With all of Nao Higashihama's pitches working, the Rakuten Eagles simply didn't have a chance in Thursday afternoon's 5-1 defeat to the SoftBank Hawks.Matched up against top veteran Takayuki Kishi, Higashihama put on a pitching clinic with flawless command of his breaking pitches and mixing those in with his fastball, cutter and changeup to keep the Eagles guessing.Higashihama (10-3) allowed a run on five hits and a walk over 7-1/3 innings, while striking out two and getting one hitter after another to ground into an out. The win before 25,913 at Kobo Park Miyagi moved the Hawks to within 1…READ FULL ARTICLE
