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Van den Hurk wins 13th game of the season

Byyankeebiscuitfan

In a six-inning, 108-pitch outing, Rick van den Hurk clinched his thirteenth victory of the NPB season in a 4-1 victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters. 

The Softbank Hawks, who clinched the Pacific League pennant last week, gave Van den Hurk enough run support.

The Fighters took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Rick gave up a leadoff single to Riki Nishikawa, who promptly stole second base to get in scoring position. Nishikawa advanced to third on a 4-3 groundout by Takeshi Matsumoto. A hit by Brandon Laird to center field, drove in Nishikawa to open the score. But that was all Nippon Ham was capable of offensively.

Besides the sole run he allowed, Van den Hurk cruised through six innings. In those six innings, Rick faced twenty-six hitters, gave up seven hits and two walks. After the sixth inning, the score was tied at one but in the top of the seventh frame, Softbank scored two runs to hand Rick the win, even though he was replaced in the bottom of the seventh.
A solo home run by Masayoshi Tsukada and a two-out single down the left field line by Yuichi Honda drove in two runs for the Softbank lead.
Another solo shot in the eighth inning by Kenta Imamiya gave the Hawks a 4-1 lead.

With this win, Rick improves his record to 13-7 with a 3.31 ERA.

By winning the Pacific League the other week, the Softbank Hawks will have a bye in the first round (the Climax Series). The Hawks will face the winner of the Climax Series (Seibu Lions or Rakuten Golden Eagles) in the Pacific League’s championship series. The Hawks will start with a one-game lead as the winner of each league will have a one-game advantage over the opponent.

Here is a summary of the game.

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