The record will show the Seibu Lions lost to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Sunday after a 2-2 slider from Jefry Yan got away from catcher Takeru Furuichi as Riku Ogata raced home to score the walk-off run in the 12th inning of a 3-2 Hawks win.
It is not much of a stretch to say that the Lions blew their chance to win when they failed to get a runner home from third in the 10th, 11th and 12th innings at the newly named Mizuho PayPay Dome. Or maybe it was due to manager Kazuo Matsui’s moves throughout the game. One could even go further back and blame the front office for constructing a team with a toothless offense.
Either way, the Lion’s share of the blame starts with the offensive shortcomings.