Hawks Defeat Slumping Swallows With Power

After a rough first month-and-a-half of the season, the Softbank Hawks seem to be hitting their stride in interleague play. The Hawks were mired around .500 and, while showing maddening inconsistency, also showed flashes of brilliance. The last five games, the Hawks have been brilliant, showing the same moxie that led to heart-stopping wins at the beginning of the season. Softbank continued that trend today.

The Hawks chased Yakult Swallows starter Kyohei Muranaka (3-7) after only 4 and 2/3 innings, and tagged him for 3 runs on 4 hits, with 5 walks and 3 strikeouts, with 1 hit batsman.

A main tormentor for the Swallows today was Hiroki Kokubo, who hit his 12th home run of the season (tied for the team lead with Matsunaka). Also with Kokubo was Kenta Nakanishi, who went 3-for-4 and was a triple shy of the cycle.

The Swallows were first to draw blood off of Hawks starter Tsuyoshi Wada (6-1). In the 2nd inning, Yasushi Iihara doubled to right, and then catcher Ryohei Kawamoto doubled in Iihara to make it 1-0, Swallows.

The fourth inning was the start of trouble for Muranaka. Takeshi Tsuji led off the inning with a walk, and then Nakanishi hit his first career home run into the stands in left to vault the Hawks into the 2-1 lead, one they would not relinquish.

The backbreaker for the Swallows was the 5th inning. Muranaka started the inning well by retiring the hard-hitting Nobuhiko Matsunaka, but then the bottom fell out of the market. Kokubo smashed his 12th home run of the season to dead center field to make it 3-1, Hawks. Shibahara grounded out to get the second out, but with Muranaka tiring, he walked Matsuda and was taken out for Kamada.

Maybe the Swallows took out Muranaka too early, because Yuya Kamada was completely ineffective. With Matsuda on first, three straight doubles from Tsuji, Nakanishi, and Yamazaki led to three runs and no outs. Satoh came in and got the last out, but by then, the ice was broken and the Yakult ship was sunk. Score at the end of inning #5: Hawks 6, Swallows 1.

The Hawks would add one more thanks to a pair of singles by Shibahara and Matsuda to make it 7-1. The Swallows would add two runs in the 9th off of embattled reliever Koji Mise. Fukuchi and Shinya Miyamoto hit a pair of singles to lead off the inning, an RBI groundout, and a sacrifice fly led to two runs, but it was too little, too late. Final score, Hawks 7, Swallows 3.

Tsuyoshi Wada earned the win and improved to 6-1 on the season, while Yakult starter Muranaka fell to 3-7. The Hawks renew acquaintances with the Swallows tomorrow at Fukuoka Dome.