Epic Pitcher's Duel Ends With SoftBank Sweep

Shunsuke Watanabe and Tsuyoshi Wada are two very different pitchers. Watanabe is a junkballing submarine expert, while Wada would just as soon come after you and blow you away than dance around the strike zone.

These two contrasting styles clashed for 9 innings, but it wasn't settled in that time span. Extra innings decided it, and the Hawks once again were able to make some 12th inning magic, as they pushed a run across in the 9th to complete the sweep of the Chiba Lotte Marines. This win, coupled with a Nippon Ham loss, vaulted the Hawks into 2nd place in the Pacific League, and SoftBank also kept pace with Seibu.

Both teams started fast in the first inning. Marines shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka didn't waste any time as he socked a leadoff home run to put the Marines up as quickly as you can get, 1-0. Wada, obviously not thrilled, struck out the next 3 men.

SoftBank did things more small-ball like in their half of the first. Honda and Olympian Munenori Kawasaki both singled to put runners at the corners with nobody out against Watanabe. After Matsunaka grounded harmlessly to the first baseman Fukuura, Kokubo then came up and lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Honda and tie the game.

After that, both pitchers, while hitting some bumps in the road, settled in and turned the game into an exciting pitcher's duel. Wada got into trouble in the 2nd, giving up a double to leadoff hitter Toshiyaki Imae, and issuing a 2-out walk to Takehara, but got Ohtsuka to induce a fly ball to end the inning. After giving up a single to Nishioka to lead off the 3rd, Wada retired the next 13 batters he faced.

Watanabe didn't get himself into trouble much, but got into a major 1-out, bases loaded jam in the 4th that threatened to break the game open for SoftBank. Kokubo, Matsuda, and Hasegawa all singled to load the bases with 1 down, but Akashi and Takaya both popped out to end the threat. Including those two batters, Watanabe retired 15 in a row at one point.

Wada's nemesis, Nishioka, led off the 8th inning with a walk, the third of the day for Wada. Nishioka then was bunted to second by Shunichi Nemoto. Fukuura grounded out to first for the second out, but up came Olympian catcher Satozaki, and he singled to left to knock in Nishioka. The scoreless drought was broken, and the Hawks found themselves on the short end of a 2-1 score.

With Watanabe submarining his way into the 9th inning, it was up to the Hawks to at least send the game into extra innings. The cleanup part of the order was due in Matsunaka, Kokubo, and Matsuda. Matsunaka, who was 0-for-5 on the day, grounded to Fukuura at first. With one down, Kokubo came up, and he slammed a dramatic home run to dead center field to tie the game at 2!

Wada went back out to the mound for the 10th inning, in a true display of confidence in him. Lotte had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the 10th, with Ohtsuka leading off with a double, and Nishioka bunting him to 3rd. However, Wada once again dug deep and got Nemoto and Fukuura to pop out to end the inning.

Yusuke Kawasaki then took the mound in relief of Watanabe. He got Akashi and Takaya to fly out, and even though he gave up a hit to Honda, it was rendered harmless as Munenori Kawasaki flew out himself.

Takehiro Mahara, who returned from right shoulder pain to record the save yesterday, took the mound in the 11th. Again Mahara was solid, getting around an error by Honda to retire the Marines on only 14 pitches, striking out Saburo to end the inning.

Yusuke Kawasaki started the 11th, then was relieved by Lotte closer Tadahiro Ogino. Ogino retired the other two men in order to force the game into the 12th inning, which is where it got interesting for both sides.

Hideaki Takahashi started the inning and struck out Hayakawa but walked Ohtsuka. Nishioka flew out, and that marked the end of Takahashi's outing. In came Korean reliever Yan Yao-Shun, and he promptly hit pinch-hitter Hori. With runners on 1st and 2nd and Fukuura up, Yan completed Fukuura's 0-for-6 day by getting him to ground out to short.

Ogino took the mound for the bottom of the 12th, hoping to salvage the tie with SoftBank and prevent the sweep. Hasegawa started the inning by singling to center. Akashi bunted Hasegawa to 2nd, and Takaya walked. The double play was in order, and pinch-hitter Tsuji almost grounded into it, but Ogino only had one play, but it wasn't to 3rd as pinch-runner Kaneko was quickly at the bag. With 2 down and Honda at the plate, Ogino had to get him to salvage the tie. Instead, Honda singled to right to score Kaneko and end the game, 3-2 Hawks.

For pitching, Shunsuke Watanabe went 9 innings for the Chiba Lotte Marines, giving up 2 runs on 8 hits, hitting one batter and striking out 7. Tsuyoshi Wada went 10 innings for the Hawks, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits, walking 3 and striking out 5 over 145 pitches. Neither starter factored in the decision. Instead, Yan Yao-Shun earned the win with his 1/3 of an inning of work, he evens his record at 1-1. Tadahiro Ogino took the loss, he falls to 3-4.

Home runs were hit by Tsuyoshi Nishioka (10) for the Marines, and Hiroki Kokubo (18) for the Hawks.

The Hawks close out their homestand against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at Yahoo! Dome. The pitching matchup is Hisashi Takeda (3-4, 2.80) for the visiting Fighters against Jeremy Powell (1-4, 4.79) for the Hawks.