'Stars One-Hit Victory

There was just a scant 10,000 fans treated to a great pitching battle at Yokohama Stadium last night (9/29) between the Hiroshima Carp and Yokohama BayStars.

In the top of the first, Komiyama got himself into the biggest jam he'd see on the night. Nomura led off the game with a base hit to center, but was erased on Higashide's failed sacrifice attempt that turned into a double play. Diez and Kanemoto followed with a pair of singles, then Komi-chan hit Lopez to load the bases. Fortunatly, he got Arai to strike out to retire the side.

For Yokohama, the only run they got was also their only hit. Against Hiroshima starter Hasegawa in the 2nd inning, Nakane hit his 4th home run of the season over the left field fence for a 1-0 lead.

The 1-0 score turned out to be the final and, for the 13th time in Pro Yakyu history, a team with but a single home run as their lone hit won the game. It's the 31st one hit victory.

Nonetheless, while Hasegawa, Kikuchihara, and Kobayashi combined to hold the 'Stars to that one hit, walking just 4, Komiyama was the star of the game. While Komiyama gave up 9 hits, he struck out 4 and walked none in a 96 pitch low-energy shut out. Turning 4 doubled plays behind him helped a great deal as well.

And speaking of double plays, Kanemoto's consecutive plate appearances without hitting into a double play came to an end at 1002 in the 6th inning. That is the Japan record.