Where Eagles Dare A Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Fansite

Live Blog! Eagles vs Hawks

Pregame

I had some free time this afternoon, so I walked down to the stadium and snapped a couple of photos.  Why am I not going tonight?  I'll probably go tomorrow night if Ma-kun is pitching, and I already have tickets for the 3rd and the 9th...

Top of the 1st

Fujiwara looks good early, challenging the Softbank batters and establishing strikes down low.  Ortiz hits a high chopper that goes over Kusano's outstretched glove; as Ortiz reaches first base he points with both hands to the sky.  The gods weren't in his favour last night, so I guess he's trying to get some brownie points in early.

Bottom of the 1st

The Softbank Hawks have the most god awful hats in all of Japanese baseball.

Naoto just barely gets called out sliding head-first into first base.  That guy is all hustle and loves getting his uniform dirty.  Eagles go down in order.

Top of the 2nd

As was the case last night, not much of a crowd here tonight.  When I went by the stadium around 4 this afternoon, the board showed available seats in almost every section.  Nomu-san has his own thoughts on why the fans aren't showing up, but midweek games and a 6pm start time never sell well here in Sendai.  There are lots of walkups during the game as people get off work, but unless Tanaka or Iwakuma are pitching it's not gonna sell out during the week.

Fujiwara gives up a leadoff hit, but one double play and another grounder quickly end the inning for the Hawks.

Bottom of the 2nd

Yamasaki swings at the first pitch he sees, flying out into foul territory.  The slump continues.

Kusano gets onboard with an infield single, then steals second.  Linden cranks a double that lands at the bottom of the center field wall, and Kusano cruises in for the first run of the game.  Eagles 1 - Hawks 0

Linden scans the outfield as he waits at second base, looking like someone just scratched his pickup truck or something.

Top of the 3rd

While I ran down to 7-11 to pick up some ghetto-curry, the Hawks tied up the game on a solo homer by the catcher.  Eagles 1 - Hawks 1

Bottom of the 3rd

Houlton was cruising along when suddenly Teppei cranked a shot to deep left center... HOMERUN!  Or is it???  The way the ball bounced back onto the field temporarily had people thinking that it hit the fence, but replays showed that it simply bounced off of one of the seats.  Rakuten scores!  Eagles 2 - Hawks 1

Yamasaki pops out behind the plate this time.  At least he's finding different ways to not hit.

Top of the 4th

After Teppei made a sliding catch to rob the Hawks of a hit, Fujiwara strikes out Matsunaka to finish things off.

Bottom of the 4th

Both the 1st place Fighters and the 4th place Lions are currently losing... good news so far...

Linden strikes out looking, and has a few choice words for the umpire as he makes his way to the dugout.

Seguignol hits a fly ball to Ortiz in left field, and, to paraphrase the immortal Harry Carey, he "picks it out of the air, like he was picking bananas back home in the Dominican Republic."

Top of the 5th

The ride on the Fujiwara Express gets a little rocky in the 5th.  After walking the leadoff batter and giving up a single that squirts through the infield, Fujiwara loads up the bases when he hits the next batter.  Matsuda is up now, with only one out.  He lines a single into left, and the game is tied again, bases still loaded.  Eagles 2 - Hawks 2

After almost hitting batter Honda to walk in a run, Fujiwara serves up a juicy fastball which Honda bounces into the seats for a ground rule double.  That's gonna end the night for the young left-hander.  Eagles 2 - Hawks 4

The final line on Fujiwara: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 K, 2 BB, 4 R.  Kawagishi comes into the game with the unenviable task of trying to stop the bleeding.  Runners on 2nd and 3rd, still one out.

Ortiz hits a fly ball to shallow right center, and the runner at 3rd tags up.  There's gonna be a play at the plate!  As Softbank's Honda races home, Teppei fires the ball home.  Just as catcher Nakatani closes his glove on the ball, Honda crashes into him... OUT!  Nice double play to save the Eagles from more pain.

Bottom of the 5th

Houlton starts to lose control, issuing 3 walks in the inning.  The table is set for Yamasaki with 2 out and the bases loaded... he hits the ball deep to left, but it doesn't have quite enough legs to get out of the park, and Ortiz snags it about 10 feet from the wall.  The Eagles are getting their chances but haven't been able to capitalize on them... yet?

Bottom of the 6th

Seguignol smacks a two out double, and Takasu pinch hits to replace Kosaka.  He hits a slow chopper to 2nd base and beats the throw.  Runners on the corners, and now Kenshi is gonna pinch hit for Nakatani.

Kenshi strikes out... badly.  I know he hasn't been playing recently, but you gotta make contact with the ball.  Especially when you wear your first name on the back of your uniform.  And have a bright orange bat.

Top of the 7th

Shima replaces Nakatani at catcher, and Takasu takes Kosaka's spot at second base.  Kusano makes a nice diving play and fires a laser to first.  Daisuke Kusano has been one of the best surprises this season for Rakuten.  He plays with such swagger and seems like a good guy to have in the clubhouse.

Bottom of the 7th

Rakuten is threatening again with runners at 1st and 2nd and one out.  Yamasaki is up to bat, and... he yawns.  That's not gonna inspire a lot of confidence in the fans!

Yamasaki gets good wood on it again, but the result is the same.  This time he flies out at the right field warning track.  We're going on 10 games now, Nomura has GOT to consider dropping him in the lineup.

Kusano cracks one into the outfield, and Nakamura scores from second base!  Teppei reaches 3rd.  Eagles 3 - Hawks 4

Linden slices one deep to left field, scoring Teppei!  Ortiz kicks the ball around in the corner, allowing Kusano to score from first base!  Double for Linden, and the Eagles retake the lead!  Eagles 5 - Hawks 4

That's it for Houlton, he's replaced by Yoshiaki Fujioka.  Two out, Linden on second, and big Fernando Seguignol is now at the plate.  He goes down swinging, and suddenly Rakuten are 6 outs away from second place!

Top of the 8th

Final line on D. J. Houlton: 6.2 IP, 9 H, 5 K, 4 BB, 5 R.

Fukumori and Iwakuma, riding the rainbow.

Kazuo Fukumori replaces a solid relief effort by Kawagishi.  Just in case you're wondering, here's what the Eagles pitchers get up to in their free time.  Why is Kazuo in shorts and a t-shirt, and Hisashi in jeans and a long sleeve?

The Hawks go down in order; Takasu will lead things off in the bottom of the inning.

Bottom of the 8th

Eagles go down in order.  Looks like Nomura's gonna go with Fukumori to close the show.

Top of the 9th

All three Pacific League games tonight are 1-run affairs.  Orix leads Nippon Ham 6-5 in the 7th, and Lotte is hanging onto a 1-0 lead against Seibu in the 9th.

G. G. Sato just put the Lions ahead of the Marines 2-1 in the 9th inning!

Fukumori strikes out the first batter of the ninth, Hiroki Kokubo.  Softbank's DH, Nobuhiko Matsunaka, reaches way down and slaps a single through the infield.  He's replaced with a pinch runner.  Tamura is up next; he's got 17 HR on the year.  Fukumori is doing his best to keep the runner at 1st, throwing over to Seguignol five times now.  Eventually he'll either get him out or throw the ball away.  The runner Kidokuro breaks for 2nd... safe!  Fukumori then throws a wild pitch in the dirt and Kidokuro gets to third.

Tamura strikes out!  Softbank is down to their last out.  Up steps left-hander Hasegawa.  Pitching coach Satoh strolls up to the mound to discuss strategy with the Rakuten pitcher and catcher.  Hasegawa is 1 for 3 on the night.

First pitch is high for a ball.  The second pitch juuust catches the inside of the plate for a called strike.  After missing away with a breaking ball, Hasegawa hits a grounder to Seguignol, and the game is over!  Eagles win!

Final Score: Eagles 5 - Hawks 4

Related posts:

1. Live Blog! Eagles vs Buffaloes
2. Live Blog! Eagles vs Lions
3. Next Live Chat! Eagles @ Hawks, Sunday 18th @ 1pm JST
4. Live Chat Today! Rakuten Eagles @ Softbank Hawks
5. Live Chat! Eagles vs Lions

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.