{"id":173755,"date":"2025-10-21T10:58:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T01:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&p=173755&lang=en"},"modified":"2025-10-21T10:59:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T01:59:06","slug":"softbank-hawks-advance-to-japan-series","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/softbank-hawks-advance-to-japan-series\/","title":{"rendered":"SoftBank Hawks Advance to Japan Series for Second Straight Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/b>The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks advanced to the Japan Series for the second straight year after a 2\u20131 victory over the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Game 6 of the Pacific League Climax Series Final Stage on October 20 in Fukuoka. Starter Liv\u00e1n Moinelo delivered seven strong innings, allowing one run on three hits while showcasing a mix of fastballs over 150 km\/h and sharp breaking pitches. The Hawks took the lead in the third inning when a throwing error by first baseman Kotaro Kiyomiya allowed a runner to score, and Akira Kawase\u2019s clutch fifth-inning single put them ahead for good. Nippon-Ham\u2019s rookie pitcher Kota Tatsu threw into the sixth inning, yielding two runs, but his team\u2019s offense was limited to three hits. The Fighters had rallied earlier in the series with three straight wins led by slugger Ariel Martinez Reyes but fell short of reaching the Japan Series for the first time in nine years. Moinelo was named series MVP after pitching 14 innings over two starts and conceding only one run. Manager Hiroki Kokubo credited Moinelo\u2019s composure and Kawase\u2019s decisive hit, adding that the team would shift focus to facing the Hanshin Tigers. Team chairman Sadaharu Oh praised the players\u2019 perseverance, while fans celebrated as the team circled the field in commemorative shirts. <\/span>Source<\/b>: <\/span>SoftBank Hawks<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks advanced to the Japan Series for the second straight year after a 2\u20131 victory over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":151602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-173755","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-prefecture","news-category-sports","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/173755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}