High times …

Baldiris’ 1s t hit off Hawks this year is walk-off 1B

The Orix Buffaloes’ second-half run is taking on a new dimension -- a third-place dimension.

Hot-hitting Aarom Baldiris, who came in batting .311 over the past two weeks, slapped a bases-loaded single past a drawn-in infield in the ninth inning to give the Buffaloes a 2-1 walk-off Pacific League win over the front-running SoftBank Hawks on Tuesday at Kyocera Dome.

Baldiris was 0-for-18 against SoftBank pitching before his walk-off single, which gave the Buffaloes five straight wins, four in a row over the Hawks.

The Buffaloes moved three games over .500 and stayed 3.5 games in front of fourth-place Seibu. Baldiris credited his strong second half to hard work.

“I practice every day hard with [Eiji] Mizuguchi hitting coach. I feel very good right now,” he said in the on-field postgame interview.

Orix starter Shinya Nakayama went 8.2 innings, allowing a homer to Nobuhiro Matsuda in the fifth. Yoshihisa Hirano (5-1) got the win by fanning the only batter he faced.

“He was good today. The way he was pitching, if this were April, I would have let him pitch into the ninth. But this is September so I made the change,” Orix skipper Akinobu Okada said of Nakayama. “But he was really the winner today.”

The Buffaloes took the lead on Lee Seung Yeop’s 13th homer in the second inning. Matsuda’s 23rd tied it before the Buffaloes pulled it out in the ninth for their eighth sayonara win this season.

LIONS 5, FIGHTERS 4

Jose Fernandez had two RBI doubles, including a tying two-bagger in the sixth, and pinch-hitter Masahiro Abe dropped a dunker into center to score the eventual game-winning run in the seventh as Seibu extended its longest winning streak of the season to six games by beating Nippon Ham at home.

Kazuhisa Makita allowed the tying run to reach second before closing it out in the ninth for his 16th save. The Lions are just 3.5 games out of the third and final playoff spot.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

GIANTS 6, SWALLOWS 1

Shinnosuke Abe blasted a pair of homers and drove in three, and Josh Fields hit his second homer in less than a week as Yomiuri beat up on front-running Yakult at home.

Hirokazu Sawamura (8-11) went 7.1 innings, allowing a run on six hits and a walk with four Ks to win his CL-rookie-best eighth game..

DRAGONS 4, BAYSTARS 1

Daisuke Yamai (2-2) fired 7.1 shutout innings, and Yohei Oshima and Motonobu Tanishige homered to power visiting Chunichi past Yokohama.

Hitoki Iwase, the fourth pitcher of the ninth inning, got the final out with the bases loaded as the defending CL champs moved to within 4.5 games of first-place Yakult. Iwase’s save gave him 30 for the seventh consecutive season.

The Hiroshima Carp and Hanshin Tigers, and the Rakuten Eagles and Lotte Marines were rained out.



[Edited by: jgibson on Sep 21, 2011 11:29 AM]