TOKOROZAWA, SAITAMA PREFECTURE – Tatsuya Imai came out on top in a rookie pitching duel Sunday as the Seibu Lions’ lineup slugged early against the SoftBank Hawks for an 8-5 win in the Pacific League.
Imai (5-4) fanned four and yielded three runs at MetLife Dome. The right-hander, who was the Lions’ first round pick in the 2016 draft, was bolstered by back-to-back four-run innings.
SoftBank left-hander Kotaro Otake (2-1) allowed eight runs in 1⅔ innings and suffered his first loss of the season.
Hawks leadoff man Taisei Makihara singled against Imai in the first and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, but right-fielder Yuji Kaneko displayed some early heroics with a spectacular diving catch of a fly ball from Akira Nakamura.
Imai fanned cleanup batter Yurisbel Gracial to end the threat.
In the bottom of the inning, Sosuke Genda’s RBI triple off Otake spearheaded a four-run rally. Hideto Asamura doubled in Genda to make it 2-0, and Hotaka Yamakawa’s two-run homer doubled the Lions’ lead.
In the second, Kaneko drew a walk from Otake and stole second, and Genda singled to right for his second RBI of the game. Otake then yielded back-to-back hits, including one to Yamakawa allowing Genda to wheel home again.
Otake was relieved by fellow SoftBank rookie Rei Takahashi with runners on first and third following a groundout. The submarine right-hander immediately gave up a two-run RBI double to Takeya Nakamura and the PL-leading Seibu doubled their score again for an early 8-0 lead.
Imai got into a two-out jam in the third after giving up two straight hits and allowed a run on a wild pitch. He yielded a leadoff double to Gracial and issued a walk in the fourth, and allowed the Hawks to close the gap on Kenji Akashi’s two-run knock to right field.
A close out at first was deemed safe in the top of the sixth, overruling a double play and putting runners on the corners. Imai was replaced by recently-acquired Seibu lefty Ryuya Ogawa, who put out the fire with an inning-ending strikeout.
Seibu reliever Shogo Noda pitched a scoreless seventh, but Kyle Martin allowed a run in the eighth.
Deunte Heath loaded the bases in the ninth on three straight singles, but fanned two and coaxed a groundout over the next four batters to limit the damage. Nobuhiro Matsuda batted in the Hawks’ final run.
Takahashi, Livan Moinelo and Shuta Ishikawa allowed three hits in a combined 6⅓ scoreless innings for SoftBank.
In warm-ups before the game, Hawks outfielder Yuki Yanagita was hit by a batted ball and suffered a bruise on the left side of his head. Yanagita was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where it was revealed no concussion or bone fracture had occurred.
Buffaloes 8, Fighters 4
At Sapporo Dome, Yuki Nishi (9-12) fanned three and scattered five hits, allowing two runs in five innings. Yuma Mune and Kenya Wakatsuki drove in two runs each, while Nick Martinez (10-9) gave up six runs and took the loss.
Eagles 3, Marines 1
At Zozo Marine Stadium, last-place Rakuten overturned Lotte’s early lead on a sac fly and a two-run shot by Yasuhito Uchida in the fourth. Takayuki Kishi fanned nine and improved to 11-3, while Yuki Matsui became the youngest player to earn 100 career saves after fanning three in the ninth.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Tigers 20, BayStars 4
At Yokohama Stadium, Shintaro Fujinami (3-3) earned the win and hit his second career home run: a grand slam off lefty Kenjiro Tanaka. Yusuke Oyama went 6-for-6 with seven RBIs and three homers, including two in the third that bookended the first of two nine-run rallies, as Hanshin pounded the Baystrars into last place. Yoshitomo Tsutsugo hit his 35th homer of the season, the second highest in the league.
Giants 11, Dragons 3
At Tokyo Dome, Shinnosuke Abe drove in four runs, including a seventh-inning grand slam, and left-hander Nobutaka Imamura (6-2) picked up the win for pitching five-plus innings as Yomiuri defeated Chunichi.
Carp 4, Swallows 2
At Jingu Stadium, Seiya Suzuki opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly and Xavier Batista blasted a three-run homer in Hiroshima’s four-run first inning. The CL-leading Hiroshima reduced the magic number to clinch the pennant to four after beating Yakult, currently in second place.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.