Hawks distance themselves from punchless Fighters
The Nippon Ham Fighters packed very little punch in the series, and the SoftBank Hawks put a smackdown on them as a result.
The Pacific League pennant race still has a long way to go, but Tadashi Settsu's eight scoreless innings Sunday helped the front-running Hawks handed the visiting Fighters their first three-game sweep and boosted SoftBank’s lead to 3.5 games with a 2-0 shutout.
Settsu (9-5) has been a success in his first year as a starter, and he showed Nippon Ham by fanning seven and walking two before handing things over to Brian Falkenborg.
The set-up-man-turned-emergency-closer retired the side in order for his 11th save.
Hiroki Kokubo drove in the first run with a clutch single in the first, and scored the other run on Hitoshi Tamura's two-out hit in the fourth.
EAGLES 2, MARINES 0
Masahiro Tanaka (10-3) fired eight scoreless innings and Takeshi Yamasaki hit a two-run single to lift Rakuten past host Lotte and into fourth place.
LIONS 7, BUFFALOES 5
Ginjiro Sumitani's squeeze bunt scored the go-ahead run in the seventh as Seibu rallied for a comeback win over visiting Orix to win that series.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
TIGERS 2, BAYSTARS 0
Randy Messenger (7-2) tossed seven shutout frames and Takahiro Arai and Takashi Toritani drove on runs as host Hanshin salvaged the series finale against Yokohama.
CARP 2, DRAGONS 1
Shigenobu Shima's pinch-hit single in the 11th helped Hiroshima to a walk-off win over Chunichi to claim that series at The Zoom.
GIANTS 6, SWALLOWS 6
Norichika Aoki and Shingo Kawabata singled home runs in the eighth to even the score and that's the way it ended as Yomiuri and Yakult tied for a second straight night at Jingu.
The Nippon Ham Fighters packed very little punch in the series, and the SoftBank Hawks put a smackdown on them as a result.
The Pacific League pennant race still has a long way to go, but Tadashi Settsu's eight scoreless innings Sunday helped the front-running Hawks handed the visiting Fighters their first three-game sweep and boosted SoftBank’s lead to 3.5 games with a 2-0 shutout.
Settsu (9-5) has been a success in his first year as a starter, and he showed Nippon Ham by fanning seven and walking two before handing things over to Brian Falkenborg.
The set-up-man-turned-emergency-closer retired the side in order for his 11th save.
Hiroki Kokubo drove in the first run with a clutch single in the first, and scored the other run on Hitoshi Tamura's two-out hit in the fourth.
EAGLES 2, MARINES 0
Masahiro Tanaka (10-3) fired eight scoreless innings and Takeshi Yamasaki hit a two-run single to lift Rakuten past host Lotte and into fourth place.
LIONS 7, BUFFALOES 5
Ginjiro Sumitani's squeeze bunt scored the go-ahead run in the seventh as Seibu rallied for a comeback win over visiting Orix to win that series.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
TIGERS 2, BAYSTARS 0
Randy Messenger (7-2) tossed seven shutout frames and Takahiro Arai and Takashi Toritani drove on runs as host Hanshin salvaged the series finale against Yokohama.
CARP 2, DRAGONS 1
Shigenobu Shima's pinch-hit single in the 11th helped Hiroshima to a walk-off win over Chunichi to claim that series at The Zoom.
GIANTS 6, SWALLOWS 6
Norichika Aoki and Shingo Kawabata singled home runs in the eighth to even the score and that's the way it ended as Yomiuri and Yakult tied for a second straight night at Jingu.