King for a day ...
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All the excitement over Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters hurler Yuki Saito didn’t match the “Handkerchief Prince’s” performance, but he certainly seemed like king for a day in his pro debut Sunday against the Chiba Lotte Marines, an 8-4 win.
Saito allowed four runs -- one earned -- on six hits with no walks and two Ks over five innings at Sapporo Dome, a mediocre start for one of the game’s newest and most magnetic figures.
After fanning the first man he faced, the righty got burned by the defense behind him -- an error by usually sure-handed second baseman Kensuke Tanaka -- and then misplaced a fastball that Tadahito Iguchi spank over the wall in dead center for a two-run homer.
Saito had no answer for Iguchi, who was 3-for-3 with four RBIs against him.
But the Marines had no answer for Micah Hoffpauir with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first. The newcomer blasted a grand slam that made Saito -- tossing in front of the dugout as is customary when a pitcher’s team is at bat -- say “Wow.”
“His stuff wasn’t bad,” said Nippon Ham skipper Masataka Nashida. “He threw a bunch of different pitches -- forks, two-seamers and curves. He only allowed one earned run, so I’d given 100 out of 100 points.”
He might as well give Hoffpauir 100 points, too. The infielder slugged his third longball and is batting .368 in five Pacific League games.
HAWKS 10, LIONS 8
Each team had a hit in every inning -- the first time that has happened in the PL since 1985 -- but the biggest was the second homer of the day by Nobuhiro Matsuda, a two-run, walk-off blast that lifted host SoftBank past Saitama Seibu.
Matsuda socked a solo shot in the second inning, and Nobuhiko Matsunaka added a double, a solo blast and an RBI single. But the Hawks couldn’t keep their lead, setting up Matsuda’s longball and their second walk-off win of the three-game series.
BUFFALOES 4, EAGLES 1
Takahiro “T.O.” Okada drove in the game-winner in a four-run eighth as Orix rallied to top Tohoku Rakuten and avoid a three-game sweep at Koshien.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
CARP 4, GIANTS 3
Rookie righty Yuya Fukui went seven innings, holding Yomiuri to two runs on six hits with two walks and seven Ks in his debut as Hiroshima took two of three from the Giants at The Zoom.
Eishin Soyogi capped a three-run fifth with a two-run homer, his first of the season.
SWALLOWS 4, BAYSTARS 0
Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi (1-0) carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and brought the high-flying stars back to earth by tossing a one-hit shutout at Jingu Stadium for Tokyo Yakult’s first victory of the season.
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama had two homers and three RBIs for Yakult, which got its only victory in the three-game set.
DRAGONS 1, TIGERS 0
Kazuhiro Wada whacked a double off the left-field wall in the 10th inning and pinch-runner Hidenori Kuramoto raced around from first to score the winning run with two outs and Chunichi picked up its first home win with a walk-off.
[Edited by: jgibson on Apr 18, 2011 12:02 AM]
[Edited by: jgibson on Apr 18, 2011 7:12 AM]