No-decision for Van den Hurk: doesn’t extend his record yet.

Rick van den Hurk started today’s game vs the Seibu Lions. In an attempt to clinch his eighth victory of the season.

Rick pitched five innings in which he needed 104 pitches to get a total of six strikeouts and three walks. After the fifth Rick handed over a one run lead but eventually got the no-decision.
It wasn’t because of lack of run support that Rick only had a one run lead. On the contrary. In the first inning, The Softbank Hawks scored four runs on singles by Keizo Kawashima, Seiichi Uchikawa and Barbaro Canizares, a double by Dae-Ho Lee and a walk drawn by Yuki Yanagita.

In the first at bat of the Lions, Rick struck out the first two batters that he faced before he gave up a solo homerun to Riyota Wakiya.

In the remainder of the regular game the Hawks’ offense was kept in check by various Lions pitchers.

Rick gave another run in the second inning after first giving up two walks, on a basehit by Lions DH Tomoya Mori.  In the fifth the Lions scored one more runs after Shogo Akiyama had led off the inning with a triple to center field. Akiyama was driven in on a 4-3 ground out hit by Ryota Wakiya.

After the final out of the fifth inning, Rick was pulled in favor of Sho Iwasaki.

So far in his NPB starts, Rick hasn’t been a stranger to throw 100+ pitches. But normally he is already in the sixth inning at least, when he reaches that number.

Eventually the Lions scored the game tying run in the eighth inning that spoiled Rick’s eighth victory of the season. But it didn’t mean that the Hawks would lose this one. In the top of the twelfth inning, Yuki Yanagita hit a solo homerun that gave the Hawks the decisive lead.

Due to this no-decision, Rick wasn’t able to extend his record of seven victories without a loss for a foreign pitcher.
In his previous start Rick broke the record of six victories without a loss in his debut season, that he shared with Leo Kiely (1953), Brian Falkenborg (2009) en Bill Murphy (2010).