(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Hawks take 3-1 lead in Nippon Series
Nederlands
 SHINJUKU, TOKYO (Japan) -
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks has taken a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Nippon Series against Tokyo Yakult Swallows by winning 6-4 on Wednesday-evening (October 27).
The Hawks rallied for four runs in the third inning, which was decisive.
Fukuoka had taken a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Nippon Series by winning the first two games at home in the weekend.
The team opened on Saturday with a 4-2 victory.
On Sunday, Dutch pitcher Rick van den Hurk led the Hawks to a 4-0 shutout.
On Tuesday, the Swallows cut the lead in half by winning 8-4.
Game Five will be played on Thursday in Tokyo.
Recap Game One
Recap Game Two
Recap Game Three
Fukuoka opened the score in the first inning off of starter Shohei Tateyama.
He walked lead-off hitter Shuhei Fukuda, who advanced on a grounder.
Hereafter, Yuki Yanagita also walke, then Fukuda scored when Dae-Ho Lee followed with a single.
The Hawks then rallied for four runs in the third at bat.
The bases got loaded when Fukuda singled and Kenji Akashi and Yanagita both walked.
The bases were cleared on a following 3-run double by Dae-Ho Lee to lift the lead to 4-0.
With one out, Akira Nakamura reached on an error.
With two outs, Toru Hosokawa delivered a runscoring double that brought in Lee and made it a 5-0 score.
Fukuoka-starter Tadashi Settsu struckout eight batters in the five innings he pitched, but also gave up seven hits and four runs.
Trailing 5-0, the Swallows scored its first run in the fourth inning.
Wladimir Balentien and Takahiro Imanami led off with singles, then the first scored on a grounder by Yuhei Nakamura.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Hawks added an insurance run when Toru Hosokawa homered with one out.
The Swallows narrowed the deficit to 6-4 by scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Wladimir Balentien again led off with a single, then the bases got loaded when Takahiro Imanami walked and Yuhei Nakamura singled.
That led to a pitching change, as Settsu was relieved by Yuito Mori.
He began with a strikeout, but then gave up a 3-run double to Tsuyoshi Ueda that made it 6-4.
But hereafter Ueda stranded, as two grounders ended the inning.
In the remainder of the game, two other relievers gave up only one more basehit to the Swallows to secure the win.
American Dennis Sarfate threw the final inning and earned his third save during this Series.
Sarfate pitched in the Major League for three clubs in 2006-2009.
Wladimir Balentien was 2-for-4 today and scored two runs.
(October 28)
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