(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Fukuoka wins Japan Series; Fourth Asian title for Rick van den Hurk
Nederlands
 FUKUOKA (Japan) -
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks is the champion of Nippon Professional Baseball, as the team won the Nippon Series on Saturday (November 4) against Yokohama DeNA BayStars, which played in its first Series since 1998.
Fukuoka needed two extra innings to do so, winning 4-3 in eleven innings after having trailed 3-1 halfway the eighth inning.
With that, Fukuoka won the Series, 4-2 and captured its eighth overall Championship-title and its third since 2014.
The team also won in 2015.
For Dutch pitcher Rick van den Hurk, this was his second title with Fukuoka, as he also pitched for the team in 2015.
For the righthander, it was his fourth Asian baseball-title since 2013.
He won the title in the Korean Baseball Organization in 2013 and 2014 with Samsung Lions.
In this Series, Van den Hurk started Game 5 for for Fukuoka.
Fukuoka had won the first three games of the Series, but then Yokohama came back and almost forced a seventh game.
The team opened on Saturday, October 28 with a convincing 10-1 score.
The next two wins were much smaller.
On Sunday, the Hawks won 4-3, then on Tuesday, in Yokohama, a 3-2 win followed.
The home-playing BayStars then avoided a sweep by winning 6-0 on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Yokohama nipped Fukuoka 5-4 to force a sixth game and move the Series back to Fukuoka.
At Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome, filled with more than 36,000 spectators, Yokohama outhit Fukuoka 11-5 and led 3-1 halfway the eighth inning.
And so, it appeared that the BayStars would win again to even the Series at 3-3 and force an all-deciding seventh game.
However, Yokohama scored all its runs in the fifth at bat and then was held scoreless.
But Fukuoka scored in the bottom of the eighth and came alongside in the ninth, then won in the eleventh on a walk-off single.
It was the first time since 1988 that a Series ended with a walk-off and the fourth time in history.
In the bottom of the second inning, Fukuoka took an 1-0 lead when Nobuhiro Matsuda homered.
Yokohama came alongside in the top of the fifth when Hiroyuki Shirasaki hit a homerun.
The team then took a 3-1 lead on a 2-run single by José López off of starter Nao Higashihama.
Yokohama-starter Shota Imanaga threw seven strong innings, striking out eleven hitters.
Fukuoka narrowed the deficit to 3-2 in the eighth on a grounder by Yuki Yanagita off Imanaga, who was then relieved.
...Seiichi Uchikawa's homerun tied the score in the 9th inning...
...On the photo, he homers for Team Japan during the...
... 2013 World Baseball Classic against the Netherlands...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the ninth, needing only two outs to win and force a seventh game, Yokohama lost the lead.
With one out, Seiichi Uchikawa homered for Fukuoka off of closer Yasuaki Yamasaki to tie the score at 3-3.
Uchikawa made his NPB-debut with Yokohoma, for whom he played for ten years, before transfering to Fukuoka in 2011.
The home-team then won the game in the eleventh inning.
With one out, Seiichi Uchikawa and Akira Nakamura walked.
A force play-grounder followed, resulting in the eliminatuon of the lead runner at third base.
With two outs and runners on first and second base, Fukuoka won on a walk-off single (or 'sayonara single') by Keizo Kawashima, ending the game after almost 4½ hours.
Dennis Sarfate took over the pitching for Fukuoka in the top of the ninth, pitched three scoreless innings and became the winning pitcher.
Earlier, the American already earned two saves and was named Most Valuable Player of the Series.
In the regular season, Sarfate set a record with 54 saves.
For winning Manager Kimiyasu Kudo, this was his thirteenth Japan Series-title in his career, including eleven as a player.
(November 4)
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