By KEVIN JAKAHI
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
It was like a factory line for the Ishikawa Million Stars, trotting out one strike-throwing pitcher after another against the Hawaii Stars, who swung mighty bats of Swiss cheese all day long.
Four Ishikawa pitchers, including old friend Roman Martinez, combined on a three-hitter and blanked Hawaii 4-0 on Sunday at Wong Stadium, saying sayonara in the series finale and giving the Stars a one-day reprieve to search under rocks for bats without holes.
Maybe competition from Japan’s semi-pro Baseball Challenge League was too tough. The Shinano Grandserows and Ishikawa Stars each took two of three games. The Hawaii Stars next face Na Koa Ikaika Maui, one of their colleagues in the independent Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs.
Hawaii (2-4) has an off-day today then hosts Maui (4-2) in a six-game series, starting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Ronnie Loeffler (0-1, 5.40 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Stars. Fans wearing Waiakea apparel will get in for half price on Tuesday, a nod to Loeffler, a 2004 Waiakea graduate.
Maui’s Eri “Knuckle Princess” Yoshida is scheduled to pitch Friday. Last season, she was 1-3 against the Stars, but in her last outing on June 9 threw two-run ball over 7 2/3 innings in a 10-2 win on Maui.
On an overcast Sunday, the Stars struck out 11 times in what turned out to be a clinic run by the visitors, featuring fundamental play, contact hitting and corner-painting pitching. All around it was a swell day to be at the ballpark, unless you were Hawaii manager Garry Templeton II.
“We had too many strikeouts on our part. We have to do a better job putting the ball in play,” he said. “That’s been pretty much how it was the whole series. We had way too many punchouts. As a team we need to swing the bats better.”
Kazuaki Minami pitched five innings for the win and struck out five. Kosuke Nakagawa went two innings and whiffed two. Syota Matsuda struck out two in one inning. Martinez did the same thing to slam the door on the Stars.
Ishikawa’s pitchers walked no one. Other than Martinez, who buried the Stars with his heater and hard slider, no one threw all that hard. The Hawaii hitters had trouble with spinning breaking balls on the corners, and the punchouts kept piling up.
The Million Stars peppered seven hits and drew three walks to score four runs off losing pitcher Onan Masaoka, who lasted five innings and finished with 99 pitches. Keith De Morgandie and Cortney Arruda each threw two scoreless innings.
None of the Ishikawa hitters took King Kong swings. They simply made contact and scratched Masaoka for runs, after control issues put runners on base in the third. Hawaii’s ace left-hander walked and hit a batter.
Then Chris Carter hit a sacrifice fly, providing Ishikawa a 1-0 lead without the benefit of a base hit. Carter came through in the fifth with a two-run single, highlighting a three-run rally, built around four base hits that found holes.
What’s more disconcerting for the Hawaii Stars is not the swing-and-miss at-bats, it’s the lack of fans. In the series opener against Ishikawa on Friday, 130 fans showed up. On Saturday night, only 110 people attended.
“We’re trying to do whatever we can to bring people in,” Hawaii assistant general manager Karen Chaves said. “They’re (Hawaii/Maui owner Bob Young) concerned. If the local people want pro baseball here, they’ve got to help and show up.”
Chaves said the break-even point is about 180 fans. She said the team doesn’t pay rent for Wong Stadium, but is obligated to make improvements to the facility.
“I talked to Bob and he wants the team to be the Big Island’s team,” she said. “He wants to look for investors for the team, to buy a piece of the pie, so they can say, ‘I’m a part of the team.’ “He wants the Hawaii Stars to be the Big Island’s team. He doesn’t want to be an owner in Los Angeles. He wants people to bring their friends and family, and be part of something.”
Name game
The Hawaii Stars have a pair of famous names: manager Garry Templeton II and reliever Mike Jackson Jr., whose fathers played in the major leagues. There’s also Dustin Smith, son of Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith, who was traded by the San Diego Padres to the St. Louis Cardinals for fellow shortstop Garry Templeton.
But Hawaii’s winner in the name game is no doubt outfielder Darling Read, who must know all the lyrics to the song “Oh My Darling, Clementine” by heart. He went 0 for 2 and is batting .222 with a homer and two RBIs.
Read, who’s rather lucky his parents didn’t really have an offbeat sense of humor and name him “I Can,” was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cleveland Indians in 2006. He spent four seasons in Cleveland’s farm system, proving that players overlooked in the major league draft still have a chance to chase a big league dream.
According to baseball-reference.com, there has never been a player in major league history with the first name “Darling.” However, there has been a player with a “Darling” last name: Ron Darling, who pitched for the New York Mets from 1983 to ’91, including their World Series championship team in 1986.
Stars watch
Sunday
Ishikawa 4, Hawaii 0
Next: Stars open six-game series with Na Koa Ikaika Maui, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Wong Stadium