Hawks Use Extra Effort to Clinch Interleague

For the second season in a row, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have clinched the Interleague title, but this time with no controversy. The Hawks did nothing short of dominate this year in Interleague, and because of it the Hawks have now pulled even with the Fighters for first place in the Pacific League.

The best news is that there are still three games remaining in Interleague, some time left for the Hawks to take over first place.

DJ Houlton was given the enviable task of attempting to shut down the Chunichi Dragons to hopefully clinch. With a magic number of 2, SoftBank needed a win and any combination of losses from second-place Seibu and third-place Hiroshima to clinch.

Opposing Houlton was Kenta Asakura, who struggled with his control and also was touched up for a run in each of the first two innings, getting him into a bit of a hole. The second was the worst inning Asakura had, as he walked one, hit one, and surrendered a double to put SoftBank up 2-0 at the time.

However, for the rest of his outing, Asakura was effective, but he got no real help from his offense. The Dragons did manage to tie the game in the 4th off Houlton, who has been nothing short of astonishing in a starting role this season. A quick one-two punch of Masahiko Morino and Tony Blanco pulled the Dragons even, as Blanco deposited a Houlton pitch over the center field wall to tie the game up at 2 and also notch his 19th home run of the season.

SoftBank struck for a single run in their Lucky 7, which was charged to Asakura after he left the game after 6 and 2/3 innings. Hasegawa led off the inning with a single, was bunted to second by Matsuda, and then the unheralded Arihito Muramatsu knocked in the young Hasegawa to put the Hawks up 3-2.

Takahiro Mahara was called upon to slam the door shut on the Dragons and at least lower SoftBank's Magic Number to 1, but the Dragons would have none of it. Morino doubled and then came around to score in the 9th to take Asakura off the hook and also keep Houlton from getting the win.

The 10th inning proved to be the only extra inning needed. SoftBank struck quickly in the top of the 10th against legendary Chunichi closer Hitoki Iwase. Light-hitting Kidokoro reached on a single to start the inning, and was sacrificed to second by Honda. Kawasaki completed an 0-for-5 day by flying out to left. Satoru Morimoto, who has been much better this season than last season in spot duty, doubled home Kidokoro to put the Hawks up 4-3.

Super gaijin Brian Falkenborg was called on to take the closing reins. He followed through after a leadoff single by Koike. Hidenori bunted Koike to second, but then Tanishige and De La Rosa both struck out to end the game and bring SoftBank's magic number to 1. A loss later in the day by Seibu gave the interleague title to SoftBank for the second straight year.

The Dragons' failure came mostly at the hands of a total lack of production from hitters six through nine, who went a measly 1-for-16, the only hit coming from Koike in the 10th. This included the regular 6-7-8-9 combination to start the game, but also substitutes Tatsunami, Tanishige, Hirata, and De La Rosa.

DJ Houlton went 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits, walking nobody and striking out 7 batters. Kenta Asakura went 6 and 2/3 innings, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on four hits, walking three, hitting one, and striking out two. Neither factored in the decision.

The winning pitcher was Takahiro Mahara, who was credited with a blown save, but improved his record to 2-1. Hitoki Iwase took the loss, his record has fallen to 1-2. Brian Falkenborg recorded his first save in Japan.

Even though interleague has been clinched, the Hawks still have three games to play. They finish their series against Chunichi tomorrow, and they finish against the BayStars.