Akira Ejiri started for Nippon Ham and was rocked for five runs on four hits and four walks in three innings. 

The Hawks rotation is in a shambles right now with injury or non-performance. Toshiya Sugiuchi fought himself (what the Japanese call "hitorizumo," or, literally, "one man sumo"), needing 126 pitches to bring himself through one out in the fifth and permitting three runs on six hits and four walks. So much for the Japan Series MVP. 

Emblematic of Sugiuchi's night was the first, when he struckout the side while also walking a man and being tagged for a hit. 

In the second, Hawks first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka did a renditio of "Long Stick Goes Boom" for the folks in the rightfield seats for a 1-0 lead. 

An inning later, shortstop Munenori Kawasaki singled to center and rightfielder Yudai Deguchi walked. Second baseman Tadahito Iguchi singled to left and it was 2-0 Hawks.

They would apply the killing blow to Ejiri in the fourth when catcher Kenji Johjima walked and so did leftfielder Pedro Valdez. Zuleta stuffed an Ejiri delivery into the centerfield bleachers for a 5-0 advantage. Hayato Nakamura replaced Ejiri and retired three of the next four hitters to end the inning.

In the sixth, Sugiuchi, who had runners on in every inning but the fourth, cracked. Centerfielder Hichori Morimoto singled to left as did
third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara. DH Fernando Seguignol walked to crowd the basepaths. Leftfielder Angel Echevarria singled to left
and two crossed. One out later, Kazuteru Shimada walked. Kazuhiro Takeoka meandered in from the bullpen. Catcher Shinji Takahashi singled to left to plate another and it was 5-3 Daiei. Shortstop Makoto Kaneko popped up to short and centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo flied out.

Zuleta lost another one in the seats in straightaway center, to put it at 6-3 Hawks after six.

Manager Sadaharu Oh stuck with Takeoka and his team's lead went the way of the dodo bird. Morimoto, who finished with five hits for the first time in his career, reached on an infield hit in the seventh. Ogasawara singled to right. One out later, Echevarria laced an RBI double to leftcenter and Kuniyuki Kimoto rattled the leftfield fence with a two bagger to plate the tying runs. Nobuyasu Matsu took the ball from Takeoka and Tomoyuki Oda flied to center. Makoto Sato came in fromt he bullpen. Takahashi singled to right to propell Kimoto across and the Fighters had the upper hand at 7-6. He struckout Kaneko and now Daiei were back on their heels.

Matsunaka got even, literally, with a booster shot to the opposite field, left, in the home turn and it was 7-7. 

Nippon Ham then attempted to get on top of this thing once more in the eighth off of Akio Mizuta. Shinjo singled to left. Morimoto doubled down the leftfield line. Ogasawara walked to fill the bags. With the infield up, Seguignol hit a hard ground ball to Iguchi, who winged it to Johjima, who gunned it to Matsunaka for a 4-2-3 double play. Echevarria walked to repack the sacks. Kimoto grounded out and Mizuta was out of a hair raising situation.

But they kept on coming. Oda walked to open the ninth. Takahashi singled to right and Oda motored to third. One out later, Shinjo lifted a fly ball to right and Oda tagged up and scored easily. Morimoto singled to left to drive Takahashi in to make it 9-7. Daiei went away 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame and that was your ballgame. 

Takahashi has hit .455 during the six game Fighters winning streak, their longest since August, 2001. Nippon Ham's 5.9 runs per game leads the Pacific League. 

Nishiguchi was a little shaky anyway, as he walked a man in the first, was roughed up for a single and a double in the second, and a single and a walk in the fourth before he left with the score tied 0-0. Hsu Ming-chieh and four other relievers battened down the hatches, allowing only three hits the rest of the way while striking out six to complete the six man shutout. 

Lions centerfielder Shogo Akada's grounder to Hirotoshi Kitagawa at first was misplayed leading off the fourth and went to second on a groundout. Third baseman Jose Fernandez doubled down the leftfield line to register the RBI. One out later, first baseman Masahide Kaizuka singled to left to get Fernandez and it was 2-0.

Kintetsu could easily have knotted this thing in the sixth when the first two hitters, second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi and Kenshi Kawaguchi,
reached on infield hits and third baseman Norihiro Nakamura to load the bases. Lions manager Tsutomu Itoh had Tomoki Hoshino come in to face rightfielder Koichi Isobe and struck him out. Kitagawa was next and Shuichiro Osada, who owns Kitagawa (0-13 before the game), took the hill and struck him out. Leftfielder Fumitoshi Takano grounded out and Seibu dodged a bullet.

In the bottom of the inning, Hiroyuki Shibata walked with one out and Fernandez bigtimed one into the centerfield bleachers to make it 4-0
Seibu. 

Shinji Mori had a girl with the curl inning. When he was bad, he was really bad. When he was good, he dominated. With one out, he walked the bases loaded. He then blew Kitagawa and Takano away to extricate himself from the mess he manufactured himself. Kiyoshi Toyoda
closed it out in the ninth and the Lions pocketed the W.

The record for most pitchers on one team combining for a shutout in a single game is eight, by Nippon Ham in 1980. 

Catcher Masaumi Shimizu, who has been out with a pulled oblique