Baseball: Gu Lin gets 1st win in Japan as Fighters edge Hawks
FUKUOKA (Kyodo) -- Taiwan's 2024 MVP pitcher Gu Lin Ruei-yang earned his first win in Nippon Professional Baseball on Thursday as the Nippon Ham Fighters beat the SoftBank Hawks 3-2 in the Pacific League to sweep the three-game series.
Gu Lin (1-1) gave up two early runs but recovered to go seven innings at Mizuho PayPay Dome where he struck out 10 while allowing five hits and a walk.
The right-hander surrendered the opening run without getting an out in the first following a double, single and a sacrifice fly, with Akira Nakamura singling in another run with two outs.
But the 24-year-old Taiwanese held the Hawks to just two hits over the next six innings in his second outing in Japan as his teammates turned the game around against former Fighter Naoyuki Uwasawa.
"My performance wasn't bad. I'm grateful to my teammates for getting the runs," Gu Lin said. "We talked (after the first) and aimed to get strikes with any pitches, not just with fastballs. I'll try to keep pitching like today and get even better."
Uwasawa (2-2), who was with the Fighters until 2023, threw two games for the Boston Red Sox last year before controversially joining the Hawks ahead of this season. He got the loss after striking out six while allowing three hits and two walks also over seven innings.
A sacrifice fly and passed ball tied the game for the Fighters in the fifth and Chusei Mannami slugged a solo shot to left in the seventh as the Hawks lost their fifth straight game.
In the Central League, the Chunichi Dragons edged the Hanshin Tigers 3-2 to sweep their three-game series and returned to .500.
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