Hawks Start Interleague, Edge Carp 4-3

Tsuyoshi Wada is one of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks' best starters, and he continues to show it. While Toshiya Sugiuchi is racking up complete games, Wada puts up good solid innings. Over 7 strong innings against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, Wada gave up 3 runs on 5 hits, walking 4 and striking out 5 to improve his record to a perfect 5-0, lowering his ERA to 3.88 in the process. Yuki Kume continued his amazing performance, extending his scoreless streak to 8 innings, and DJ Houlton locked up his 6th save of the season.

The hard-luck loser was Kan Ohtake, who went the distance (8 innings) giving up 10 hits and 4 runs, with 3 walks and one strikeout. He is now 1-6 with a 3.43 ERA.

Wada ducked in and out of trouble early on in the game. In the second inning, Wada gave up a single to Kenta Kurihara, then got two quick outs but suddenly developed an allergy to the strike zone. Wada walked catcher Yoshiyuki Ishihara, Tetsuya Kokubo, and Eishin Soyogi to force in Kurihara. However, that was all the Carp would get as Wada got Masato Akamatsu to pop out to second.

The other offense that Hiroshima would get came from foreign slugger Alex Ochoa. After the speedy Akamatsu legged out an infield single, Ochoa slammed a 2-run home run to left for his first home run since April 16th against the Hanshin Tigers.

The Hawks offense had their big inning in the 4th against Ohtake. Kawasaki doubled, Matsunaka walked, and then Kokubo launched his 9th home run of the season, a 3-run shot to left to put the Hawks ahead 3-1.

After the Carp tied the game on Ochoa's home run, Hasegawa, Honda, and Kawasaki all singled to drive in one run. With runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 down (Yamazaki sacrificed Hasegawa to 2nd), Matsunaka came up with a chance to open the floodgates, but instead grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. After that, it was a contest between pitching staffs. Hiroshima had only three hits the rest of the way, and SoftBank only had one.

For Hiroshima, no runner reached third base after Alex's home run. SoftBank threatened in the 8th, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out via a Matsunaka walk and a Kokubo single, but with the chance to add some insurance runs, Shibahara, Ohmura, and Matsuda all failed to drive any runs in.

The Hawks continue their short 2-game series against the Carp tomorrow. With Rick Guttormson and Shota Ohba dropped to ni-gun for readjustment, it remains to be seen who will start for the Hawks tomorrow.