Little ball pays off big …
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Some rights reserved.
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows brought in slugger Wladimir Balentien for times like these: Ninth inning, two on, game on the line.
But skipper Junji Ogawa turned to light-hitting (.188 last season in 16 ABs) infielder Masayoshi Miwa, and he hit a bunt that traveled about 15 feet. It got a rocket boost, though, when Chunichi hurler Junichi Kawahara (0-1) fired it to an uncovered third base, allowing the winning run to score in a 1-0 Yakult walk-off victory on Wednesday at Jingu Stadium.
Chunichi’s mistake made a winner out of Yoshinori Sato (1-1), who improved to 6-2 lifetime against the Dragons with a three-hit shutout. He walked five and fanned five, but made the defending Central League champions look feeble in a 123-pitch performance.
“Yoshinori was good today. We needed to score more runs for him,” grumbled Yakult manager Ogawa said.
Chunichi ace Kazuki Yoshimi finally made it to the mound after offseason elbow surgery slowed him in the spring. The righty posted seven zeroes on the scoreboard, allowing six hits and fanning seven with two walks.
But he was long gone when hot-hitting Kazuhiro Hatakeyama got the ninth-inning rally started with a leadoff double of Kawahara. Pinch-runner Kazuki Fukuchi carried home the game-winning run when Kawahara and third baseman Masahiko Morino both charged Miwa’s bunt and the hurler threw the ball away.
The Dragons are 2-5-1 and are alone in last place for the first time since skipper Hiromitsu Ochiai took over in 2004. They have dropped six of eight one-run games.
CARP 2, BAYSTARS 0
Junpei Shinoda (1-1) presented himself with a birthday gift, a shinny two-hit shutout as Hiroshima won at Yokohama for its fifth straight.
The 26-year-old lefty walked three and fanned eight on a career-high 129 pitches for his second career shutout, his first since April 12, 2009.
GIANTS 5, TIGERS 4
Second-year outfielder Hisayoshi Chono went 4-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBIs, and Yoshiyuki Kamei added two hits and three RBIs in his first start of the season as Yomiuri outlasted Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.
The Giants stopped a three-game skid.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
MARINES 3, LIONS 0
Yuki Karakawa (1-1) kicked off three daytime shutouts with a six-hitter to beat Saitama Seibu at The Q.
The righty finished off Lotte’s first back-to-back complete-game shutouts since 1996 with a strikeout on his 117th pitch, and Saburo Omura provided the offense with three hits, including an RBI double in the third inning.
FIGHTERS 9, BUFFALOES 5
Makoto Kaneko collected his career 1,500th hit as Hokkaido Nippon Ham pushed around Orix at Hotto.
HAWKS 10, EAGLES 3
Seiichi Uchikwa drilled his first homer since moving to SoftBank in the offseason and two others drove in two runs in a victory over Rakuten.
[Edited by: jgibson on Apr 21, 2011 7:43 AM]