No-no way ...

Ishikawa tosses near no-no as Swallows blank Giants

Yakult Swallows lefty Masanori Ishikawa was on the way to making history but came up short and had to leave the game in the ninth inning after coming up lame.

By then, he had already put a cramp in the Yomiuri Giants’ style.

Ishikawa kept the Giants hitless for 8.1 innings as the Swallows blanked the new-look Giants 4-0 on Friday at Tokyo Dome.

The southpaw was gunning to become the first pitcher in NPB history to toss an Opening Day no-hitter but cramped up after allowing two hits on 99 pitches.

The victory, his club-best fourth on openers, stopped a personal three-game skid on the first day of the season.

Hayato Sakamoto broke up the no-no with a liner that glanced off third baseman Shinya Miyamoto’s glove and rolled into left. John Bowker followed with a hard smash ate up Hiroyasu Tanaka found its way into right, and Ishikawa departed. Tony Barnette retired the next two as the Swallows for his first save since Aug. 23.

Ishikawa, in his 11th season, walked one and pitched around a leadoff error in the first inning to earn the victory.

The Giants, the prohibitive favorites to win the Central
League title, were the team expected to flex their muscles on the mound. Loser Tetsuya Utsumi, though, got knocked around for 12 hits, walking one and fanning five, while giving up three runs in six innings.

The two hits for the Giants were the fewest in an opener in franchise history.

Miyamoto collected three hits to move to within 22 of 2,000 for his career. Outfielder Tsuyoshi Ueda, the replacement four Norichika Aoki [now with the Milwaukee Brewers] blooped a single to drive in the first two runs in a three-run third.

DRAGONS 4, CARP 2

Kazuki Yoshimi carried a perfect game into the eighth game and settled for the victory as defending CL champion Chunichi got past Hiroshima at Nagoya Dome to give skipper Morimichi Takagi a winning start in his second stint on the club’s bench.

Yoshimi allowed a hit to Kenta Kurihara to open the eighth and surrendered two runs before escaping further damage. Takeshi Yamasaki had two hits, and Ryosuke Hirata had an RBI single and added a solo blast to back Yoshimi, who held Hiroshima to three hits.

The righty won his sixth straight decision over Hiroshima, dating back to last season.

BAYSTARS 5, TIGERS 5, 10 INNINGS

Alex Ramirez dropped a tying single into left center the ninth inning and each team scored in the next inning before the 3.5-hour rule ended play at the end of 10 frames at Kyocera Dome.

Yokohama DeNA rallied, trying to give first-year skipper Kiyoshi Nakahata a winning debut over fellow rookie manager Yuta Wada, but Shun Yamaguchi couldn’t hold the lead. Keiichi Hirano tripled and pinch-runner Yamato Maeda came home on a shallow scoring flyball by Kohei Shibata to even things in the 10th.

Hanshin took a 4-3 lead on a pinch-hit, three-run blast by Kentaro Sekimoto, but the BayStars got a run in the ninth to tie. They took the lead, but Shun Yamaguchi failed to nail down the save in the bottom of the frame.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

FIGHTERS 9, LIONS 1

Second-year hurler Yuki Saito won his debut as Opening Day starter, holding Seibu to four hits and a run for his second career complete game as Nippon Ham topped the Lions at Sapporo Dome to win its opener for the first time in four years.

It was a winning start for new skipper Hideki Kuriyama, who got two doubles and a single from Atsunori Inaba, whom he placed in the No. 2 hole this season, and two hits and a pair of RBIs from Yoshio Itoi--part of a 13-hit attack. It was Saito's first complete-game win.

HAWKS 3, BUFFALOES 1

Tadashi Settsu scattered four hits and a walk over seven innings, and Nobuhiro Matsuda tripled, homered and drove in two as the defending Japan Series champs edged Orix at FYJ Dome.

Brian Falkenborg slammed the door in the ninth for the save, collecting three Ks, while allowing a double.

MARINES 5, EAGLES 2

Former Swallow Josh Whitesell had three hits and two RBIs, and Tadahito Iguchi doubled twice and singled as Lotte spoiled Rakuten’s first Opening Day game at The Kleenex Box.

Yoshihisa Naruse went 6.1 innings for the win, outpitching Rakuten ace Masahiro Tanaka, who surrendered five runs--two earned--on seven hits, a walk and a hit batter. He fanned seven.



[Edited by: jgibson on Mar 31, 2012 12:08 PM]

[Edited by: jgibson on Mar 31, 2012 2:19 PM]