SENDAI – A day after suffering their first loss of the season, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks returned the favor, beating the previously unbeaten Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 15-4 in the Pacific League on Wednesday afternoon.
Yuya Hasegawa, making his first start of the season for the Hawks, broke the ice in the second with a two-run triple and tripled in another run during the Hawks’ two-run fourth.
“All this time I’ve wanted to get into the batter’s box, so I was fired up,” said Hasegawa, who drew a walk in his third plate appearance.
“Since my main focus was on getting into a game, I’m not thinking about what pitches I was looking for or hit. After losing yesterday, we were eager to turn the tables on them and it’s good that it worked out that way.”
Seiichi Uchikawa doubled and scored in the second and his three-run, third-inning homer made it 5-0 as the game got ugly in a hurry in front of 26,298 at Kobo Park Miyagi.
Eagles starter Yoshinao Kamata (0-1), whose poor command resulted in one fat pitch after another, allowed seven runs in four innings on seven hits and two walks. He struck out one.
On the other side, Shota Takeda (1-0) gave up three runs on three hits and three walks without striking out a batter. All the runs came in his last inning, the fifth, when he went to the mound with a 12-0 lead.
Buffaloes 2, Lions 0
At Saitama’s Metlife Dome, Takahiro Matsuba (1-0) threw eight innings to earn the win, outdueling Kona Takahashi (0-1).
The Buffaloes’ Stefen Romero homered for the second straight day, breaking up a scoreless tie in the fourth as Orix blanked Seibu.
Marines 7, Fighters 6
At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, a two-run, seventh-inning home run by Daichi Suzuki completed Lotte’s comeback against Hokkaido Nippon Ham, as the Marines earned their first win of the season. Naoya Masuda retired the heart of the Fighters’ order in the ninth to earn the save.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Giants 4, BayStars 2
At Yokohama Stadium, Yomiuri’s Tetsuya Utsumi (1-0) allowed one run in seven innings, and singled in the tie-breaking score in a three-run fifth to lift the unbeaten Giants over the BayStars for their fifth straight win.
Tigers 4, Swallows 1
At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Takumi Akiyama allowed one run over six-plus innings to set the stage for Hanshin’s win over Tokyo Yakult. Akiyama did not figure in the decision after Yoshio Itoi’s two-out, three-run homer broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh.
Carp 3, Dragons 3 (12)
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