Hawks Crushed Again, Fall to Lions 10-3

It was not a good series for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks against the Saitama Seibu Lions, and that is putting it nicely.

After eking out a 4-2 win two days ago, the Hawks were blasted by an American football score of 21-7 over the next two games, with the Lions winning the aggregate by a staggering 23-11 margin. What is also disturbing is that today the Hawks could not beat the declining Fumiya Nishiguchi, who got the win and lowered his ERA to a still-astronomical 6.55.

Jeremy Powell took the mound for the Hawks and was roughed up for 7 runs (5 earned) on 8 hits over 6 innings. The normally-solid bullpen failed to stop the bleeding as Koji Mise gave up 2 runs in 1/3 of an inning, then Kazuhiro Takeoka surrendered his first run of the season, a home run by Hiram Bocachica, who has been terrorizing the Hawks this season.

The Lions Lucky 7 was indeed kind to them, as they scored 5 times to put away the Hawks. Catcher Toru Hosokawa led the inning off with a home run to left off of Powell, then a walk to Bocachica ended Powell's day. Then a single by Yasuyuki Kataoka, another by pinch-hitter Hirao (off Mise), and a double by Hiroyuki Nakajima plated two more runs. A sacrifice fly by G.G. Satoh ended the scoring in the 7th.

The best that the Hawks could do offensively against Nishiguchi was a 2-run shot in the 4th by reserve rookie outfielder Yuya Hasegawa, playing center for the injured Hitoshi Tamura. Hasegawa also doubled and later scored in the 2nd inning.

The Hawks are now 22-23 on the season through 45 games. This weekend, the Hawks renew acquaintances with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at Yahoo! Dome for a weekend series. This will be their final series before opening Interleague Play against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp on the 20th.

I was actually kind of glad to see Nishiguchi finally win one. When he was at his best, he was always overshadowed by Matsuzaka. Now that Matsuzaka is gone, Nishiguchi should be shining, but isn't. He should be leading the team, but isn't. This is a good sign for him (if not for the Hawks).