May 31st Iwata v Sweeney - Fighters win on a Baldris error

A very tight match in which the better pitcher actually took the loss. Sweeney was very good but Iwata was better. Neither pitcher gave up anything but an error by a normally reliable fielder would give the Fighters the victory. Line scores.

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Tigers   0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 1
Fighters 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 7 0

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Katsuragi (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Lin (DH)
8. Noguchi (Catcher)
9. Baldris (Third)

Starting pitcher was Iwata

Fighters
1. Murata (Centre)
2. Takaguchi (Third)
3. Tanaka (Second)
4. Inaba (Right)
5. Takahashi (First)
6. Sledge (DH)
7. Koyano (Left)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Iiyama (Short)

Starting pitcher was Sweeney

The first innings was quiet for both sides though Akahoshi battled Sweeney for a long time before falling. The first hit actually came from Kanemoto in the second innings but one out later Toritani hit into a double play and the innings was over. Inaba hit in the Fighters second but then Takahashi hit into his first double play of the night. Sledge had his first hit but then Koyano grounded out. The third was also quiet and then we got to the fourth. Here Akahoshi had a marathon battle with Sweeney which consumed around 20 pitches before he was out. Arai had his first hit of the evening but nothing came of it. In the Fighters fourth we saw Takaguchi and then Tanaka hit - runners on first and second with no outs. Tanaka had a lucky escape. He tried to bunt and the ball fell foul. Baldris dived but the ball landed just short of his glove. He did try another bunt which was also a disaster and then wisely decided to hit. Inada fell to a foul fly and then Takahashi hit into his second double play to end the innings. The fifth and sixth were both quiet with Sweeney getting batters to fly out and Iwata getting more strike outs.

The seventh saw Sweeney face Arai again. This time the Tigers No.3 launched an enormous home run 1-0 Tigers and his 200th home run. Both Kanemoto and Katsuragi got a bit too impatient and grounded out when they could have taken more advantage of the tiring Sweeney. Next Iwata (who was fresher) faced Tanka. He got him to fly out and then faced Inada. Noguchi was calling for him to keep the ball lower than he had been doing and this gave the Fighters the opportunity to hit. Inaba hit a single. Then Takahashi (in a departure from his previous two bats) hit a two base. Runners on second and third with one out. Next batter Sledge who hit a single 1-1 score level. The lead had not lasted long. Koyano was next and first ball he hit straight towards Baldris - an easy double play was on the cards. Baldris positioned himself exactly like Nishioka had done at Koshien in the last game (May 29th) with exactly the same result. The ball sailed merrily through his legs and the runner on third was home 2-1 Fighters. One is at a loss to explain what Baldris was thinking - just one of those things but a costly mistake.

Miyanishi pitched the Tigers eighth and had no trouble and then Iwata was back. He had no problem with the Fighters in the eighth either. So to the Tigers ninth. This was pitched by Hisashi Takeda. He gave up a hit to Hiyama (pinch hitter). Hiyama was pinch run for by Shuta and then bunted to second by Akahoshi. Next batter Sekimoto who grounded out to third and then Arai who struck out. Fighters victory.

A very tight match in which there had been very little to separate the teams. In the end it all came down to Baldris error. Lin looked promising and this game luck was not with him as his hits went to second. Fighters look like they have a very good chance of another Pacific League pennant. They are very tight and organised and if they can keep things that way they will be difficult to stop.

Baldris has been a very sharp fielder, so I guess we can let this one pass.
Iwata doesn't seem to get much run support when he pitches. Hopefully this will improve as he has had a quality start pretty much each time and he has one of the lowest ERAs in the league. He deserves more wins for his work.

Kojima had the same problem last year. To be fair Tigers have been better this year and Sweeney even though he had to fight for his victory did pitch well.

I thought Sweeney would be jinxed after the nice article on him in Saturday's Japan Times, but he came through with another solid performance. It seems like there's always one pitcher in the rotation who doesn't get support, and unfortunately it's Iwata. But he's shown a lot of composure and has kept the Tigers in pretty much every game he's pitched.