Houlton Suffers 9th Inning Meltdown, Hawks Fall 5-2

The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks have had a fair amount of both good luck and bad luck, and today the bad luck struck to bring the Hawks back to an even .500 on the season.

The Hawks sent their ace, Sugiuchi, to the mound to face the Tigers' starter Iwata. Sugiuchi had strung together 2 straight complete-game victories before today, and try as he might, Sugiuchi could not finish this one. Maybe they should've tried to squeeze some more innings out of him, as DJ Houlton was brought in for the 9th inning. The Hawks' substitute closer was brought in with the game tied at 1. However, the former Los Angeles Dodgers prospect imploded for the first time this season.

The Tigers leadoff man, Toritani, reached on a throwing error by the defensively-suspect second baseman Honda. Former Major Leaguer Lew Ford then doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Houlton seemed to steady himself when he struck out Katsuragi and Noguchi. Fujimoto, who was brought in as a defensive replacement, walked to load the bases with 2 down. Akahoshi then came up with the game on the line and hit a 2-run single to vault the Tigers into the lead, 3-2.

The carnage wasn't over, as Arai came up and lined the first pitch he saw back from whence it came to score Fujimoto and Akahoshi to make it 5-2 Tigers. Houlton's day was done, and it was ugly. Nitkowski came in to get the final out of the inning, but by then, the damage was done. The Tigers pulled it out of the hat when it mattered the most.

Sugiuchi and Iwata engaged in a pitcher's duel for most of the game. The first 2 innings were perfect on both sides, but it was the Hawks who struck first. In the home half of the 3rd inning, after a Mike Restovich strikeout, Hasegawa reached base for the first hit of the game for the Hawks. Matoyama then sacrificed Hasegawa to 2nd. Honda then laced a single to center to give the Hawks the 1-0 lead.

The Tigers struck back in the 4th with Baldris singling, and then Sekimoto bunted Baldris to 2nd. A double by Arai scored Baldris to score the equalizer. However, in the bottom of the 6th, Matsuda hit a home run to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead which would hold until the 9th and Houlton's meltdown.

The Hawks are now back at the .500 mark and their next game is tomorrow against the Chunichi Dragons at Nagoya Dome.