Nippon-Ham 0, at Rakuten 3

SENDAI, Japan (Interstat) — In a result that defied pregame projections, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles used a combined five-hitter from seven pitchers to shut out the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 3-0 on Tuesday night at Kleenex Stadium Miyagi. A crowd of 24,770 watched as the Eagles, installed as home underdogs, snapped the Fighters’ four-game winning streak and improved their season record to 5-4. Nippon-Ham fell to an even 5-5. The game time was 3 hours, 16 minutes. The most critical sequence of the evening unfolded in the bottom of the fourth inning, breaking a scoreless deadlock and setting the tone… Read more...