The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks must've known something was off.
Hiroshima Carp shortstop Kosuke Tanaka, who had led off Game 6 of the Japan Series with a single, had taken off as Hawks starter Rick van den Hurk pitched to Ryosuke Kikuchi and was ruled to have safely stolen second base.
But there was no way that could be right, could it? Not with the way Hawks catcher Takuya Kai had been throwing out Carp runners all series. It was at least worth another look.