Ohba Far From Golden, Hawks Fall 5-1

Maybe the first professional start for Shota Ohba last week was adrenaline, because Ohba was definitely human on Sunday afternoon at Seibu Dome. Ohba pulled a meltdown worthy of Daisuke Matsuzaka last season in Boston in the 4th, giving up three home runs that sunk Softbank's ship.

Hiroyuki Nakajima, Hiram Bocachica, and Toru Hosokawa all clubbed home runs in the 4th inning, leading to all five of the runs the Seibu Lions would score in the game. Ohba managed to get through the 7th, with Yuki Kume and Koji Mise combining for a scoreless 8th. Ohba's final line was 7 inning, 5 hits 5 earned runs, 7 strikeouts, 4 walks, and 2 hit batsmen.

On the other side, Seibu starter Matthew Kinney was spectacular, going 7 innings with 9 strikeouts, giving up 1 unearned run on 3 hits and 1 walk. The only offense Softbank could muster was the one run in the 6th. Munenori Kawasaki singled in Shotaro Ide to give Softbank its only offense of the day.