A royal mess …
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The SoftBank Hawks went into Friday’s Pacific League showdown for thinking strategy. They finished it thinking “magic.”
Nippon Ham's Yuki Saito, formerly known as the “Handkerchief Prince,” surrendered four runs over five shaky innings, while Kenji Otonari (1-0) won his first game in more than a year as SoftBank increased its PL-leading bulge to 6.5 games over the second-place Fighters with a 4-0 win at FYJ Dome.
Otonari fired eight scoreless innings, fanning 11 and walking one, while yielding just two hits. The Hawks can start talking magic number for the league title with a win over Nippon Ham in Saturday’s second game of the series.
Nobuhiro Matsuda had two hits and an RBI to back Otonari, who got help in the ninth inning from Brian Falkenborg in holding the Fighters to a season-low two hits.
LIONS 6, EAGLES 5
Rookie Shogo Akiyama bounced a bases-loaded single through a drawn-in infield for his first career walk-off hit as Seibu overcame a ninth-inning stumble to top Rakuten at Seibu Dome.
The Eagles rallied for five runs in the ninth, Motohiro Shima’s two-out, two-run double evening the score when Akinori Iwamura crashed into Ginjiro Sumitani in an awkward home-plate collision.
Akiyama had three hits, including a two-run doubled that capped a three spot in the third. It was the second-straight walk-off loss for Rakuten, righty Shinichiro Koyama (7-4) taking both losses.
BUFFALOES 4, MARINES 2
Lee Seung Yeop and Shogo Akada delivered RBI singles in a three-run first, and Yuki Nishi (9-5) held Lotte to two runs over 5.2 innings as Orix downed the defending Japan Series champions, who are floundering in the cellar.
Mitsutaka Goto went 0-for-4 against Lotte third-year pro and loser Hiroki Ueno (3-4), snapping his hitting streak that left him in a tie for the fifth-longest streak in the PL history at 26 games.
[Edited by: jgibson on Sep 17, 2011 11:44 AM]
[Edited by: jgibson on Sep 17, 2011 11:54 AM]
[Edited by: jgibson on Sep 18, 2011 7:19 AM]