Softbank Hawks win title in extra-inning walk-off fashion

The Softbank Hawks did not find their groove for seven innings as they were kept in check by starting pitcher Shota Imanaga. Only after he was pulled, the Hawks managed to get back in the game and to force extra innings from which they emerged as new champions as they scored the 4-3 walk-off run. 

The game was followed as well by a packed Yokohama Park, home of the DeNA BayStars.

Shota Imanaga lasted seven innings and one batter in the eighth. He threw 107 pitches and struck out 11. He limited the Softbank Hawks to two hits, a solo home run by Nobuhiro Matsuda to left field and a doube to center field by Yuya Hasegawa.
At that moment the DeNA BayStars were still leading 3-1, but Hasegawa advanced to third on a 4-3 groundout. Eventually Hasegawa scored the Hawks’ second run when Yuki Yanagita grounded out 4-3 for the second out of the inning.

The 1-0 lead the Softbank Hawks took in the second inning, did not last long. In the top of the fifth, the BayStars turned the tables and rallied for three runs. Hiroyuki Shirasaki led off the fifth with a solo home run to left field. Back-to-back singles and a sac bunt put runners in scoring position with one out before José Lopez singled through the left side to drive in two runs for the 3-1 lead.

Softbank Hawks manager Kimiyasu Kudo used seven in the regular nine innings. Eventually Dennis Sarfate kept the Hawks in the game as he retired the side in the ninth.
With one out in the ninth, BayStars’ Yasuaki Yamasaki gave up the game-tying run when Seiichi Ichikawa cleared the left field fence with a solo home run.

Dennis Sarfate kept the BayStars from scoring for the next two innings.

In the bottom of the eleventh, the first base umpire made a questionable call as he denied the BayStars a double play. Nobuhiro Matsuda hit towards third baseman of the BayStars, who stepped on the third base for the second out in the inning. Then he fired the ball towards first base where Matsuda was called safe because the umpire said first base man Lopez did not touch the base as he tried to make the final out of the inning. Keizo Kawashima singled through the right side and Akira Nakamura dashed home from second base. As the throw from the outfield slipped through the catcher’s glove, Nakamura could score the walk-off and champion clinching run for the Softbank Hawks.

Dennis Sarfate earned the win as he kept the BayStars from scoring in three innings. Hw was also named the Nippon Series MVP. Best hitter for the Softbank Hawks was Hiroaki Takaya, who went 1 for 1 in a pinch hit at bat.

The Softbank Hawks were the clear favorite to win this Nippon Series, but eventually they had to put up a fight as they almost blew a 3-0 lead in games after the BayStars won game four and five. Also in this game it looked like the BayStars would walk off as a victor but eventually, the defense collapsed and allowed the Hawks to tie the game in the ninth and to walk off with the win in the eleventh.

This victory is the eighth NPB championship and its third in four years. Two of the championships were clinched under the name Nankai Hawks (1959 and 1964), two under the name Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (1999 and 2003) and four under the current name (2011, 2014, 2015 and 2017).

Here are the highlights of game 6:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=3kxEW_UJhKM