That’s what Hawks manager Hiroki Kokubo said Saturday after SoftBank’s second straight loss to the Seibu Lions, the Hawks’ fifth straight at home. Of course, there are many things worse than being in last place seven games into the season, but we get it.
In other news Saturday, we had yet another impressive import pitching debut in a game that featured a milestone home run and an immaculate inning from an unlikely hurler, while the Hiroshima Carp and DeNA BayStars played a game of closer Russian roulette.
Saturday’s games
Swallows 2, Dragons 0: At Jingu “Tokyo’s sacrifice to corporate greed and government malfeasance” stadium, Peter Lambert had a fun debut, retiring 15 of the first 16 batters he faced as he changed speeds with a really nice assortment of pitches. Chunichi bases in the sixth with a double, a single and a no-out walk, but Lambert got a fortunate called third strike and a comebacker for an easy as 1-2-3 double play.
I tuned into the game when Lambert was in the batter’s box, and darned if he doesn’t look like a hitter, taking good swings and making good contact. Before I could check his Baseball Reference page, the announcer informed us that he was 9-for-30 as a hitter in MLB. He’s the kind of pitcher some managers might be tempted to bat eighth because of his quality, but as I’ve said over and over again, No. 8 is the spot to put your weakest hitter instead of No. 9, where his outs come before the top of the order.
Yakult only managed five hits, three by Jose Osuna, but one was Tetsuto Yamada‘s 300th career home run, after Osuna doubled to lead off the second. The Swallows bullpen allowed one runner over the final three innings, on a throwing error by Yamada at second, but closed it out with former closer Taichi Ishiyama‘s immaculate inning.
Lions 6, Hawks 3: At Fukuoka (name of SoftBank subsidiary) Dome, Yuta Koga homered and Manaya Nishikawa doubled in Shinya Hasegawa in a two-run Lions third off Tomohisa Ozeki who left the game with the score tied 2-2 thanks to Ukyo Shuto‘s two-run single plated Kenta Imamiya and Tatsuru Yanagimachi.
Darwinzon Hernandez came in for the Hawks in the seventh and retired just one of the five batters he faced. Shuta Tonosaki tripled and scored on a Sosuke Genda one-out single. A Hasegawa single and a walk set up Tyler Nevin‘s two-run double off Hernandez’s relief put the game on ice. Leandro Cedeno delivered a sac fly to cap the four-run inning.
“You don’t expect to score runs against Tatsuya Imai (Seibu’s starter on Friday) or Sumida,” Kokubo said. “We went in expecting a pitchers’ duel, so giving up six runs was problematic.”
The man at least has a talent for understatement.
Carp 8, BayStars 7, 11 innings: At new Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, another game that should have been a pitchers’ duel, between Hiroshima’s Hiroki Tokoda and DeNA’s Katsuki Azuma, developed into a free-for-all. eDeNA overturned a four-run ninth-inning deficit in a five-run inning against Carp closer Ryoji Kuribayashi, whose walk-on-music should be the sound of a ticking time bomb, only for the Carp to tie it against electric right-hander Taisei Irie.
That inning included a sacrifice by Shoichi Futamata, who knocked out two of his own teeth fouling off a bunt attempt two days earlier against the Swallows.
But the last six DeNA batters went down in order in the 10th and 11th against Taisei Moriura, who struck out five straight before a two-strike pitch was put in play for the final out. Yasuaki Yamasaki entered in the home half and threw one pitch, that pinch-hitter Shunsuke Tamura put in the seats for his first major league homer.
Marines 1, Eagles 0: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Lotte’s Kazuya Ojima struck out seven over eight innings and his teammates manufactured a run in the bottom of the eighth on a bullpen day for Rakuten before Tayron Guererro closed it out in the ninth for his first save.
Tigers 4, Giants 3: At Tokyo Ugly Dome, it was all about the extra bases. Teruaki Sato hit a solo homer in the first for Hanshin and Kazuma Okamoto tied it in the home half with an RBI triple. Tigers center fielder Koji Chikamoto threw out a runner at the plate to end the Giants second, and broke the tie in the third with a two-run homer. Sato hit his season’s fourth homer in the eighth and Okamoto hit a two-run shot, his second, in the ninth.
Buffaloes 11, Fighters 1: At Kitahiroshima Taxpayer’s Burden Field, Allen Kuri won his first game since joining Orix on the Carp free-agent shuttle from Hiroshima over the winter. Yuma Tongu capped a three-run first with a two-run shot, his season’s third homer. Chusei Manami took Kuri deep in the home half but struck out to end Nippon Ham’s only threat of the game with two on in the third. The Buffaloes then scored seven runs over the next four innings to put it away. Kuri struck out six over eight innings.
