Sunday, March 26, 2006

By STEPHEN ELLSESSER

Staff writer

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. -- Buffalo beef tastes great, no matter the bull.

Kazuhiro Kiyohara of the Oirx Buffaloes connects for a single against the Lions at Invoice Seibu Dome.

Fans piled into Invoice Seibu Dome to see Kazuhiro Kiyohara's first Pacific League at-bat in 10 years, but Takeshi Hidaka's bat did the talking in the Orix Buffaloes' 5-2 win over the Seibu Lions on Pacific League Opening Day.

Figure skating gold medalist Shizuka Arakawa got the game started, throwing the ceremonial first pitch, the game's biggest.

Six innings later, Hidaka came through with the biggest hit.

Hidaka singled in two runs in the top of the sixth inning against ticking time bomb Fumiya Nishiguchi, who negated eight strikeouts by walking five and giving up eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Hidaka's left-field knock scored Kiyohara and Buffaloes prodigal son Norihiro Nakamura.

"Kiyohara and (Masahiro) Abe took advantage of opportunities, and personally, I wanted to keep it going for the next hitter," Hidaka said. "From the first pitch, I was batting aggressively."

Kiyohara, who had been with the Yomiuri Giants since leaving Seibu after the 1996 season, signed with the Buffaloes after being released in the offseason.

Going 2-for-3 with two walks, Kiyohara didn't disappoint the 30,028-strong crowd, some of whom actually cheered for the home club, despite a strong Orix contingent.

Kiyohara threw the party, and Hidaka cleared the table, almost.

Nakamura doubled to lead off the sixth, and Kiyohara singled before Nishiguchi struck out Hirotoshi Kitagawa and Karim Garcia back-to-back, bringing Abe to the plate.

Abe worked to a full count and walked, loading the bases for Hidaka.

"I was just looking for any pitch," Hidaka said.

Finding a fastball, Hidaka fired, and Orix took a 3-2 lead. Makoto Shiozaki doubled in Abe one batter later, knocking Nishiguchi (0-1) out of a game he could have dominated with better control.

Nishiguchi struck out the side in the second inning, but he allowed Orix to score with two outs in both the fourth and sixth.

"Because Nishiguchi is so good, I was just trying to get on base," Shiozaki said.

Olympic gold medalist Shizuka Arakawa waves to the crowd after throwing the ceremonial first pitch before the Lions-Buffaloes game.

Hidetaka Kawagoe (1-0) had little of Nishigushi's flash and almost none of his chaos.

Seibu plated a run in the bottom of the first when Alex Cabrera drove in Shogo Akada, and after Orix tied in the fourth, the Lions pulled back ahead in the bottom of the frame as Hiroyuki Nakajima scored on a Kazuhiro Wada single.

Making his second-straight Opening Day start for Orix, Kawagoe was clean, striking out three and allowing seven hits in seven innings.

"I couldn't win the opener last year, so I am so happy to win it this year," said Kawagoe, who became Orix's team representative in the union during the offseason. "I feel like I am more of a leader."

The Lions made the Buffaloes' bullpen sweat it out in the eighth inning once Kawagoe stepped out, but after going through two pitchers and loading the bases, Orix closer Masanobu Okubo came in a little early.

Okubo closed the door on Seibu's comeback bid, getting Takeya Nakamura to pop out to shortstop before Wada hit into a fielder's choice.

The closer gave up a hit in the ninth, but he kept the Lions off the board, notching his first save.

Arakawa, decked out in a Lions uniform, pitched to Kiyohara, throwing a ball that went behind the beefy slugger and nowhere near home plate.

"I was more nervous today than I was at the Olympics," said Arakawa, who got an autographed bat from Kiyohara and some ice cream from Seibu manager Tsutomu Ito. "My aim was bad, but on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give myself an 8."

Shiozaki was 2-for-4 with a double, and he was the only Buffalo other than Kiyohara with multiple hits.

Seibu and Orix will play Sunday at 1 p.m., with former Chiba Lotte left-hander Dan Serafini making his Orix debut and Hideaki Wakui taking the hill for the home club.

"For today's win to mean anything, we have to come back and win tomorrow," manager Katsuhiro Nakamura said. "If we lose, we won't have the momentum."

Naoyuki Omura of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks hits a two-run single against the Chiba Lotte Marines at Yahoo Dome.

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) Kazumi Saito pitched eight strong innings and Naoyuki Omura delivered a two-run single in a four-run second inning as the Softbank Hawks beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 7-2 on the opening day of the Pacific League regular season Saturday.

Saito (1-0) held the defending Japan Series champions to two runs and five hits while striking out seven, walking three and hitting a batter at Yahoo Dome, helping Sadaharu Oh's team make a winning start in its campaign.

Nobuhiko Matsunaka led off the second with a double and scored the opening run on a single by Katsuhiko Miyaji. Two outs later, Naoyuki Omura hit a bases-loaded single to make it 3-0 and Mitsuru Honma followed with an RBI double to cap the inning.

Fighters 3, Eagles 1

Michihiro Ogasawara of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters belts a solo homer against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles at Sapporo Dome.

At Sapporo Dome, Satoru Kanemura (1-0) allowed just one run and four hits in seven innings and Atsunori Inaba went 2-for-3 with a go-ahead triple in a two-run fourth, leading Hokkaido Nippon Ham over Tohoku Rakuten.

Nippon Ham slugger Michihiro Ogasawara opened the scoring with a solo homer in the first.

Yasuhiro Ichiba (0-1) took the loss after giving up three runs and eight hits in six innings.

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