Game Five, Series Stats and Overview
The 1997 Japan Series between the Pacific League champion Seibu Lions and the Central League champion Yakult Swallows begins Saturday evening at Seibu Stadium in Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture.
One thing we have learned from post-season series is that it is very hard for teams to grind out big innings without the aid of homeruns. This occurs because teams in World Series and Japan Series generally have good pitching and defense and short series tend to be contests between teams' front line talent.
Both Seibu and Yakult have offenses that depend on getting many runners on base. In the Japan Series it will be very hard for both teams' offenses to function as they did during the regular season. Both teams will get fewer baserunners. This will put more emphasis on scoring with fewer baserunners. Neither team has much power, but Seibu has a speed advantage that may add a few extra runs.
On the other side of the equation, the Swallows pitching and defense is slightly superior to Seibu's. The Swallows are more likely to set up some big innings against the Lions' second-rank pitchers--especially at Jingu where the Lions may resort to using DH Domingo Martinez at first base and mobile first baseman, Taisei Takagi, in left.
The Swallows are, I believe the series favorites, but their edge is slim. I think they will outscore the Lions and if there are any blowouts in the series, the Swallows are most likely to be the winners in those contests.
October 18, 6:20 PM Seibu Kyujo att:31,364
Swallows 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Lions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
HR: Tatum (Swallows) Solo, P Nishiguchi. 8th
W: Kazuhisa Ishii (1-0)
L: Fumiya Nishiguchi (0-1)
AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR SH SF SB CS W HB K GDP
CF Manaka 3 0 1 0 - - - 1 - - - - - - -
RF Inaba 3 0 1 0 - - - 1 - - - - - - -
LF Hosey 4 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 2 -
C Furuta 4 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
2B Dobashi 4 0 2 0 - - - - - - 1 - - 1 -
DH Kobayakawa 4 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 2 1
3B Ikeyama 3 0 1 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
1B Tatum 3 1 1 1 - - 1 - - - - - - 1 -
SS Miyamoto 3 0 1 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
Swallows 31 1 7 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 7 1
AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR SH SF SB CS W HB K GDP
SS Matsui 4 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 2 -
2B Harai 3 0 0 0 - - - - - - 1 1 - 2 -
1B Takagi T 4 0 1 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
3B Suzuki Ken 3 0 1 0 1 - - - - - - 1 - 2 -
DH Martinez 4 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 2 -
RF Sasaki 3 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 2 -
LF Yamada 3 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
lf Kawada 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
C Ito 2 0 1 0 - - - - - - - 1 - - -
CF Otomo 2 0 0 0 - - - 1 - - - - - 1 -
Lions 28 0 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 12 0
IP BF PC H K W HB R ER
L Ishii K 9 32 117 3 12 3 0 0 0
IP BF PC H K W HB R ER
R Nishiguchi 9 33 126 7 7 0 0 1 1
Errors: Harai (Misplayed a ground ball. Batter safe at 1B. One out in 1st),
Ishii (Wild throw trying to double-off runner at 1B. Runner advanced 1B to 2B. One out in 5th)
Base Running Out: Inaba (out 5-2 at home on Furuta's ground ball. One out in 1st)
LOB: Swallows 5, Lions 5
Although game one was scorless until the eighth inning and the only run came on Jim Tatum's solo homer, it was even closer than it appears in the box score. The Swallows won because they were able to get the critical outs and because the ball bounced their way.
From the second inning to the fifth, the Lions put their leadoff hitter on. In the fourth inning, Lions' first baseman Takagi Taisei singled to right and Ken Suzuki lined one into the left-field corner to put runners at second and third with no outs. However, Swallows pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii struck out Domingo Martinez on three pitches, fanned Makoto Sasaki on four, and got two strikes on Jun Yamada before he hit a routine grounder to third to end the inning.
With neither team able to put the finishing touches on a rally, the game turned on the home run ball. Although Tatum's high liner was the only one that cleared the fences between the foul poles, there were three near home runs. Shinya Miyamoto (Swallows) and Taisei Takagi (Lions) each belted high drives to center that were kept in the park by the fierce wind blowing in from centerfield.
Lions' third baseman Ken Suzuki came even closer. With one out in the ninth inning, Suzuki took Ishii's first pitch for a ball and then fouled off the next three. Suzuki than smashed the next pitch towards the left-field foul pole but it hooked just foul. Suzuki watched the next pitch for strike three and the Lions were down to their last out.
There were few surprises in game one--other than Seibu manager Osamu Higashio's using minor leaguers Jun Yamada and Kazuya Harai in his starting lineup. Yamada was an interesting choice because he has good power. Higashio may have forseen the kind of game it was going to be. Yamada didn't do much and was pulled for defense after he struck out swinging (at what would have been ball four) in the seventh inning.
Prior to the series, there was some discussion about whether Seibu would use their ace pitcher Nishiguchi in the Major League fashion and have him start games one, four and seven. This has not been done in Japan since Swallows' manager Katsuya Nomura tried it in the 1992 Series against Seibu with his ace, Yoichi Okabayashi. Okabayashi threw three complete games for a total of 29 innings and 430 pitches (161 in game one and 160 in game seven). Following that experince Okabayshi has had several operations, missed large amounts of playing time and has not been very effective. With only 126 pitches in game one, Nishiguchi is a candidate to repeat Okabayashi's feat but perhaps without the after effects that Okabayashi later suffered.
October 19, 6:21 PM Seibu Kyujo att:31,397
Swallows 0 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 5
Lions 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1x 6
HR: Kawada (Lions) Two run, P Tabata. 1st
W: Shinji Mori (1-0)
L: Futoshi Yamabe (0-1)
AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR SH SF SB CS W HB K GDP
CF Manaka 6 0 2 1 - - - - - - - - - 2 -
RF Inaba 6 1 3 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
LF Hosey 4 0 1 1 - - - - - - - 1 - - -
lf Sato 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
C Furuta 5 0 1 0 - - - - - - - - - - 1
2B Dobashi 5 2 2 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
DH Hata 4 1 2 0 - - - - - - - 1 - 2 -
3B Ikeyama 3 0 1 1 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
h Kobayakawa 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
3b Baba 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
1B Tatum 5 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - 1
SS Miyamoto 4 1 2 0 1 - - - - - - 1 - - -
Swallows 45 5 14 3 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 7 2
AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR SH SF SB CS W HB K GDP
SS Matsui 5 0 2 0 - - - - - - - - - 2 -
CF Otomo 4 1 1 0 - - - - - 1 - 1 - - 1
1B Takagi T 4 0 0 0 - - - - - - - 1 - 2 -
3B Suzuki Ken 4 1 2 1 1 - - - - - - 1 - 1 -
DH Martinez 5 1 1 1 - - - - - - - - - 3 -
RF Sasaki 5 2 3 1 - - - - - 1 - - - 1 -
LF Kawada 4 1 2 2 - - 1 1 - - - - - 1 -
C Ito 3 0 0 0 - - - - - - - 2/1 - - -
2B Takagi H 2 0 1 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
h Kanemura 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - 1 - - -
r2bNarahara 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Tanabe 1 0 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - -
Lions 38 6 13 6 1 0 1 1 0 2 0 6/1 0 11 1
IP BF PC H K W HB R ER
R Tabata 1 8 40 5 1 0 0 5 3
L Yamamoto 4 14 68 2 6 2 0 0 0
R Hirota 0.1 1 7 0 0 0 0 0 0
L Kato 0.1 3 11 1 0 1 0 0 0
R Takatsu 3.1 15 60 3 4 2 0 0 0
L Yamabe 0.1 3 6 1 0 1 0 1 1
R Ito T 0.0 1 4 1 0 0 0 0 0
IP BF PC H K W HB R ER
R Shiozaki 3 17 55 6 1 1 0 3 1
R Ishii Tksh 2.1 12 47 5 2 0 0 2 1
L Sugiyama 0.0 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
R Denny 1.2 6 24 0 1 2 0 0 0
L Hashimoto 0.2 3 13 1 0 0 0 0 0
R Mori S 2.1 9 42 2 3 0 0 0 0
Errors: Ikeyama (Wild throw to home. Runner advanced 2B to 3B. 2 outs in 1st)
Hosey (Misplayed single to left field. Batter advanced to 2B. 2 outs in 1st)
Matsui (Bad throw to 1B-batter safe. 2 outs in 2nd)
Suzuki (Wild throw to 2B-Runner advanced 3B to home. 2 outs in 4th)
Matsui (Dropped throw at 2B force play/potential DP. runner safe. One out in 7th)
Base Running Out: Suzuki (out 2-4 at 2Battempting to take 2B on a ball in the dirt. One out in 3rd.)
Wild Pitch: Mori S. (Runner advanced 2nd to third. No outs in 10th)
LOB: Swallows 13, Lions 11
Game two began as a sequel to game one. The Swallows had a two out walk and failed to score. In the Lions' half of the first, Kazuo Matsui led off with a single but a routine grounder and a strikeout left the Lions with two outs and a runner still on first. The game appeared to be shaping up as a repeat of game one when Ken Suzuki lobbed a ball into shallow left field. Swallows' shortstop Shinya Miyamoto raced out to make the play but veered off in favor of left fielder Dwayne Hosey. The ball fell at Hosey's feet and bounced over his head for a double. With two outs, the runner on first (Lions' centerfielder Susumu Otomo) raced around the bases. As Otomo slid home, catcher Atsuya Furuta failed to catch third baseman Takehiro Ikeyama's relay and Suzuki advanced to third.
In seconds, the game had been transformed from the tight defensive struggle of the night before to a comedy of errors. The following batter, Domingo Martinez looped one in front of Hosey who made a stab at the ball and deflected it into centerfield as Martinez cruised to second. Martinez scored when Makoto Sasaki bounced a ball past the shortstop Miyamoto and into left. Lions' left fielder Yusuke Kawada put the finishing touche on the inning when he homered in his first ever Japan Series at bat, giving the Lions a five-run lead.
The second act began when the Swallows came to bat in the second inning. The Lions caught the fielding ailment that had afflicted the Swallows in the bottom of the first. With two outs and runners at first and second, Shinya Miyamoto hit a routine grounder to shortstop Kazuo Matsui whose throw pulled the first baseman off the bag. One run scored on that play and another scored when Mitsuru Manaka singled to right.
The Swallows strung together three straight singles to tally again in the third, and agressive baserunning by Atsunori Inaba and Dwayne Hosey forced another error and pushed across another run in the fourth. With Swallows' reliever Tatsuki Yamamoto having shut down the Lions for four innings, the Swallows loaded the bases with one out in the sixth. With two strikes and a ball, Dwayne Hosey pulled away from an inside pitch and the bat struck the knob of his bat and rolled a few meters towards the pitcher's mound. Lions' catcher Tsutomu Ito and pitcher Kento Sugiyama froze, perhaps thinking the ball was foul, until Hosey broke for first. Ito and Sugiyama dashed for the ball. The catcher, Ito, grabbed the ball and started towards home where the runner from third, Shinya Miyamoto, slid home easily. The score was tied and the bases were still loaded with just one out.
The Swallows were one swing away from putting game two out of the Lions' reach and cleanup hitter Atsuya Furuta was at the plate. In the regular season, Furuta was the Central League's best hitter with runners in scoring position, but was hitless so far in the series. Lions' manager Osamu Higashio went to a new pitcher, the wild but hard throwing Denny Tomori. Furuta took the first pitch for a strike and then turned a high fastball into a rally-killing 6-4-3 double play.
With the score tied, the game moved into the final act. Each team threatened repeatedly. The Swallows, with the help of another error, had two runners on with one out in the seventh and failed to score. Furuta's first single of the game loaded the base with two out in the eighth, but taht rally, too, was snuffed out. The Lions loaded the bases in the sixth and in the ninth to no avail. Each time their inning ended with strikeouts. Neither team could push across another run.
Shinya Miyamoto doubled to lead off the tenth inning against the Lions' rookie relief ace, Shinji mori, and moved to third on Mori's wild pitch. Mitsuru Manaka, having earned two strikes attempting to bunt Miyamoto over to third, then struck out. Mori struck out Inaba and with swinging and missing on two of Mori forkballs at the knees. Shinichi Sato took a thigh-high 149 KPH fast ball and drove it to the wall in straight away left field where Yusuke Kawada hauled it in.
With runners on first and second and one out, pinch hitter Yorio Tanabe drove a ball to medium-deep center field where it glanced off the tip of center fielder Manaka's glove for a sayonara base hit.
One could argue, that the game was won by Yusuke Kawada's two-run homer in the first inning. Although the Swallows made two errors in that inning, neither of them put an extra runner on base. With or without the errors, the Lions would have had a big inning in the first. Each team got their share of hits. The Lions had five base runners in the first, the Swallows five in the second. After Hosey's fluke fielder's choice neither team allowed a rally-finishing blow.
October 21, 6:36 PM Jingu Kyujo att:32,867
Lions 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
Swallows 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 x 5
HR: Furuta (Swallows) Solo, P Watanabe H. 8th
W: Shingo Takatsu (1-0)
L: Hisanobu Watanabe (0-1)
AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR SH SF SB CS W HB K GDP
SS Matsui 5 1 3 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
CF Otomo 3 0 1 1 - - - 1 - - 1 - 1 1 1
LF/1b Takagi T 3 0 1 1 - - - - 1 - - - - 2 -
3B Suzuki Ken 3 1 1 0 - - - - - - - 1 - - -
1B Martinez 3 0 1 0 - - - - - - - 1 - - -
r Shimizu 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Watanabe H 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
RF Sasaki 4 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 2
C Ito 4 0 1 1 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
2B Takagi H 3 0 2 0 - - - - - - - 1 - - -
P Ishii Tkhro 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Otsuka 0 1 0 0 - - - - - - - 1 - - -
p Ishii Tkshi 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
p Denny 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Sugiyama 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Kawada 1 0 1 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
Lions 31 3 11 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 4 1 6 3
AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR SH SF SB CS W HB K GDP
CF Manaka 4 1 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - -
2B Dobashi 4 0 2 2 2 - - - - - - - - 1 -
LF Hosey 4 0 1 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
lf Sato S 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
C Furuta 3 1 1 1 - - 1 - - - - - 1 - 1
1B Tatum 4 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
RF Inaba 4 1 3 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
3B Ikeyama 3 0 1 0 - - - - - - - 1 - - -
SS Miyamoto 3 1 1 0 - - - 1 - - - - - - -
P Yoshii 1 1 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Ono 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - 1 - - -
p Kato 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Kobayakawa 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Tsuji 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
p Yamamoto 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Hirota 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Takatsu 1 0 1 1 - - - - - - - - - - -
Swallows 32 5 11 5 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 3 1
IP BF PC H K W HB R ER
R Ishii Tkhro 2 12 44 4 0 0 1 3 0
R Ishii Tkshi 3 10 45 2 2 1 0 0 0
R Denny 0.2 4 14 1 0 1 0 0 0
L Sugiyama 1.1 4 15 0 1 0 0 0 0
R Watanabe H 1 6 20 4 0 0 0 2 2
IP BF PC H K W HB R ER
R Yoshii 4 18 64 7 3 2 0 3 3
L Kato 2 9 39 1 1 1 1 0 0
L Yamamoto 1.0 4 20 0 2 1 0 0 0
R Hirota 0.2 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
R Takatsu 1.1 5 20 2 0 0 0 0 0
Picked Off: Takagi H (Picked off 2B, 2-6, after batter Matsui didn't bunt on a called strike)
Errors: Ishii Tkhro (Mishandled a hard-hit ground ball. Batter safe at 1B, Runner advanced 1B to 2B. One out in 2nd)
Base Running Outs: Ono (out 1-3 at 1B on Manaks's liner. Two outs in 4th),
Miyamoto (out 7-6 at 2B after rounding 2B on Takatsu's single. Two outs in 8th)
Wild Pitch: Yoshii. (Runner advanced 1st to 2nd. No outs in 2nd)
LOB: Lions 8, Swallows 7
Three injuries of note that occurred in game two were news prior to the start of game three. The first was to Kazuo Matsui who jammed his right ring finger on a pickoff throw at first base in the first inning. The second injury was to Swallows' manager Katsuya Nomura's confidence in outfielder Dwayne Hosey. Of course Nomura complains about everyone, all the time, so this is nothing new. Hosey's lack-luster fielding in game two caused a lot of sniping on the travel day and the Nikkan Sports reported that if he doesn't shape up soon he'll be fired before next season. The injury was to Diego Martinez's playing chances in games 3,4 and 5 at Jingu Stadium. As Jingu is the CL champion Swallows' home park, there will be no DH and with Martinez so far excelling only at striking out, the Lions may decide that they don't need the aggravation of having him play first base as well.
Despite being broiled in the press for their inability to field or generate offense, both Dwayne Hosey and Diego Martinez started game three. They each got a hit and they each turned in a fine defensive play--although Martinez watched a ball bound past him at first and go for a double in the first inning.
Game three turned out to be a mirror image of game two, but without all the fielding miscues. The one error that did occur was in the second when Lions' starting pitcher Takehiro Ishii failed to handle a sharply hit ball between his legs. After the next batter was retired, a single and a double chased in three runs for the Swallows' first big inning of the series. The three runs, though unearned, were a result not of Ishii's error but of Ishii's inability to throw his best fastball for strikes. By the second inning he was forced to challenge batters with his slider that wasn't moving much, and the Swallows batters were looking for it.
In the first two innings, Swallows' starting pitcher Masato Yoshii went mostly with his fastball and mixed in his forkballs for good effect. With a three-run lead in the third, Yoshii started falling behind hitters with his curve ball and fastball--so he went to his fork ball and the Lions' batters tagged him. The Lions scored two in the second, but it might have been worse, had Swallows' catcher Atsuya Furuta not picked off Hiroyuki Takagi and thrown out Susumu Otomo attempting to steal.
In the fourth, the Lions got their first two runners on with a single and a walk. Makoto Sasaki came to the plate, swung and missed at a fastball for strike one and and took a second fastball outside before hitting a low and inside forkball for an easy 4-6-3 double play. Tsutomu Ito then lined a first-pitch fastball into left to tie the score.
The game then settled down. The Lions threatened in the top of the eighth, with runners two on, none out and .Makoto Sasaki at the plate again. This time Lions' manager Higashio had him bunting, and he bunted into a 2-5-3 double play. In the bottom of the eighth, Atsuya Furuta fouled offthe first pitch, a fork ball, for strike one and Lions' catcher Ito called for a low pitch. When pitcher Hisanobu Watanabe threw a belt-high fastball, Furuta put it in the seats just beyond the wall in left-center field..
Game three was set-up by the starting pitchers' inability to keep runners off base. The Swallows won because their defense kept removing Lions' runners once they were on base. With the exception of a few pitches, both teams: relief pitching was excellent. The Lions' bullpen cannot match the Swallows' for depth, but until game three, this had not cost the Lions anything. With the score tied in the eigth Lions' manager Higashio wanted one more right handed reliever before going to his relief aces, either Shinji Mori or Fumiya Nishiguchi (who was warming up). Higashio was pressing his luck with Watanabe who hadn't been effective in nearly two years and he paid the price.
October 22, 6:36 PM Jingu Kyujo att:32,877
Lions 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Swallows 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 2 x 7
HR: Sato (Swallows) 2 Runs, P Givens. 8th
W: Kenjiro Kawasaki (1-0)
L: Hiroshi Shintani (0-1)
AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR SH SF SB CS W HB K GDP
SS Matsui 4 0 1 1 - - - - - 1 - - - 1 -
CF Otomo 4 0 1 0 - - - - - - - - - 2 -
1B/lf Takagi T 2 0 1 1 - - - - - - - 2 - 1 -
3B Suzuki Ken 4 0 1 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
RF Sasaki 2 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h/1b Kanemura 2 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
C Ito 4 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
LF/rf Kawada 2 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Tanabe 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
rf Harai 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
2B Takagi H 2 1 1 0 - - - - - - 1 1 - - -
P Shintani 0 0 0 0 - - - 1 - - - - - - -
h Otsuka 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
p Shiozaki 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Sugiyama 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Denny 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Narahara 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
p Ishii Tkshi 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Hashimoto 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Mori S 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Givens 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
Lions 29 1 4 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 8 0
AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR SH SF SB CS W HB K GDP
CF Manaka 4 1 2 1 1 - - 1 - - - - - - -
2B Dobashi 4 0 2 0 1 - - - - - - 1 - - 1
LF Hosey 4 0 2 2 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
p Ito T 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
C Furuta 3 1 2 2 1 - - - - - - - 1 - -
RF Inaba 3 0 1 1 - - - - - - - 1 - - -
1B Kobayakawa 2 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - 1 -
h Ono 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Tsuji 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Tatum 1 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
3B Ikeyama 4 1 1 0 - - - - - 1 - - - - -
3b Baba 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
SS Miyamoto 3 0 0 0 - - - 1 - - - - - - -
P Kawasaki 2 1 1 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Kato 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
p Hirota 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
h Hata 1 0 1 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
r Jo 0 1 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
lf Sato S 1 1 1 1 - - 1 - - - - - - - -
Swallows 33 7 13 7 3 0 1 2 0 1 0 2 1 2 1
IP BF PC H K W HB R ER
R Shintani 4 17 50 6 2 0 0 3 3
R Shiozaki 0.2 5 13 2 0 0 1 0 0
L Sugiyama 0.1 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
R Denny 1 3 10 0 0 0 0 0 0
R Ishii Tkshi 0.1 3 12 1 0 1 0 2 2
L Hashimoto 0.1 3 11 1 0 1 0 0 0
R Mori S 0.1 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
L Givens 1 5 14 3 0 0 0 2 2
IP BF PC H K W HB R ER
R Kawasaki 5.1 22 90 4 5 3 0 1 1
L Kato 0.2 2 7 0 0 0 0 0 0
R Hirota 1 3 10 0 1 0 0 0 0
R Ito T 2 6 21 0 2 0 0 0 0
Wild Pitch: Kawasaki. (Runner advanced 2B to 3B. Two outs in 3rd. The runner, Matsui was called safe on a close play at third.),
Hashimoto. (Runners advanced to 2B and 3B. Hosey at the plate with one out in 7th. Enabled Hosey to drive in two with a check swing single up the middle past the drawn-in infield.)
Base Running Out: Inaba (out 1-3 at 1B on Manaka's liner. Two outs in 4th)
LOB: Lions 5, Swallows 7
Seibu manager Higashio dropped Martinez from his starting lineup for game four. The Swallows' starting pitcher, Kenjiro kawasaki, is a former Series MVP (1993).
Kawasaki mowed down the Lions in the first two innings before running into trouble in the third with a leadoff walk to Lions' second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi. With Lions' pitcher Shintani set to bunt, Swallows' catcher Atsuya Furuta very nearly picked Takagi off first base on a neat play with the first baseman charging for the bunt and second baseman Katsuyuki Dobashi sneaking in behind the runner. Shintani bunted Takagi over to second and Kazuo Matsui drove him home for the first run of the game. Matsui, who stole 62 bases during the regular season, stole his first base of the series and moved to third on a wild pitch. After Taisei Takagi waked with two out, Ken Suzuki hit a roller to short to end the inning.
The Swallows struck back immediately in the bottom of the third. Lions' pitcher Shintani hung a running fastball, and Swallows' pitcher Kawasaki turned on it and lofted it down the left-field line for a leadoff single. Manaka followed with a deep drive to the wall that right fielder Makoto Sasaki may have taken his eye off of. The ball fell for a double and the Swallows had runners on second and third with no outs. Shintani, however, responded to the threat by getting Dobashi to pop up to second and Hosey to ground out to short. Furuta cashed in when he hit a 1-1 pitch that hung over the outside part of the plate and hit it to the wire screen on top of the right field wall for a two-run double. Atsunori Inaba followed with an RBI single to give the Swallows a 3-1 lead.
Both teams went quietly in the fourth and both threatened in the fifth. The Lions getting a leadoff walk but squandering it when Furuta threw out Hiroyuki Takagi attempting to steal second. The Swallows loaded the bases with two outs, but Inaba flied out to center to end the inning.
The Lions got two runners on in the fourth with one out and left-handed batting Makoto Sasaki coming to the plate. Swallows' manager Nomura went to the bullpen for lefty Hiroto Kato, Higashio responded by pulling Sasaki in favor of right-handed pinch-hitting specialist Yoshiaki Kanemura. Kanemura got under a pitch and hit a high fly to center. Tsutomu Ito followed with a fly to left to end the Lions threat.
The Swallows put the game out of reach with a pair of runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings while the Lions busied themselves with making nine straight outs. The Swallows' runs in the eighth came off of Dwayne Hosey's red-hot bat. With the Seibu infield drawn in, Hosey checked his swing, the ball hit his bat glided past second base and into center.
With a four-run lead, the Swallows turned to relief ace Tomohito Ito who pitched like he had waited all his life to pitch that game. The Swallows batters on the other hand were finishing the game off the Lions' less effective pitchers.
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