A tough weekend ended for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks today at Fukuoka Dome against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. The Hawks, in the second game of the series pulled out a 3-2 sayonara victory against the Fighters thanks in no small part to another complete game from ace Toshiya Sugiuchi. Despite scattering 8 hits, Sugiuchi struck out 12 and walked none.
The Fighters struck first in the 5th inning. Ugumori laced a single, and after a sacrifice by Tsuruoka, Morimoto and Takaguchi both knocked out singles themselves to score two runs. However, that would be the only time the Fighters would score.
Just like they did early in the season, the Hawks showed some moxie in the late innings. Ohmura singled and came around to score after an error by Yoh and another single by Yuichi Honda in the 7th. Shibahara and Matsuda singled to bring Matsunaka in to score in the 8th after he walked. Finally, in the bottom of the 9th, pinch hitter Honma singled, and after a sacrifice by Honda, Munenori Kawasaki doubled to score Honma.
In the final game of this weekend series, the Hawks fell to the Fighters by a score of 4-3. Shota Ohba took the mound against Ryan Sweeney. Once again, Ohba could not get out of the 6th inning, this time only going four-plus innings. The four runs that Ohba gave up were enough for the Fighters to scrape by.
However, it was the Hawks who struck first in this game. In the second inning, Matsuda doubled, and then Hasegawa clubbed a 2-run shot to give SoftBank a 2-0 lead.
Ohba gave those two runs right back in the top of the 3rd, however. Kensuke Tanaka drove in Tsuruoka, the catcher who also reached on a single. A bunt and a walk also scored another run to tie the score at 2.
In the 5th, Ohba once again ran into trouble. Ohba gave up a single to the light-hitting Inada, then gave up a double to Tanaka, which scored Inada. A groundout by Takahashi and a sacrifice fly by Sledge scored the fourth Fighters run. Ohba was finished for the day. His final line was 4 runs on 6 hits, striking out 2 and walking 4.
Sweeney ducked in and out of trouble throughout the day. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits, walking 5 and striking out four. The Hawks had numerous chances to at least tie the game and maybe break the game open.
In the 3rd, with 2 outs, Matsunaka hit a triple but did not score as Shibahara grounded to short after a Kokubo walk. The very next inning, Matsuda led off with a triple of his own, but was gunned down at home trying to score on a groundout by Hasegawa. In the 6th, two walks and a hit batsmen loaded the bases with one out, and yet again the Hawks failed to score, as Hasegawa grounded to short, and Matoyama struck out swinging.
SoftBank's last best chance came in the very next inning, as a single by Kawasaki, and a double by Matsunaka put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Kokubo was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one down. Shibahara had a chance to tie the game and maybe give the Hawks the lead, but he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
All these chances wasted a great relief performance by the SoftBank bullpen. The recently-recalled CJ Nitkowski, Ogura, and DJ Houlton all combined to 2-hit the Fighters, striking out 6 in the final 5 innings.
The Hawks next begin Interleague play on the 20th against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp at Fukuoka Dome.
Re: Hawks Lose Yet Another Series, This One to Fighters
[ Author: Guest: Joel Schwartz | Posted: May 20, 2008 12:17 AM
]
The starting pitcher for the Fighters was Brian Sweeney, not Ryan Sweeney.
Re: Hawks Lose Yet Another Series, This One to Fighters
[ Author:
NipponHam11 | Posted: May 21, 2008 2:23 AM
| Posts: 532
| From: Boston, MA
| SFT Fan
| Registered: May, 2007
]
Thanks for the correction. At least I was close, haha.
Previous Topic
The Fighters struck first in the 5th inning. Ugumori laced a single, and after a sacrifice by Tsuruoka, Morimoto and Takaguchi both knocked out singles themselves to score two runs. However, that would be the only time the Fighters would score.
Just like they did early in the season, the Hawks showed some moxie in the late innings. Ohmura singled and came around to score after an error by Yoh and another single by Yuichi Honda in the 7th. Shibahara and Matsuda singled to bring Matsunaka in to score in the 8th after he walked. Finally, in the bottom of the 9th, pinch hitter Honma singled, and after a sacrifice by Honda, Munenori Kawasaki doubled to score Honma.
In the final game of this weekend series, the Hawks fell to the Fighters by a score of 4-3. Shota Ohba took the mound against Ryan Sweeney. Once again, Ohba could not get out of the 6th inning, this time only going four-plus innings. The four runs that Ohba gave up were enough for the Fighters to scrape by.
However, it was the Hawks who struck first in this game. In the second inning, Matsuda doubled, and then Hasegawa clubbed a 2-run shot to give SoftBank a 2-0 lead.
Ohba gave those two runs right back in the top of the 3rd, however. Kensuke Tanaka drove in Tsuruoka, the catcher who also reached on a single. A bunt and a walk also scored another run to tie the score at 2.
In the 5th, Ohba once again ran into trouble. Ohba gave up a single to the light-hitting Inada, then gave up a double to Tanaka, which scored Inada. A groundout by Takahashi and a sacrifice fly by Sledge scored the fourth Fighters run. Ohba was finished for the day. His final line was 4 runs on 6 hits, striking out 2 and walking 4.
Sweeney ducked in and out of trouble throughout the day. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits, walking 5 and striking out four. The Hawks had numerous chances to at least tie the game and maybe break the game open.
In the 3rd, with 2 outs, Matsunaka hit a triple but did not score as Shibahara grounded to short after a Kokubo walk. The very next inning, Matsuda led off with a triple of his own, but was gunned down at home trying to score on a groundout by Hasegawa. In the 6th, two walks and a hit batsmen loaded the bases with one out, and yet again the Hawks failed to score, as Hasegawa grounded to short, and Matoyama struck out swinging.
SoftBank's last best chance came in the very next inning, as a single by Kawasaki, and a double by Matsunaka put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Kokubo was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one down. Shibahara had a chance to tie the game and maybe give the Hawks the lead, but he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
All these chances wasted a great relief performance by the SoftBank bullpen. The recently-recalled CJ Nitkowski, Ogura, and DJ Houlton all combined to 2-hit the Fighters, striking out 6 in the final 5 innings.
The Hawks next begin Interleague play on the 20th against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp at Fukuoka Dome.