In a recent article, I heavily criticized the aging Hiroki Kokubo. My exact words were: "Kokubo seems to be striking out more every day and he's only batting .238." After today, the veteran slugger may have turned a corner, as he came up with a clutch home run in the 8th inning.
In the 8th inning with the Hawks trailing and the game hanging in the balance, Kokubo came up with Matsunaka on first and cranked what proved to be the game-winning 2-run home run off Yoshinori Tateyama.
SoftBank notched their fourth win in a row, but it was not by any means easy. Tomoya Yagi once again dazzled the Hawks over 6 innings, giving up one unearned run on 5 hits, walking 2 and striking out 3. The good news was that Hawks starter DJ Houlton matched Yagi pitch for pitch. Well, almost. Houlton's only mistake of the day was in the second inning to Luis Jimenez. After a single by Koyano, Houlton struck out Shinji Takahashi, but then served up a meatball to Jimenez to put the Fighters up 2-1 in the 2nd inning.
Houlton from that point on allowed a few intermittent hits, but nothing strung together. The same bullpen staff that saw action in yesterday's game held the line again when things got rocky in the 8th. Kamiuchi came in and worked 2/3 of an inning before he got into a little trouble. He gave up a single, a sacrifice bunt, and a walk before giving way to Morifuku. However, he walked his only man before Akiyama-kantoku went to Settsu. The young rookie delivered, getting the dangerous Koyano to ground out to Kawasaki at short. Mahara worked a scoreless 9th for the save.
Nippon Ham saw some good relief work from Kikuchi and Miyanishi, but Tateyama was victimized by Kokubo's dagger. Other than that, the Fighters got some good pitching.
Players of the game were easily Kokubo thanks to his 2-run blast, and Yuya Hasegawa continued his hot streak, going 3-for-3 with 3 singles and he was hit with a pitch.
The Hawks go for the sweep tomorrow against the Fighters at Sapporo Dome. Both teams send left-handing junkballers to the mound, as Kenji Ohtonari (0-2, 6.23) will oppose Masaru Takeda (1-0, 1.00).
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In the 8th inning with the Hawks trailing and the game hanging in the balance, Kokubo came up with Matsunaka on first and cranked what proved to be the game-winning 2-run home run off Yoshinori Tateyama.
SoftBank notched their fourth win in a row, but it was not by any means easy. Tomoya Yagi once again dazzled the Hawks over 6 innings, giving up one unearned run on 5 hits, walking 2 and striking out 3. The good news was that Hawks starter DJ Houlton matched Yagi pitch for pitch. Well, almost. Houlton's only mistake of the day was in the second inning to Luis Jimenez. After a single by Koyano, Houlton struck out Shinji Takahashi, but then served up a meatball to Jimenez to put the Fighters up 2-1 in the 2nd inning.
Houlton from that point on allowed a few intermittent hits, but nothing strung together. The same bullpen staff that saw action in yesterday's game held the line again when things got rocky in the 8th. Kamiuchi came in and worked 2/3 of an inning before he got into a little trouble. He gave up a single, a sacrifice bunt, and a walk before giving way to Morifuku. However, he walked his only man before Akiyama-kantoku went to Settsu. The young rookie delivered, getting the dangerous Koyano to ground out to Kawasaki at short. Mahara worked a scoreless 9th for the save.
Nippon Ham saw some good relief work from Kikuchi and Miyanishi, but Tateyama was victimized by Kokubo's dagger. Other than that, the Fighters got some good pitching.
Players of the game were easily Kokubo thanks to his 2-run blast, and Yuya Hasegawa continued his hot streak, going 3-for-3 with 3 singles and he was hit with a pitch.
The Hawks go for the sweep tomorrow against the Fighters at Sapporo Dome. Both teams send left-handing junkballers to the mound, as Kenji Ohtonari (0-2, 6.23) will oppose Masaru Takeda (1-0, 1.00).