Over in Two - May 31, 2013
Discussion in the Bayside West: Yokohama forum
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Some rights reserved.
Yokohama traveled up north to Miyagi to take on the surging Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. Shoichi Inoh started and couldn't get through two innings of work.
Kazuo Matsui started off the fun with a solo home run to right-center to open the bottom half of the 1st inning. A base hit and two walks later, Hiroaki Shimauchi hit a 2-out single up the middle to score two more putting Rakuten up 3-0.
The bottom of the 2nd inning saw Andruw Jones and Casey McGehee hit back to back 2-out home runs, Jones' a 3-run shot, to put the game out of reach for the inept BayStars' offense.
Well, they weren't completely inept. Yokohama did put together three consecutive hits with two outs in the 6th inning to score a pair of runs. When the offense gets started, they can score. But what's the secret to getting them going?
Unfortunately, cutting the lead to 5 didn't last very long. Ginji Akaminai drove in a run in the bottom half of the 6th and Jones hit his second home run, a 2-run shot, in the bottom of the 8th inning; Rakuten extending their lead to 10-2.
With two down in the top of the 9th inning, Taketoshi Gotoh, playing first while Tony Blanco gets his at bats as the DH while nursing his left knee, hit a solo shot to left-center. "Alright, just 7 more," I said out loud, prompting my daughter to laugh at my sarcastic optimism.
But the visiting 'Stars added nothing more. They take a 3-10 loss in the first game at the Eagles' nest, having dropped all 3 games so far against Rakuten this year.