Hawks Beaten Up by Fighters, Take Frustrations Out on Ishii

The SoftBank Hawks finally seemed to be getting some momentum. After gutting out a close win against the Chiba Lotte Marines, they swept the Seibu Lions in a brief 2-game series. Going to Sapporo Dome to face the perpetually tough Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, it seemed the Hawks could get something together. Instead, the team was stymied for the first 2 games, then broke out the bats late in game 3.

The blame isn't entirely on the Hawks, they had to face the Fighters top 3 pitchers of Darvish, Tadano, and Misaru Takeda, and the Hawks were finishing up their longest road trip of the season.

Game 1 featured Darvish vs. Ohtonari. While the Hawks offense was able to get to Darvish and score 2 runs off of him, Ohtonari gave up 3. Both pitchers went the distance, with Darvish's final line being 9 innings, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits, walking 1 and striking out 9. Ohtonari went 8 innings (the Fighters were the home team), giving up 3 runs while scattering 9 hits, walking none and striking out 6.

A single by Morimoto and a triple by Takaguchi led to Nippon Ham's 1st run of the day in the 3rd. In the 5th, a leadoff double by Koyano, followed by a sacrifice bunt by Tsuruoka put Koyano on 3rd. A sacrifice fly by Kaneko scored Koyano to make it 2-0 Fighters with 2 down. Then, a single by Morimoto, then a double by Takaguchi scored the speedy Morimoto to make it 3-0.

That was all Darvish needed, but the Hawks didn't go away without a fight. In the 6th, catcher Takaya singled, then Honda doubled. With 1 down, Kawasaki singled in Takaya, but the Hawks failed to do any more damage. Still, the Hawks were on the board, 3-1.

The very next inning, the Hawks Lucky 7, Matsunaka doubled, and Kokubo singled to drive in Matsunaka to make it 3-2. However, Darvish bore down and got the next 3 guys in order. That was the end of the scoring, as Darvish retired the last 9 men he faced.

Game 2 featured Shota Ohba against Tadano. Once agin, Ohba failed to go 5 innings, giving up all 9 Fighters runs on 9 hits, walking 4 and striking out 4 in 4 innings. Even though Takeoka and Yan each spun 2 scoreless innings, the game was well in-hand for Nippon Ham.

A triple by Inaba and a single by Sledge scored 3 runs in the 1st, and then a grand slam by Sledge in the 3rd made it 7-0 before the first third of the game was finished. After a walk to Konta in the 4th, Inaba smacked a home run of his own to make it 9-2 at that point.

The Hawks chipped away at the lead in the 3rd through 6th innings, scoring one run in each of the frames. Restovich hit a home run in the 3rd, Hasegawa doubled in Matsunaka in the 4th, Kawasaki hit a sacrifice fly in the 5th, and Matsuda smacked a home run of his own in the 6th.

With the score 9-4 in the 8th inning, SoftBank rallied and got 2 runs back, but that was as close as they would get. Nakanishi led off the inning against Hisashi Takeda with a single. After an Ohmura flyout, Matsuda walked, and then pinch-hitter Arakane singled to load the bases. Restovich knocked in his 2nd run of the day by singling himself, driving in Nakanishi. Takaya then hit a sacrifice fly to make it 9-6, but that would be as close as the Hawks got, as Micheal Nakamura slammed the door in the 9th.

SoftBank managed to avoid the sweep thanks in large part to an 8-run 9th inning, and a complete game from Tsuyoshi Wada. Misaru Takeda took the mound and got through 8 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, waking 3 and striking out 4. The only runs Takeda gave up were on a 2-run home run from Arakane.

The 9th inning was not kind to Nippon-Ham, to put it bluntly. Tateyama was brought in to get the left-hander Restovich. He failed, as Restovich doubled. Akashi came on to pinch-run for Restovich, and Tateyama was replaced by Miyanishi.

Miyanishi faced four batters and failed to get any of them out. Arakane singled to bring in Restovich to make it 3-1. Tsuji doubled to make it 4-1. Takaya walked, and with runners on 1st and 2nd, Honda singled to bring in Tsuji.

Miyanishi was done, and on came Katoh. From then on, it was Katoh's inning. With the bases loaded, Kawasaki hit a bases-clearing triple to really put the game out of reach at 7-1. However, the Hawks weren't done. After the first out of the inning was finally recorded thanks to a flyout by Matsuda, Matsunaka slammed a home run to right to pile on and make it 9-1.

Akashi, who pinch-hit for Restovich, got a chance to hit, and rapped a single to continue the onslaught. Kaneko, who was pinch-hitting for Nakanishi, reached on a fielder's choice, but no out was recorded. Arakane then singled in Akashi to make it 10-1. Wada gave up an inconsequential run in the 9th, with the final score at 10-2 for the Hawks.

With the momentum of that blowout, the Hawks had a day off and returned home to Fukuoka to face the Lions. Kazuhisa Ishii took the mound, but the Hawks have seen him enough times this year to know what to expect. Toshiya Sugiuchi got the ball today, and surprisingly enough, did not complete the game. Nitkowski and Takahashi took care of that for him.

Ishii only lasted 2-plus innings, giving up 6 runs on 8 hits, walking none and striking out 2. The trouble started in the 2nd when Kokubo led off the inning with a home run to left. After Restovich struck out looking, Arakane singled. Tsuji grounded out, and then the floodgates opened. Takaya singled to put 2 runners on. Honda singled to drive in one run, then Kawasaki doubled in 2 more runs, but was caught trying to stretch the double into a triple. Still, the score was 4-0 Hawks.

In the 3rd, Matsuda led off with a single, and then Matsunaka flashed his resurgent power by homering the other way to left. That ended Ishii's day, and on came Yamagishi. He hit Kokubo, the first batter he faced. Then after a groundout, Arakane doubled in Kokubo, and then after a popout, Takaya singled in Arakane to make the score an ugly 8-1.

It only got worse for Seibu. Matsunaka homered for the 2nd time in as many at-bats to make it 9-1. Then in the 5th, a costly error by Kataoka led to 3 more runs as it was 12-1 at the time.

The Lions roared back in the 6th with a 2-run home run by Nakajima, and then after Brazell flew out, G.G. Satoh homered himself to make it 12-4. A single by Arakane and a double by Hasegawa put the score at it's final 13-4 mark.