KYODO NEWS - Oct 14, 2017 - 17:25 | Sports, All

Yusei Kikuchi remained unbeaten this season against the Rakuten Eagles as the Seibu Lions opened the first stage of the Pacific League's Climax Series with a convincing 10-0 victory on Saturday.

Kikuchi faced just four batters before getting a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning in front of 32,457 at MetLife Dome. Making his first career postseason start, Kikuchi threw a five-hit shutout, while striking out nine and walking one.

He entered the game having won 14 straight starts against the Eagles dating back to May 25, 2016.

"Throwing a shutout before a full house at home is the greatest," Kikuchi said.

The Lions opened the scoring in the first on a two-run home run by captain Hideto Asamura off Eagles strikeout machine Takahiro Norimoto.

With one out, rookie Sosuke Genda was ruled to have checked his swing on a pitch that hit him and two pitches later, Asamura put a compact swing on an inside fastball and hit it high and just fair down the left field line.

"I didn't imagine it would get out for a home run," Asamura said. "But it was a nice present for Yusei."

The game remained close until the third, when a poor percentage play on the part of the Lions tipped the scales completely their way.

A leadoff walk by Asamura, a single by Hotaka Yamakawa and a Tomoya Mori walk loaded the bases. After a force at the plate, Takeya Nakamura delivered a sacrifice fly to center for the second out, and Mori recklessly took off for third on the throw home. He was ruled safe, though, and Norimoto blew his cool.

The right-hander missed with a slider before hanging one up in the zone that Ginjiro Sumitani hit into the gap in left center for a two-run double.

A walk and back-to-back RBI singles by Shogo Akiyama and Genda completed the five-run inning.

"After that five-run inning, a lot of our young guys were able to relax," Lions manager Hatsuhiko Tsuji said. "In fact, I went to Genda and told him that he could relax now that he'd been hit by a pitch."

Norimoto, who led the PL in strikeouts this season for the fourth straight year, allowed seven runs on seven hits, five walks and a hit batsman. He struck out five over four innings.

The Lions capped the scoring in the sixth on a three-run homer by their No. 7 hitter, six-time PL home run champion Nakamura.

The Lions can clinch the best-of-three first stage with a win or a 12-inning tie here tomorrow. The winner will move on to Fukuoka, where the league champion SoftBank Hawks will host the six-game final stage at Yafuoku Dome starting on Wednesday.

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Central League

Tigers 2, BayStars 0

At Koshien Stadium, surprise starter Shoichi Ino threw five scoreless innings before former Chicago Cub Kosuke Fukudome hit a two-run, sixth-inning homer, lifting Randy Messenger and Hanshin to a 1-0 lead over DeNA in the CL Climax Series' first stage.

Messenger allowed three hits but now walks over six innings to earn the win. Tigers reliever Kentaro Kuwahara worked around a leadoff single and a one-out base hit in the eighth to shut down the BayStars.