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2ND LD: Chunichi, Seibu all square in Japan Series
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TOKOROZAWA, Japan, Oct. 21 (23:37) Kyodo
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(EDS: ADDING DETAILS, QUOTES, EDITING)
Omar Linares, Alex Ochoa and Kazuki Inoue all homered Thursday
as the Chunichi Dragons defeated the Seibu Lions 8-2 in Game 4 of the
Japan Series to tie the best-of-seven matchup at two games apiece.
In a game pushed back from Wednesday due to a typhoon, surprise
starter Daisuke Yamai threw six shutout innings, helping the Dragons
even the series for the second time and the series will now return to
Nagoya Dome at least for Game 6 on Sunday.
''I didn't have any worries ahead of tonight's game because we
won each and every crunch game during the regular season,'' Chunichi
manager Hiromitsu Ochiai said.
''Yesterday's rain was timely for me to refresh my brain and our
players showed their desire for victory much more than I expected in
this game,'' he added.
Yamai (1-0), a right-hander who pitched in just eight
regular-season games with a 2-1 record, scattered five hits, struck
out six and walked two in a winning effort before 29,073 fans at
Seibu Dome.
He threw 109 pitches and allowed at least one runner to reach
base in every inning but came away unscathed each time, including
creating a two-out, bases-loaded situation in the second.
Kenshin Kawakami, the Sawamura Award winner who took the loss in
Saturday's opener, had been considered a probable starter for the
visitors after four days' rest.
Offensively, Linares led off the second with his second homer in
as many games to put the Dragons on the board, marking the first time
in the series the Central League champions had scored the opening run.
Ochoa launched a solo shot to make it 2-0 in the fourth and one
out later, Inoue, who had been 0-for-4 entering Thursday's game,
followed with a three-run drive.
All three Chunichi homers were off Chang Chih-chia (0-1), who
was knocked out after 3-1/3 innings.
Motonobu Tanishige, who hit a grand slam in Game 3, lined a
two-run double in the fifth to extend the lead to 7-0 and boost his
team-high RBI total in the Japan Series to nine.
In the sixth, Araki singled in another run to score Hidenori
Kuramoto from second after the pinch-runner advanced to second on a
Koji Mitsui wild pitch.
Fernandez hit an RBI double in the seventh and Hiroyuki Nakajima
homered in the eighth to cue the deficit to 8-2.
The Dragons then ended a threat later in the eighth when Hitoki
Iwase inherited a two-out, bases-loaded jam from Masafumi Hirai and
struck out Jose Fernandez looking.
Iwase also got the final three outs of the game.
Seibu manager Tsutomu Ito said the difference between the
starting pitchers decided the game.
''I never thought Yamai would be this good. He doesn't have many
kinds of pitches but our batters weren't able to stay focused at the
plate. And all the runs we allowed could have been avoided,'' Ito
said.
Game 5 will be held Friday at Seibu Dome. |
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