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Eagles vs Lions Postgame: Rakuten clinches in style

Photo © www.rakuteneagles.jp

SENDAI, MIYAGI - With a full moon shining above the stadium like a giant target, the Rakuten Eagles feasted on the Seibu Lions' pitching, hitting five home runs on route to a historic 14-5 victory in front of a packed Kleenex Stadium Friday night.  With the win, Rakuten stormed into their first ever playoff berth, eliminating 4th place Seibu in the process.

The crowd was electric, and the Eagles gave their fans something to go crazy about right off the bat.  Homeruns by Teppei Tsuchiya and Daisuke Kusano in the first inning quickly gave the home team a 4-0 lead.  The Lions came back though, scoring in the 4th and 5th innings to draw within a run, including a 2-run shot by catcher Toru Hosokawa.

Rakuten put the game out of reach in the bottom of the 5th and 6th innings though, thanks to an RBI double by Todd Linden and 3-run blasts by Takeshi Yamasaki and Teppei.  Linden capped off the night with a 2-run homer in the 8th, putting the Eagles ahead 14-3.  In the top of the 9th, started Koji Aoyama gave up a pair of solo home runs to G.G. Sato and Tatsuyuki Uemoto, then completed the win when Yasuyuki Kataoka grounded out to shortstop.

After the game, every Rakuten starter was selected as Heroes of the Game.

Pitching

Koji Aoyama picked up his 3rd win of the year.  His performance was good but not great.  Luckily for him Rakuten's offense looked like they were on BALCO's finest.  He gave up 11 hits over 9 innings, striking out six and walking two.  The three home runs he dished up though are a bit of a concern, but the solo shots in the 9th occurred when the game was already in the bag, and if the score was closer he probably wouldn't have been pitching that late anyways.

On the other side of the coin, what the heck happened to Kazuyuki Hoashi???  After pitching the best month of his life in September he served up a steaming pile on Friday.  Here's his line on the night: 4.1 IP, 10 H, 3 HR, 5 K, 1 BB, 8 ER.  I guess when October rolled around his carriage turned back into a pumpkin or something.  The relievers didn't fare much better; Osada and Kimura combined to surrender six runs over 2.2 innings.

Hitting

Geez, I don't even know where to start here.  Yamasaki finally broke out of his 10 game slump, going 2 for 4 (1 HR, 4 RBI).  He looked very, very relieved during the postgame interview, and I'm sure that he's happy that he could finally help the team.

League leading batter Teppei had a career night (4 for 5, 2 HR, 6 RBI).  Like I said in his report card, if he could generate a little more pop in his bat then the results would be simply spectacular, as they were last night.

Third baseman Kusano also continued his fine season with 2 hits, 1 home run, and 3 runs scored.

Last but not least, Linden also cranked one out of the stadium to go along with his double and 3 RBI.

I know I'm a homer, but this Rakuten lineup from one to seven has got to be the most dangerous in the Pacific League right now.  They're hitting everything, and their hitting their opponent's top pitchers as well.  If they can carry this hot streak into the playoffs...

Here are some photos I snapped from the game last night.  We were sitting on the third base line as usual, in the 7th row.  I also uploaded 4 video clips to YouTube, you can check them out on my YouTube page.  Enjoy!

Next Game

The Eagles and Lions complete this 2-game set this afternoon at 2pm local time, 10pm PST.

Related posts:

1. Eagles @ Lions Postgame: Throwing It Away
2. Eagles @ Lions Postgame: Timely Teppei
3. Eagles vs Lions Postgame: Chicks dig the long ball
4. Eagles @ Lions Postgame: Under Pressure
5. Eagles @ Lions Postgame: When It Counts

About Andrew

Andrew has lived in Japan since 2006, spending time exploring the Tohoku region. He frequently attends Rakuten Eagles games in Sendai. You'll find him sitting along the 3rd base line drinking Guinness wearing a #46 Teppei jersey, next to a Japanese girl in a #5 Seguignol jersey.          You can follow him on Twitter if that makes you happy.