JAPAN – Hisashi Iwakuma opened the 2009 Nippon Professional Baseball season in mid-season form and the Rakuten Eagles topped the Nippon Ham Fighters 3-1 Friday at the Sapporo Dome.

The Eagles tagged Nippon Ham ace Yu Darvish with three runs in the opening frame. 2008 Pacific League batting champion Rick Short singled off the 22-year-old right-hander to start the game, and Teppai Tsuchiya’s RBI triple was followed by a two-run blast off the bat of Fernando Seguignol.

Iwakuma (1-0), who raised his stock among MLB teams with an outstanding World Baseball Classic, scattered six hits and a run in six strong innings to notch the season-opening win.

Closer Kanehisa Arime recorded the final six outs in order to get the save.

Darvish (0-1) blanked Rakuten after a shaky start in a complete game effort. Regarded as the top pitcher in the Japanese League, the loss was his first against the Eagles in nearly three years.

SEIBU LIONS ROAR PAST LOTTE MARINES

Toru Hosokawa and Hiram Bocachica both homered and the reigning Japan Series champion Seibu rallied to beat Bobby Valentine’s Lotte Marines, 5-2.

SOFTBANK HAWKS BLANK ORIX BUFFALOES

Tsuyoshi Wada opened the new season with a shutout and Nobuhiko Matsunaka collected three hits and five RBIs to lead the Softbank Hawks past the Orix Buffaloes, 8-0.

HIROSHIMA CARP STOPS YOMIURI GIANTS

Scott Seabol clubbed a game-tying two-run shot in a fourth inning outburst as Hiroshima defeated Yomiuri in the season-opening encounter at the Tokyo Dome.

HANSHIN TIGERS TRIP YAKULT SWALLOWS

Yuya Ando yielded two scores over seven solid innings to help Hanshin dispose of Yakult in Central League opening day action at the Kyocera Dome.

CHUNICHI DRAGONS HUMBLE YOKOHAMA BAYSTARS

Takuya Asao and closer Hitoki Iwase combined to silence Yokohama’s offense in a 4-1 win for Chunichi at the Nagoya Dome.

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.japanball.com/news.phtml?id=14010

Photo courtesy of www.iranian.com

Tags: Japan