Hawks Cut Giants to Size With Weekend Sweep

The Yomiuri Giants came into Fukuoka Dome this weekend looking to improve on their mediocre first month and a half, and what better team to take on than the Softbank Hawks? The two teams are very similar in their maddening inconsistency and failure to break out of their slumps, which offsets their high hopes this offseason.

One team came out on top this weekend, and it was the Hawks. They managed to cool off the white-hot Alex Ramirez and got to the suspect Yomiuri pitching to pull off the sweep with two exciting games at Fukuoka Dome.

The first game of the pair was a pitcher's duel between Nomaguchi and Toshiya Sugiuchi. Sugiuchi had put together complete games in 2 of his last 3 starts, and added another one to his credit on Saturday. Sugiuchi gave up only 1 run on 5 hits, walked only 1 and struck out 8 over his 133 pitch effort. Nomaguchi, who has had his troubles this season, went 6 and 2/3 innings, giving up all 3 Softbank runs on 5 hits, walking 4 and striking out 5.

Each team got all of their offense in only one inning. For the Hawks, it was the 4th inning. Nomaguchi had only allowed 1 baserunner up to that point, a walk to Shibahara. In the 4th inning, Nomaguchi melted down. Kawasaki led off with a double, and Matsunaka walked to begin the inning. After Hiroki Kokubo was set down on strikes, Matsuda singled to load the bases. Yuya Hasegawa, who seems to only hit home runs, hit a timely 2-run single to put the Hawks on the board first, 2-0. After Kidokoro walked to re-load the bases, catcher Matoyama singled in the third and final run of the game for the Hawks, giving them a 3-0 lead at the time.

Until the 5th inning, Sugiuchi was also on cruise control. He had also only allowed 1 baserunner via a single to Kimura. After getting the first 2 outs of the inning, Sugiuchi gave up three straight hits and a walk. Kimura doubled, Iwadate singled to drive in Kimura, and pinch-hitter Inzen singled. After Yano walked to load the bases, trouble seemed imminent with the heart of the Yomiuri order coming up. However, Sakamoto grounded out to end the inning before the big bats of Ogasawara and Ramirez could come up.

From there, Sugiuchi retired the next 11 batters he faced, only giving up a single to Rami-chan. The Yomiuri bullpen also stopped the bleeding, as Soichi Fujita and Ochi 1-hit the Hawks for the remaining 1 and 2/3 innings. Final score, Hawks 3, Giants 1.

The second game was a very exciting extra-inning affair that was not settled until the bottom of the 12th inning, the last possible minute for the Hawks to avoid their first tie of the season.

The pitching matchup was Burnside against Arakaki. Burnside had a tough first inning, in which he gave up the first run of the game. Yuichi Honda singled, stole second, and was singled in by Nobuhiko Matsunaka, the start of a great day for Matsunaka. The Hawks had drawn first blood, 1-0.

The Hawks scored again against Burnside in the 5th, which proved to be Burnside's last inning. Matoyama struck out to begin the inning, Honda grounded out, and then Kawasaki singled to set up Matsunaka, who walked in his previous at-bat. This time, Matsunaka socked his 11th home run of the season to right field to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead. Matsunaka hit 15 home runs in the entire 2007 season.

Burnside struck out Kokubo for the third time to end the inning, but his day was done. Burnside went 5 innings, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits, walking 1 and striking out 5. He did not factor into the decision.

The much-maligned Nagisa Arakaki, who has not been healthy or consistent this season, put together a quality start, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, and striking out 7 while walking none over 7-plus innings. The runs that Arakaki gave up came in the 8th inning. To that point, the Hawks right-hander had only given up three hits, but the Giants came out swinging in the 8th. Shimizu singled, and Sakamoto doubled in Shimizu to make it 3-1.

Arakaki's day was finished as he was replaced with Shinsuke Ogura. Ogura tried to stop the bleeding, but Ohmichi, who was pinch-hitting for Inzen, singled in Sakamoto to pull Yomiuri to 3-2. Ogura then struck out Kimura and Ogasawara to end the inning.

Ogura was left in to get the save, but he was unable to capitalize. Ramirez doubled to open the inning. Abe popped out to Matoyama for the first out of the inning, but then the Giants tied the score with a double from Yoshitomo Tani to make it 3-3. Ogura then intentionally walked Shimizu to set up the double play. After a single by Sakamoto, the Giants seemed poised to take the lead, but super rookie Kume came in to save the day. He got pinch-hitter Wakiya hit into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning and the Giants threat.

The Hawks put together something in their half of the 9th, with Honda singling, and Kawasaki bunting Honda to second. After Matsunaka was intentionally walked to set up the double play, Kiyoshi Toyoda struck out Kokubo (he was 0-for-5 with 5 strikeouts) and Shibahara to end the threat.

In the 10th and 11th, it was a battle of the gaijin relievers. The Giants sent prize free-agent pickup Mark Kroon to the mound for the 10th, while the Hawks sent the revitalized CJ Nitkowski to face the Giants batters. Kroon survived a hit and an error to get through the 10th and hand the ball to Yamaguchi for the 11th. Nitkowski went 2 innings and gave up only 1 hit and struck out 1.

The 12th and final inning was enough to send all 30,000-plus fans in Fukuoka Dome to the hospital with heart attacks. DJ Houlton, who has been an adventure in the closer's role as of late, started the 12th by walking Sakamoto. Yano bunted Sakamoto to 2nd, then Terauchi, who pinch-hit for Ohmichi in the 10th, tripled home Sakamoto to give the Giants a 4-3 lead. Two strikeouts and an intentional walk later, Houlton was out of the inning, but with only three outs separating the Giants from a split.

Hara-kantoku sent Yamaguchi, who was the 7th pitcher of the day for Yomiuri, back out to the mound for his second inning of work. Shibahara, who has gotten clutch hits throughout the season, led off the Hawks' 12th with a single, and then Matsuda doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Hasegawa was intentionally walked to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Honma struck out swinging for the first out. Morimoto, who pinch-hit for Kidokoro, singled in one run to tie the score at 4, and the bases were still loaded. Honda popped out to 2nd base for the 2nd out of the inning. With the pressure on, Kawasaki came through with the sayonara infield hit to first base to end a thrilling 5-4 victory for the Hawks. The winning pitcher was DJ Houlton, while Yamaguchi took the loss.

The Hawks are now 30-28 and are 7-3 in interleague play. The Hawks' next opponent, after tomorrow off, will be the struggling Yakult Swallows at Fukuoka Dome.