September 2nd, 2008
Chunichi Dragons 6
Tokyo Yakult Swallows 12
Streak: Won 3 Last 5:LLWWW
(Jingu Stadium)
Dicky Gonzalez got his first win of the season on seven innings of work, and for the second night in the row the Tokyo starter enjoyed some other-worldly run support from his teammates.
Chunichi managed to score the first run of the game with its second batter, second baseman Araki, but then Gonzalez buckled down and struck out the next three batters in order, and that set the tone for the rest of the game.
Five Tokyo starters had multi-hit games. Most notable of the bunch was Iihara who went three-for-five with three rbi’s.
Even Gonzalez had a good night at the plate. He drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the fifth in which Tokyo would go on to plate six runs. He then kept things rolling in his second at-bat of the inning with a two out single to right. From the mound he gave up two runs, both earned, off of eight hits. He struck out seven and walked one.
As for home runs, Hatakeyama hit his 9th of the season in the first, and Aoki hit his 13th in the bottom of the 8th. Two runs scored each time.
Fifth place Tokyo is now only 2.5 games behind third place Chunichi.
Game two is tomorrow night at 6:20pm (Jingu Stadium, Tokyo).
About Christopher Pellegrini
