The record will show the Seibu Lions lost to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Sunday after a 2-2 slider from Jefry Yan got away from catcher Takeru Furuichi as Riku Ogata raced home to score the walk-off run in the 12th inning of a 3-2 Hawks win.
It is not much of a stretch to say that the Lions blew their chance to win when they failed to get a runner home from third in the 10th, 11th and 12th innings at the newly named Mizuho PayPay Dome. Or maybe it was due to manager Kazuo Matsui¡¯s moves throughout the game. One could even go further back and blame the front office for constructing a team with a toothless offense.
Either way, the Lion¡¯s share of the blame starts with the offensive shortcomings.
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