Tough break: Eagles hurler Hisashi Iwakuma yields a two-run sixth-inning homer to slugger Sho Nakata in a 2-0 loss to the Fighters on Tuesday. KYODOSENDAI — Yu Darvish struck out a career-high 15 and pitched his first shutout of the season in a duel with Tohoku Rakuten ace Hisashi Iwakuma, leading the first-place Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters past the Eagles 2-0 on Tuesday.In a meeting of potential future major leaguers, Darvish held Rakuten to six hits in a 136-pitch outing at Kleenex Stadium, where the Eagles lost their fourth in a row.Darvish (4-1), tipped to be Japan's next biggest export to the majors, spent his high school years in northern Sendai at Tohoku High School. Miyagi Prefecture was one of the areas hardest hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami."I'm really happy about this," said Darvish. "I wanted to pitch well in front of the people here but at the same time, I felt a little uneasy about trying to beat Rakuten at their home.""I'm glad I won in the end, though," he added.Three of Darvish's 15 strikeouts came against former Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura. Another former big-league infielder, Kazuo Matsui, struck out twice."I thought my performance was good tonight facing a very good Rakuten lineup," Darvish said. "But it wasn't easy out there. It was tough."Iwakuma (3-2) called it an evening after getting two outs in the ninth and throwing his 131st pitch. He allowed nine hits and walked two, striking out seven in his fifth start of the season.Fourth-year slugger Sho Nakata backed up Darvish with a two-run shot off Iwakuma in the sixth over the center field wall, his fifth homer on the year.Micah Hoffpauir also had three hits for Nippon Ham."I had a feeling he might hit one out and he did," Darvish said of the 22-year-old Nakata, who is starting to show signs of coming into his own. "He made it easier for me to be out there." Hawks 10, Buffaloes 1At Fukuoka's Yahoo Dome, Softbank had a season-high 15 hits to pound Orix as Tsuyoshi Wada pitched seven scoreless innings to improve to 2-1. Marines at Lions — ppd. CENTRAL LEAGUE BayStars 8, Giants 1At Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, Yokohama capped its first four-game winning streak in two years to climb out of the CL cellar behind five strong innings from Takayuki Makka (1-0).Makka struck out seven and allowed one earned run on a solo shot to Hisayoshi Chono in the fourth. Tigers at Carp — ppd. Dragons at Swallows — ppd.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Darvish fans 15 batters in victory over Eagles
Tough break: Eagles hurler Hisashi Iwakuma yields a two-run sixth-inning homer to slugger Sho Nakata in a 2-0 loss to the Fighters on Tuesday. KYODOSENDAI — Yu Darvish struck out a career-high 15 and pitched his first shutout of the season in a duel with Tohoku Rakuten ace Hisashi Iwakuma, leading the first-place Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters past the Eagles 2-0 on Tuesday.In a meeting of potential future major leaguers, Darvish held Rakuten to six hits in a 136-pitch outing at Kleenex Stadium, where the Eagles lost their fourth in a row.Darvish (4-1), tipped to be Japan's next biggest export to the majors, spent his high school years in northern Sendai at Tohoku High School. Miyagi Prefecture was one of the areas hardest hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami."I'm really happy about this," said Darvish. "I wanted to pitch well in front of the people here but at the same time, I felt a little uneasy about trying to beat Rakuten at their home.""I'm glad I won in the end, though," he added.Three of Darvish's 15 strikeouts came against former Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura. Another former big-league infielder, Kazuo Matsui, struck out twice."I thought my performance was good tonight facing a very good Rakuten lineup," Darvish said. "But it wasn't easy out there. It was tough."Iwakuma (3-2) called it an evening after getting two outs in the ninth and throwing his 131st pitch. He allowed nine hits and walked two, striking out seven in his fifth start of the season.Fourth-year slugger Sho Nakata backed up Darvish with a two-run shot off Iwakuma in the sixth over the center field wall, his fifth homer on the year.Micah Hoffpauir also had three hits for Nippon Ham."I had a feeling he might hit one out and he did," Darvish said of the 22-year-old Nakata, who is starting to show signs of coming into his own. "He made it easier for me to be out there." Hawks 10, Buffaloes 1At Fukuoka's Yahoo Dome, Softbank had a season-high 15 hits to pound Orix as Tsuyoshi Wada pitched seven scoreless innings to improve to 2-1. Marines at Lions — ppd. CENTRAL LEAGUE BayStars 8, Giants 1At Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, Yokohama capped its first four-game winning streak in two years to climb out of the CL cellar behind five strong innings from Takayuki Makka (1-0).Makka struck out seven and allowed one earned run on a solo shot to Hisayoshi Chono in the fourth. Tigers at Carp — ppd. Dragons at Swallows — ppd.
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