Mahara Saves Day; Hawks Edge Naruse, Lotte

Having seen the SoftBank Hawks bullpen in action, it's hard to exactly say how many games the Hawks lost because of the absence of their ace closer Takehiro Mahara. Mahara racked up a club record 38 saves last season and a 1.47 ERA, but without him the Hawks went through a bunch of different closers, one of them the starter of today's game for the Hawks, DJ Houlton.

Being on the receiving end of a 14-0 thumping yesterday at Yahoo Dome, the Marines were hungry to get a win back. They stood as good a chance as any with ace Yoshihisa Naruse on the mound, who has stifled the Hawks in the past.

Lotte got off to a good start, and did in the first inning what they failed to do all game yesterday: score a run. Houlton was knocked around, as Tsuyoshi Nishioka doubled to begin the game. Shunichi Nemoto struck out, but then Fukuura singled to drive in the speedy Nishioka to put Lotte on top, 1-0.

After a perfect first inning, Naruse ran into trouble in the bottom of 2nd. Kokubo and Matsuda both walked to begin the inning, and after a sacrifice bunt by Nakanishi, the Hawks had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Takeshi Tsuji then came up with a prime opportunity to leapfrog Lotte into the lead. He delivered, driving a single that scored both Kokubo and Matsuda, neither the fastest of runners.

With the score 2-1 in favor of SoftBank, the game settled down into a pitcher's duel. Neither Houlton nor Naruse was as dominating as Ohtonari was yesterday, but both managed to get out of trouble and scatter both hits and walks.

In the 4th, Houlton hit Saburo to begin the inning, then walked Hashimoto, but worked out of it. Naruse had trouble of his own in the 4th, as he gave up a double to Matsuda, then surrendered a single to Tsuji, but got Restovich and Takaya to fly out.

The Marines Lucky 7 was their last best chance against Houlton, who turned in his longest outing of the season. Hashimoto walked to begin the inning. After pinch-hitter Imae popped out to Takaya, Hayakawa singled. Nishioka flew out to center for the 2nd out of the inning, but Nemoto singled to load the bases. Fukuura had a chance to put Lotte back in the lead, but he flew out to center to end the inning and end the threat.

Houlton turned in his best outing of the season, going 7 innings, and giving up just the one run on 6 hits, walking 3, hitting one, and striking out 6 batters.

Hideaki Takahashi worked a solid 8th, then turned it over to Mahara in the 9th. Mahara recorded his first save of the season to the delight and relief of the SoftBank faithful.

Naruse went the distance for Lotte, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits over 8 innings, walking 2 and striking out 6, the 2 walks leading to both runs.

Houlton got the win, improving his record to 3-3, while Naruse took the loss, his record dropping to 6-6. Mahara recorded his first save of the season, and no home runs were hit today.

Tomorrow is the final game of the 3-game weekend series between Lotte and SoftBank. The Hawks send Tsuyoshi Wada (8-4, 3.97) to the hill against Mr. Submarine himself, Shunsuke Watanabe (8-4, 4.05).