Yoshinobu Yamamoto was lights out, and the Hawks proved that no matter how hard you hit the ball sometimes it doesn’t matter, and the Fighters played their seventh-straight one-run game, while we had three late-inning meltdowns.
Saturday’s games
Buffaloes 3, Hawks 2: At Fukuoka Dome, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (9-3) was cool under pressure in the only real threat he faced, struck out nine over eight innings, while allowing a run on eight hits. Yuma Tongu singled in Orix’s first-inning run off Kohei Arihara (3-2), and hit his 11th home run in the sixth. Tomoya Noguchi doubled in an insurance run in the ninth, which proved to be crucial after neither Soichiro Yamazaki or Yuki Udagawa could keep the Hawks from hitting the bejeezus out of the ball.
Misaki Mimori homered in the seventh for SoftBank, and after Yuma Mune turned Alfredo Despaigne’s smash into a double play, Mimori singled in his second run. Yamasaki walked another batter before Hikaru Kawase hit a bullet that Tongu gloved at first base for the final out, to gift Udagawa his first save.
The Hawks’ loss was their seventh straight.
