seibu in the 100-year anniversary uniforms, designed by a Tokyo junior high school student named Tomoya Nojima [Thank goodness. I don’t care how young and cute the kid is, those things look like Smurfs after a Martian-eating contest].
HAWKS 10, BUFFALOES 8
Yuya Hasegawa had four hits, including his second homer, and two RBIs, and Seiichi Uchikawa had three hits and two RBIs as SoftBank outslugged host Orix.
The 4-hour, 17-minute struggle was the longest game in Japan this year.
MARINES 2, FIGHTERS 1
Shunichi Nemoto tripled in the game's first run in the seventh and scored on Katsuya Kakunaka's single as Lotte topped Nippon Ham to avoid a Sapporo Dome sweep.
GIANTS 4, CARP 3
Shinnosuke Abe blasted his sixth career walk-off homer to open the ninth inning as host Yomiuri swept Hiroshima and stretched its CL lead to 5.5 games.
The Carp made two errors and a couple other shoddy defensive plays to assist Yomiuri's comeback from 3-0.
BAYSTARS 2, DRAGONS 0
Kisho Kagami (2-1) carried a one-hitter into the ninth inning and midseason pickup Kensuke Uchimura broke a scoreless deadlock in the 10th with a clutch hit as Yokohama avoided a sweep to host Chunichi.
The BayStars broke an 11-game skid at Nagoya Dome.
TIGERS 7, SWALLOWS 1
Tony Barnette (1-2) uncorked wild pitch plated the go-ahead run in the ninth [after an error allowed a runner] and the floodgates opened as Hanshin rallied for six runs to take the rubber game against Yakult at Jingu Stadium.