Hawks Survive Late Surge, Edge BayStars 6-5

The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks did what they were supposed to do today against the Yokohama BayStars, and that was win. What they didn't foresee was that the BayStars would mount a furious rally in the final three innings. Super rookie Yuki Kume earned the four-out save, but not before the BayStars made it very interesting.

All of the BayStars' offense came in the final three innings, scoring 2 runs in the 7th, 2 in the 8th, and 1 in the 9th. Softbank starter Kenji Ohtonari ran into trouble to begin the 7th, as Murata singled, Kinjoh doubled, and Yoshimura singled to begin the inning. Yoshimura's timely single played both Murata and the speedy Kinjoh to make it 6-2.

Shinsuke Ogura took over for Ohtonari after he got the first out of the 7th inning, but ran into trouble of his own in the 8th. After Ohnishi grounded out to begin the inning, Nishi and Uchikawa evoked the Machine Gun offense and both singled. After Murata flew out, Kinjoh hit his second double in as many at-bats to plate both Nishi and Uchikawa to make it 6-4.

Similar to Ogura's entrance, Kume came in with 2 down in the 8th and got the last out. A pair of pinch-hitters, Saeki and Ozeki, both took their hacks, but Saeki flew to right, and Ozeki struck out. The unlikeliest man, Nonaka, came up to the plate and stroked a solo home run to left to make the score 6-5! With the top of the Yokohama order coming up, Kume let up a single to Ohnishi, and it seemed another Softbank bullpen meltdown was taking place. However, Nishi popped out to end the ballgame and Yokohama's furious rally.

Ohtonari's performance (6.1 innings 2 earned runs on 6 hits, 1 walk 2 strikeouts) was enough to get him the win, and he improved to 5-5, and lowered his ERA to 3.50. The losing pitcher was Futoshi Kobayashi. He went only 3 innings, giving up 5 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. He falls to 1-2, with a 4.25 ERA.



The rally was mirrored by Softbank's performance in the early innings. In the first inning, after a walk, a sacrifice bunt, another walk and a strikeout, Shibahara came through with a timely single to score the first run of the game. In the very next inning, the visitors managed to plate 2 more runs but from the least likely player. Hasegawa singled, Yamazaki sacrificed Hasegawa over to 2nd, and then, duplicating Rick Guttormson's feat yesterday, Ohtonari smacked a 2-run home run to make the score 3-0!

The Hawks powered 2 more runs in the very next inning. After a flyout, Kokubo singled, and then after another out, Matsuda hit the Hawks' 2nd home run of the game to make it 5-0. The Hawks did not score until the 5th inning, when the Hawks hit their 3rd home run of the game, courtesy of Hiroki Kokubo, completing a 2-for-4 day. His at-bats were bookended by a pair of strikeouts.