0-0 with 2 outs in the 10th with 4 balls…2 batters later, a bases-loaded walk-off home run scores 6 runs, creating drama like a Yomiuri lie.
The Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball suffered a 0-6 shutout loss to the Yomiuri Giants on Monday. The first-place Pacific League team was swept by the fourth-place Central League team. The Oryx have been on a roll in interleague play this year. They posted back-to-back sweeps of the Central League’s Hiroshima Carp and Junichi Dragons to take the league lead, but a second straight loss to Yomiuri dropped them out of first place to the Chiba Lotte Marines.
A shocking loss.
The game went into extra innings at 0-0. In the 10th inning, an unbelievable situation unfolded. The Yomiuri bats exploded for six runs on Orix’s mound. After scattering six hits through nine innings, they pounded out five in the 10th, including two home runs.
No. 2 Takayuki Kajitani and No. 3 Akihiro Yuto hit back-to-back singles to spark the rally. The Oryx walked Kazuma Okamoto to load the bases with two outs, but the move proved disastrous. Pinch-hitter Yoshihiro Maru hit a grand slam.
On a 1B2S count, a slider from Orix right-hander Hitomi Honda was driven to the center of the strike zone. The ball went over the center field fence of the Osaka Dome. 4-0.
Takumi Oshiro followed with a single to right, and Adam Walker followed with a two-run homer to right. Again, it was Honda on the mound. 6-0.안전놀이터
This all happened with the bases loaded two innings later. The nightmare began when Honda, the Ducks’ fourth pitcher, got two outs on four pitches. The Ducks must have felt like they were possessed by something.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, the Ducks retired three straight batters. The Orix bats had gone 24 consecutive innings without scoring a run over their last three games.
Okamoto, Yomiuri’s No. 4 hitter, singled to left in the top of the sixth. In interleague play, he is 14-for-35 with four doubles, four home runs and eight RBIs. Leads the interleague in home runs and is tied for third in RBIs.
