TOKOROZAWA, SAITAMA PREF. – Right-hander Kona Takahashi came within two outs of throwing his second straight shutout, but had to settle for winning his third straight start as the Seibu Lions topped the Yokohama BayStars 4-1 in interleague play on Thursday.
Takahashi (3-1), Seibu’s top draft pick in 2014, allowed four hits and a walk, while striking out 11 in a complete-game effort before a home crowd of 14,224 at Seibu Prince Dome in Saitama Prefecture.
“His fastball was really running tonight,” Lions skipper Norio Tanabe said. “He’s struck out 20 batters over the last two games. That fastball is something and it makes his fork very effective.”
BayStars starter Shoichi Ino (4-5) allowed three runs in five innings to take the loss.
With two outs and two on in the first, the right-hander surrendered an RBI single to Hideto Asamura. A two-out infield single and a Ginjiro Sumitani triple made it 2-0 in the fourth, and Takeya Nakamura plated Seibu’s third run with a two-out single in the fifth.
Tigers 3, Eagles 0
At Sendai’s Kobo Stadium, Shintaro Fujinami (4-2) threw a one-hit shutout issuing two walks, while Takashi Toritani homered, scored twice and drove in a run as Hanshin beat Tohoku Rakuten for the second straight night.
Giants 4, Buffaloes 2
At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Kan Otake (1-1) allowed a run in 5-2/3 innings as Yomiuri defeated Orix ace Chihiro Kaneko (3-4) behind a home run from Hayato Sakamoto and a two-run double from Yoshiyuki Kamei, who came around to score on the play as a result of an error.
Hawks 6, Dragons 2
At Fukuoka’s Yafuoku Dome, Kenichi Nakata (1-1) held his former team to two solo homers and a walk over six innings, while Yuya Hasegawa gave Fukuoka SoftBank the lead for good in the first with a two-run single.
Marines 13, Carp 4
At Chiba’s QVC Marine Field, Lotte roughed up Hiroshima starter Allen Kuri (1-2) for eight runs on seven hits, while rookie reliever Keita Nishihara surrendered five runs on 10 hits over three innings.
Fighters 8, Swallows 6
At Sapporo Dome, a day after hitting a decisive three-run homer, Sho Nakata brought Hokkaido Nippon Ham back from three runs down against Tokyo Yakult with a sixth-inning grand slam.
Fighters designated hitter Shohei Otani went 1-for-4 with a walk to run his hitting streak to 14 games.
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Lions starter Kona Takahashi pitches to the BayStars' Takayuki Kajitani in the sixth inning on Thursday at Seibu Prince Dome. Takahashi threw a complete game in Seibu's 4-1 win over Yokohama. | KYODO
