Daisuke Matsuzaka auditioned for a spot in the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks' postseason but flubbed his lines in 7-0 loss to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Sunday.
Pitching in a first-team game in Japan for the first time since 2006, the former major leaguer allowed five runs, two earned, in one inning in the Hawks' regular season finale. Matsuzaka allowed three hits, walked two, hit two and struck out two.
"There's nothing to do but accept these results and the quality of my pitching and move forward," said Matsuzaka, whose entry into the game in the bottom of the eighth inning drew a huge cheer from the crowd of 25,222 at Kobo Miyagi Stadium.