Hawks survive late rally from Giants
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Being in different leagues limits the meetings between the two, but Interleague gives these two teams a chance to meet and expand on their respective histories. Today was the first of two meetings between the Hawks and Giants, with the Hawks coming out on top.
Tsuyoshi Wada took the mound against Shun Tohno, and like in the two-game series with Yokohama, the Hawks put up runs in the first inning. Three, to be exact. The first one was manufactured, as Kawasaki led off the inning with a single, and was sacrificed to second by Honda. After a groundout, Nobuhiko Matsunaka singled home Kawasaki for the quick 1-0 lead.
However, the Hawks weren't done. A little two-out lightning followed as Tohno walked both Tamura and Petagine to load the bases for Hasegawa, who singled home two runs to extend SoftBank's lead to 3-0.
That would be all that Wada (W, 9-3) needed over seven innings, as he was on cruise control from the outset. He only gave up four hits, as he struck out seven, walked three, uncorked a wild pitch, and also worked out of jams in the first and third.
Tohno (L, 8-2) was not as effective, as he gave up a fourth run in the 8th on a solo blast from Tamura (11). He worked seven and 1/3 innings, but he gave up the four runs on seven hits, with three walks and two strikeouts to take the loss.
The Giants did mount a rally in the 9th off closer Mahara, as Lee Seung-yeop legged out an infield single, Yoshiyuki Kamei doubled to right, and Takahito Kudoh hit an infield single of his own to bring in Lee. Yoshitomo Tani then got a pinch-hit RBI of his own, as he doubled home Kamei for a 4-2 deficit. However, Mahara settled down and got Hayato Sakamoto and Yoshinobu Takahashi to end the game.
The Hawks return to the field tomorrow as Toshiya Sugiuchi (8-2, 3.47) gets the nod for the Hawks against Kentaro Nishimura (4-3, 3.77).