PL Climax Series: Eagles stave off elimination with 3-2 victory over Fighters
by Gen on Oct.23, 2009 @ 11:46 pm, under Game Summaries, NPB, Postseason
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rakuten Eagles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Nippon Ham Fighters | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
Sapporo Dome | Attendance: 42,328 | Time: 2h 48m | Fighter lead series, 3-1.
The Eagles managed to stave off elimination for at least one more day by beating the Fighters, 3-2.
Shinji Takahashi's (1-for-4, HR, R, RBI) home run to lead off the bottom of the second gave the Fighters a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the 4th, the Eagles scored all the runs they'd need for the game:
Naoto Watanabe (2-for-3, HR, R, RBI) led off with a home run that tied the game at 1. Teppei (1-for-4, R) followed with a single in to right. Takeshi Yamasaki (0-for-4) flied out to right. Fernando Seguignol (1-for-4, R) singled into right, runners on first and third. Toshiya Nakashima (1-for-2, BB, RBI) drove in the go ahead run with a single into left, runners on first and second. Todd Linden (0-for-4) hit into a force at second, runners on first and third. Daisuke Kusano (1-for-3, RBI) pushed across a big insurance run with a single into left, runners on first and third. Jin Nakatani (0-for-3) flied out to left to end the inning.
Meanwhile, after giving up the home run to Takahashi in the 2nd, Masahiro Tanaka was doing a great job of shutting the Fighters down. After giving up a 2-out single in the 4th, Tanaka retired 10 straight batters before giving up 2 consecutive singles in the bottom of the 8th, which ultimately ended up being the turning point of the game.
Pinch hitter Naoto Inada (1-for-1, R) and Makoto Kaneko (2-for-3) started the inning off with back-to-back singles. A sac bunt by Kensuke Tanaka (1-for-3) advanced the runners to second and third and set up Hichori Morimoto's (0-for-3, RBI) sac fly in to center. With a runner now on third and 2 out, Tanaka walked Atsunori Inaba (0-for-3, BB) on 7 pitches, one of which was a 153km/h fastball, to put runners on first and third. And that brought up Takahashi, who earlier hit a home run and had 5 RBIs in the series so far. But Tanaka bore down and managed to strike out Takahashi to end the inning and preserve the 1-run lead.
Both teams went down in order in the 9th as the Eagles managed to stay alive for at least one more game.
Missed Opportunities
Eagles
1st: runner on second, 1 out > Teppei struck out and T. Yamasaki struck out
4th: runners on first and third, 2 out > Nakatani flied out
Fighters
3rd: runners on first and third, 1 out > Morimoto struck out and Inaba grounded out
8th: runners on first and third, 2 out > Takahashi struck out
Eagles: 4 LOB, 1 DP
Fighters: 5 LOB, 0 DP
News
The Eagles outhit the Fighters, 7-6. ... Other than the 4th inning, the Eagles' offense was held to just 2 hits and a walk. ... This is Tanaka's second straight complete game victory during this year's Climax Series.
Rakuten Eagles
| Name | G | W | L | S | IP | NP | BF | AB | H | HR | K | BB | HBP | SHF | WP | BK | R | ER | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tanaka, Masahiro W | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 126 | 34 | 31 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2.000 |
Nippon Ham Fighters
| Name | G | W | L | S | IP | NP | BF | AB | H | HR | K | BB | HBP | SHF | WP | BK | R | ER | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yagi, Tomoya L | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 86 | 21 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5.400 |
| Ejiri, Shintaro | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.400 |
| Kikuchi, Kazumasa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Sakamoto, Yataro | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.500 |
| Hayashi, Masanori | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.500 |
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...Fighters GM Masao Yamada once again appeared on the field before the game wearing a red necktie.
"I wore this tie yesterday and we won so I figured I'd wear it again today," said Yamada.
...Katsuya Nomura on Masahiro Tanaka's victory:
"Even if we lose with Ma-kun, no one would be upset. He did a great job for us. I have nothing more to say."
...Game 3 starters: Hiromichi Fujiwara (RAK) vs Shugo Fujii (HAM)
