11-run eighth propels Sharks past Honu, 15-1
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
WAIPAHU—There was a shark attack yesterday, but not at any beach.
The Honolulu Sharks went on a feeding frenzy, sending 15 batters to the plate in an 11-run eighth inning, turning a pitchers' duel into a laugher in a 15-1 rout of the North Shore Honu yesterday in Hawaii Winter Baseball at Hans L'Orange Park.
Takuya Furuya pitched five strong innings and Takumi Kobe paced the 16-hit assault by batting 4 for 4, including two triples, and four RBIs for the Sharks (3-4).
The pitchers had command for most of the game. Furuya (2-0) allowed a run, four hits and a walk with four strikeouts in five innings. The only run he gave up was on a wild pitch that came after a one-out double by Lou Santangelo put runners at second and third. Otherwise, Furuya was pretty much in control.
"He attacked in the zone, got ahead of the hitters and mixed his pitches well," Sharks manager Randy Ingle said.
After the wild pitch, no other Honu reached third the rest of the game. Ryan Ouellette and Chad Thall each added two scoreless innings.
Furuya, a 5-foot-11, 163-pound left-hander who split time between the minors and Chiba Lotte Marines, was not satisfied with his performance.
"My command wasn't accurate enough," Furuya said through a translator. "I was lucky so many hitters swung at the high ball."
Furuya said he wants to improve his changeup while pitching in this league. It appeared to be working yesterday.
"He had three pitches working for him today that he could throw for strikes," said batterymate Matt Wieters, who helped offensively by batting 3 for 6 with an RBI double.
The Sharks struck Honu starter Logan Ondrusek in the top of the second inning. Kobe tripled to right-center with one out and scored on Shoji Ohiro's sacrifice fly to center. Brad Suttle walked and took third on a hit-and-run single to right by Argenis Diaz. Suttle scored and Diaz took second when right fielder Brad Corley's throw to third was wild.
Ondrusek (0-1) gave up two runs (one earned), four hits and two walks with two strikeouts in three-plus innings for the Honu (5-2). Jacob Marceaux followed with three scoreless innings and Andew Cruse added one.
But in the top of the eighth, the Honu relief pitchers were chum for the Sharks.
Omar Aguilar could not get an out after facing just four batters, giving up back-to-back RBI doubles to Wieters and Tyler Flowers and an RBI single to Kobe.
Kevin Roberts got one out, but gave up seven runs (six earned), allowing a wild pitch to let in one. He also gave up an RBI single to Miguel Abreu and a two-run double to Austin Jackson.
Ronald Hill inherited the bases loaded from Roberts and let Kobe clear them with a triple.
"I had so many goals for the Hawaii Winter League," Kobe said through the translator. "Until yesterday, I wasn't able to perform as expected. But today I was able to hit line drives."
Hill gave up a two-run home run in the ninth to Abreu.
The highly touted Wieters, who signed a $6 million bonus with the Baltimore Orioles last month, showed an ability to hit the opposite way. The switch-hitter nailed the right-handers he faced with a double to left-center and single to left.
"That's what you need to do, instead of pull, pull, pull," Ingle said. "Big and strong as he is and the power's he's got, he needs to use the whole field because he can drive it out of any ball park."
WEST OAHU 6, WAIKIKI 3
Former Hawai'i Rainbow Matt Inouye made his league debut as DH for the BeachBoys (4-3) by batting 2 for 3 on Maui.
Steve Johnson (1-0) gave up a run on two hits for the CaneFires (2-5).
Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.