Quality control …
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Nippon Ham gets another strong start, beats Rakuten
The Nippon Ham Fighters aren’t giving opponents even a fighting chance.
Brian Wolfe, who went into Tuesday night’s game with the ninth-lowest ERA in the Pacific League, was the latest Fighters hurler to inch closer to double figures in victory. The second-year righty gave Nippon Ham a quality start -- six innings, one run allowed -- and Sho Nakata reached the 50-RBI mark with a clutch tiebreaking single in the fifth inning of a 3-2 win over the Rakuten Eagles at Tokyo Dome.
Atsunori Inaba’s solo blast in the sixth [his sixth] proved to be the difference as Wolfe, who has only allowed more than two earned runs in a game twice in 12 starts this season, picked up his first win since June 12.
“All you can do is go out there and pitch. That’s all I can control. Other than that, I can’t control anything, so I just go out there and pitch,” Wolfe said in the hero interview.
Bobby Scales followed Shota Ono’s double with a two-bagger in the third inning to get the Fighters even. Scales, who has played in 11 games, already has nine RBIs.
Nakata, whose previous high in RBIs was 22 last season, helped the Fighters hang onto their share of the Pacific League lead with SoftBank.
“I really got jammed on that one, but I think I just willed it through,” said Nakata, who batted in the No. 4 hole.
“I still don’t consider myself a cleanup hitter -- I’m just doing my best when they tell me to hit there or whatever spot they asked me to hit in.”
Wolfe is one of four Fighters pitchers in the top 12 in ERA in the PL at 2.55.
Fighters ace Yu Darvish and Eagles No. 1 hurler Masahiro Tanaka are scheduled for a showdown on Wednesday at the dome.
HAWKS 4, LIONS 1
Nobuhiro Matsuda launched a two-run blast [his 16th] in the fifth inning and Jose Ortiz followed with a solo shot to back fourth-year righty Shota Oba, who worked 5.1 innings of one-run ball to earn his first win as a starter since May, 3, 2008.
The Lions lost their eighth straight [their longest skid in four years], falling to a 32-year low 14 games under .500 a day after skipper Hisanobu Watanabe lost his cool in frustration.
The Hawks have won 16 straight games, dating back to last season, when Matsuda homers.
MARINES 5, BUFFALOES 1
Shunsuke Watanabe (4-5) worked six one-run innings and Tomoya Satozaki put the game out of reach with a two-run blast in the ninth as Lotte downed Orix at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 2, DRAGONS 1
Tetsuya Utsumi (10-2) scattered four hits and two walks over seven one-run innings, and Shinnosuke Abe homered as Yomiuri knocked off Chunichi in Niigata.
The Giants’ second run came home on Masaaki Koide’s error as Utsumi moved to the top of the CL with his 10th win.
The loss dropped the Dragons into a second-place tie with the Hanshin Tigers.
SWALLOWS 6, BAYSTARS 3
Wladimir “Coco” Balentien went 4-for-5 with two homers [Nos. 18 and 19] and five RBIs to back Shohei Tateyama, who worked seven strong innings to win his sixth straight decision.
CL ERA leader Tateyama (8-1), who gave up eight hits and a walk while fanning eight, also reached 1,000 innings pitched.