Posted at 6:42 a.m., Saturday, October 27, 2007
Baseball: Fighters win Japan Series opener, 3-1
Associated Press
SAPPORO, Japan — Former Montreal Expos outfielder Fernando Seguignol hit a three-run homer and Yu Darvish went the distance today as the Nippon Ham Fighters downed the Chunichi Dragons 3-1 in Game 1 of the Japan Series.Seguignol, who hit 21 homers in the regular season, connected off Chunichi starter Kenshin Kawakami in the bottom of the first inning at Sapporo Dome to give Trey Hillman's team an early 3-0 lead.
As he has been throughout the playoffs and in the regular season, Darvish was spectacular on the mound.
The 21-year-old ace struck out 13 Chunichi batters while giving up one run on four hits.
Darvish was the MVP of the Pacific League championship series and went 15-5 with a 1.82 ERA and a league-best 210 strikeouts this season.
"He was outstanding," Hillman said of his starter. "He got out of rhythm a couple of times, but he got back in real quick. Thirteen strikeouts, that's pretty good."
Hillman was hired by the Kansas City Royals to be their manager a week ago and is in his last year in Japan after a successful five-year stint as manager of the Fighters.
The best-of-seven series is a rematch of last year's championship, which the Pacific League's Fighters won in five games.
Kawakami took the loss after giving up three runs on just two hits over eight innings. Game 2 is on Sunday at Sapporo Dome.
It is the first time in 14 years that the same teams are playing each other in the Japan Series in two consecutive years. The Seibu Lions and Yakult Swallows were the last teams to do so in 1992-1993.
