A day after seeing his team's nine-game win streak end, Kenji Akashi's tie-breaking pinch-hit double sparked the SoftBank Hawks to a 7-0 Pacific League win over the Lotte Marines on Wednesday.
Hawks starter Yuki Matsumoto, making his third start of the season, dueled Tanner Scheppers (0-3) for five scoreless innings. Both pitchers repeatedly put themselves in trouble by walking batters, but the game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth.
After Yuki Yanagita's leadoff single and Akira Nakamura's one-out double put runners on second and third, the Marines loaded the bases to set up a double play and it backfired stupendously.