It didn't take much time for Wataru Karashima to get his first win in 2015. The game wasn't too long either, which was probably icing on the cake for the weary Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Karashima had a strong showing in his season debut, and Kazuya Fujita took the mystery out of a close contest with a grand slam in the ninth, as the Eagles picked up a 6-1 win over the Seibu Lions on Friday night at Seibu Prince Dome.
"This was Karashima's first start and the Lions have a really strong lineup," Eagles manager Hiromoto "Dave" Okubo said. "Karashima was able to keep his poise and pitch well."
The Eagles were coming off a loss against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at home on Thursday in a game that took 5 hours, 37 minutes.
"That was a long game, a really long game" Fujita said with a smile.
Rakuten didn't show any ill effects from the marathon contest on Friday and bounced back by winning in a more economical 2 hours, 52 minutes.
"We have some veteran players, so there was a good atmosphere in the dugout," Okubo said.
Karashima was a big reason for that.
The lefty's previous outing was on the farm last week, and he struck out 13 in seven innings. Afterward, Rakuten's ni-gun manager Tsutomu Sakai said Karashima looked like his old self and declared him ready for the big time.
Karashima (1-0) looked more than ready against the Lions. He retired the side in order in the first inning and never looked back. The only hit he allowed was home run by Takeya Nakamura in the second. Karashima struck out seven and walked one over eight innings to pick up the win.
"I think I was a little more nervous than usual, but was able to keep my cool and pitch," Karashima said.
He teased Seibu with his slider and did a good job mixing his pitches. He showed good command for much of the night and didn't give up many hard-hit balls.
"I think I was able to get a good result because I just really took it one person at I time and was able to hold them back," Karashima said.
Karashima was pitching well, but the Eagles' hitters hadn't been doing much against the Lions' pitchers, and the game was close entering the ninth. The Eagles were ahead 2-1 when they loaded the bases with a walk, a bunt single and another hit.
Fujita brought everyone home with his shot to right. The grand slam was his second homer of the season and only hit of the night.
Lions starter Kazuhisa Makita lasted seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits. Makita (4-2) struck out one, walked five and was charged with the loss. Fujita's grand slam was off reliever Miguel Mejia.
Mitsutaka Goto connected on a one-out single in the top of the second and moved up a base when Tetsuro Nishida grounded out. Motohiro Shima drove the runner in with a single through the left side of the infield to give Rakuten an early advantage.
Nakamura led off the second with his home run, his 11th of the year, to left to tie the score at 1-1.
Masayoshi Fukuda and Kazuo Matsui drew walks to begin the fifth. Fujita tried to advance the runners with a sacrifice bunt, but popped the ball up. Lions catcher Ginjiro Sumitani caught it and fired the ball to second for a double play. That brought Ginji Akaminai to the plate, and he came through with an RBI double.
Shima drew a one-out walk in the ninth and Fukuda bunted for a single. Matsui delivered a hit to load the bases and Fujita put the game away with his drive over the wall in right.
Nishikawa lifts Fighters
Sapporo — Haruki Nishikawa doubled with one out in the ninth to drive in the winning run as Hokkaido Nippon Ham overcame a surprising meltdown from ace Shohei Otani to beat the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 6-5 in a top-of-the-table Pacific League clash on Friday.
With one out, Kenshi Sugiya singled off side-arm lefty Masahiko Morifuku (0-1). The left-handed-hitting Nishikawa followed by driving a 2-2 pitch to the warning track that left fielder Akira Nakamura stabbed at but missed.
"After playing a 5-hour, 37-minute game last night (in Sendai), nobody on this team wanted to go to extra innings," said Nishikawa, whose third-inning single had opened the scoring against Hawks ace Tadashi Settsu.
Making his seventh start of the season and in search of his seventh win, Otani started well before 22,892 at Sapporo Dome, but blew a 3-0 lead in the seventh when he allowed five runs. He gave up five hits and three walks over 6-2/3 innings, while striking out seven.
Fighters cleanup hitter Sho Nakata, however, tied the game in the eighth with his 15th home run of the season.
With his good heat and a superb curve ball, Otani had Hawks hitters missing horribly through six innings. After a one-out single in the seventh, Otani registered the second out on a strikeout. His command of the fastball and splitter deserted him, however, and he failed to retire another hitter.
In the eighth, Softbank right-hander Edison Barrios gave up a leadoff single to Kensuke Tanaka and Nakata's two-run shot. The runs snapped Barrios' record-tying streak of registering a hold in 17 straight games.
Keisuke Tanimoto got the Fighters out of the seventh without allowing any further damage, and Shogo Yagi (1-0) worked two scoreless innings to collect the win.
Marines 2, Buffaloes 0
At Kobe's Hotto Motto Field, Chiba Lotte's Alfredo Despaigne homered for the second straight night with a two-run blast in the eighth and Takuya Furuya and three relievers combined to post a three-hit shutout of last-place Orix.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Giants 4, Dragons 2
At Nagoya Dome, Aaron Poreda (5-1) tied for the league lead in wins after letting in two runs in eight innings, and Yoshinobu Takahashi's ninth-inning single broke a 2-2 tie as Yomiuri snapped Chunichi's four-win streak.
Carp 2, Swallows 1 (10)
At Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium, Hiroshima edged Tokyo Yakult on Ryosuke Kikuchi's sayonara homer in the 10th inning.
Former New York Yankee star Hiroki Kuroda allowed just one run on nine hits in seven innings for the Carp.
BayStars 6, Tigers 5
At Yokohama Stadium, Shotaro Ide put in a stellar performance as he leveled the scores with a seventh-inning pinch-hit double, and drove in the winning run with a two-out single as the hosts clawed back from a five-run deficit to beat Hanshin.
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