Hawks Pitching Implodes, Fighters Cruise 9-1

The Fighters have not been known for their offense the last few years. Even in 2007, when they had the worst offense in Japan, they were able to get to the Japan Series on the backs of their pitching staff. Anchoring the staff is Yu Darvish, easily the best pitcher in Japan.

Darvish worked his magic again today. He worked 8 innings and gave up one unearned run to get the win and even his record at 1-1. Tsuyoshi Wada started and at first matched Darvish pitch for pitch in the first five innings. However, Wada was solved in the 6th inning, as another Hawks-killer reared his ugly head.

All-glove, no-stick Makoto Kaneko led off the 6th inning with a towering home run to center field to break what was a 1-1 tie. After Kensuke Tanaka was retired on a fly ball, the floodgates opened. Hichori Morimoto doubled, Inaba walked, and Terrmel Sledge singled home the speedy Morimoto. Shinji Takahashi promptly followed with a single that scored Inaba. Wada settled down after that, but the damage had been done.

It got worse the next inning as Yuki Kume was knocked around in one-third of an inning. He gave up 2 runs on as many hits. Embattled lefty Koji Mise came in and did not fare much better. He was knocked around in the 8th for 3 runs, which ended the scoring. Mise's ERA has ballooned to an unsightly 10.38, while Kume's inflated to 7.71.

The Hawks only run came in the first inning. The second batter of the game, Satoru Morimoto walked and came around to score on Inaba's error. Had there not been two outs Morimoto might not have scored.

After this humbling defeat, the Hawks go back to work tomorrow against the Fighters. Hideaki Takahashi will get the start, only the 9th of his career. Nippon Ham will send Shugo Fujii to the mound to counter Takahashi.