Nagisa Arakaki has had his share of ups and downs this season, as have the Hawks. Today it was up to Arakaki to keep the Hawks from going someplace they would not want to go: 4th place in the Pacific League. There has been a logjam from 2nd through 5th, with SoftBank, Nippon Ham, Orix, and Lotte all within striking distance of each other.
Arakaki, along with a parade of relievers and some clutch hitting, kept the Hawks from falling lower in the standings and also solved Masaru Takeda, who has tormented the Hawks this season.
Early on, it was not pretty for the Hawks and it was a case of doom and gloom. Atsunori Inaba clubbed his 16th home run of the season down the right field line to put the Fighters up 1-0 in the first inning, then Yoshio Itoi hit his 4th of the season the very next inning to double the Fighters' lead at 2-0.
Arakaki, who was mowing batters down by way of the K, then started to get a little too fine. Five of the first six outs he got were by strikeout, but then he started to nibble the corners, and it almost got him in more trouble. After a couple ground ball outs in the 4th, Arakaki walked the next two batters, but he ended up getting out of the jam. In all, he would walk 5 over 5 and 1/3 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and striking out 8.
Masaru Takeda, Arakaki's counterpart, was more efficient with his pitches. The junkballer used a filthy assortment of breaking pitches to keep the Hawks off-balance through the first 5 innings and extend the Hawks scoreless streak to 32 innings, dating back to August 30th against the Saitama Seibu Lions.
Through 5 innings, the Hawks were once again held to no runs and 2 hits. However, the 6th inning saw the Hawks break through, with a much-needed home run from the slumping Nobuhiko Matsunaka, his 24th of the season. The Fighters' lead was cut in half at 2-1, but there was still work to be done.
The very next inning saw the Hawks solve Takeda and chase him from the game. Newly-activated DH Hidenori Tanoue clubbed a double, and was immediately followed up by an infield hit from Hisao Arakane. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Takeda struck out Takeshi Tsuji, but the Hawks were able to get some offense from an unlikely source: pinch-hitter Hiroaki Takaya, who was batting .189 up to that point. His double drove in both Tanoue and the speedy Arakane to put the Hawks in the lead for the first time since--you guessed it--August 30th.
However, the Hawks weren't done. Nashida-kantoku replaced Takeda with Naoki Miyanishi, and after he retired Yuichi Honda, pinch-hitter Tadaatsu Nakazawa greeted Miyanishi proper by doubling to the deep center field confines of Sapporo Dome, driving in Arakane and doubling SoftBank's lead, 4-2.
Meanwhile, the SoftBank bullpen was holding steady. Makoto Satoh relieved Arakaki in the 6th and finished off that inning for him, and Takayuki Shinohara worked a clean 7th. Enter Akio Mizuta for the 8th, but he was tagged for a run over 2/3 of an inning, thanks to a walk to Eiichi Koyano, and singles by Shinji Takahashi and Makoto Kaneko, which cut SoftBank's lead to a hardly-comfortable 4-3.
However, it was Koji Mise and Takahiro Mahara to the rescue. Mise got out of the jam in the 8th, and Mahara worked around a pair of walks in the 9th to slam the door and record his 7th save of the season.
Makoto Satoh took the win in relief for SoftBank, he improves to 2-1, while Masaru Takeda takes the loss, he falls to 6-6.
This win, coupled with a Lotte loss to Seibu, and a win by Orix, pushed Nippon Ham back into 4th place at 10 games in back of the Lions for first place, and 2 out of a playoff spot. Both the Hawks and Buffaloes are tied for 2nd place, 8 games behind the Lions. Lotte's loss to the Lions today put them at 10.5 games behind the Lions and 2.5 games out of the 3rd and final playoff spot.
The Hawks play the rubber game of their series against the Fighters tomorrow at Sapporo Dome. Hawks ace Toshiya Sugiuchi (9-5, 2.56) goes for the visitors, while Brian Sweeney (11-3, 3.07) takes the mound for the Fighters.
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Arakaki, along with a parade of relievers and some clutch hitting, kept the Hawks from falling lower in the standings and also solved Masaru Takeda, who has tormented the Hawks this season.
Early on, it was not pretty for the Hawks and it was a case of doom and gloom. Atsunori Inaba clubbed his 16th home run of the season down the right field line to put the Fighters up 1-0 in the first inning, then Yoshio Itoi hit his 4th of the season the very next inning to double the Fighters' lead at 2-0.
Arakaki, who was mowing batters down by way of the K, then started to get a little too fine. Five of the first six outs he got were by strikeout, but then he started to nibble the corners, and it almost got him in more trouble. After a couple ground ball outs in the 4th, Arakaki walked the next two batters, but he ended up getting out of the jam. In all, he would walk 5 over 5 and 1/3 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and striking out 8.
Masaru Takeda, Arakaki's counterpart, was more efficient with his pitches. The junkballer used a filthy assortment of breaking pitches to keep the Hawks off-balance through the first 5 innings and extend the Hawks scoreless streak to 32 innings, dating back to August 30th against the Saitama Seibu Lions.
Through 5 innings, the Hawks were once again held to no runs and 2 hits. However, the 6th inning saw the Hawks break through, with a much-needed home run from the slumping Nobuhiko Matsunaka, his 24th of the season. The Fighters' lead was cut in half at 2-1, but there was still work to be done.
The very next inning saw the Hawks solve Takeda and chase him from the game. Newly-activated DH Hidenori Tanoue clubbed a double, and was immediately followed up by an infield hit from Hisao Arakane. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Takeda struck out Takeshi Tsuji, but the Hawks were able to get some offense from an unlikely source: pinch-hitter Hiroaki Takaya, who was batting .189 up to that point. His double drove in both Tanoue and the speedy Arakane to put the Hawks in the lead for the first time since--you guessed it--August 30th.
However, the Hawks weren't done. Nashida-kantoku replaced Takeda with Naoki Miyanishi, and after he retired Yuichi Honda, pinch-hitter Tadaatsu Nakazawa greeted Miyanishi proper by doubling to the deep center field confines of Sapporo Dome, driving in Arakane and doubling SoftBank's lead, 4-2.
Meanwhile, the SoftBank bullpen was holding steady. Makoto Satoh relieved Arakaki in the 6th and finished off that inning for him, and Takayuki Shinohara worked a clean 7th. Enter Akio Mizuta for the 8th, but he was tagged for a run over 2/3 of an inning, thanks to a walk to Eiichi Koyano, and singles by Shinji Takahashi and Makoto Kaneko, which cut SoftBank's lead to a hardly-comfortable 4-3.
However, it was Koji Mise and Takahiro Mahara to the rescue. Mise got out of the jam in the 8th, and Mahara worked around a pair of walks in the 9th to slam the door and record his 7th save of the season.
Makoto Satoh took the win in relief for SoftBank, he improves to 2-1, while Masaru Takeda takes the loss, he falls to 6-6.
This win, coupled with a Lotte loss to Seibu, and a win by Orix, pushed Nippon Ham back into 4th place at 10 games in back of the Lions for first place, and 2 out of a playoff spot. Both the Hawks and Buffaloes are tied for 2nd place, 8 games behind the Lions. Lotte's loss to the Lions today put them at 10.5 games behind the Lions and 2.5 games out of the 3rd and final playoff spot.
The Hawks play the rubber game of their series against the Fighters tomorrow at Sapporo Dome. Hawks ace Toshiya Sugiuchi (9-5, 2.56) goes for the visitors, while Brian Sweeney (11-3, 3.07) takes the mound for the Fighters.