June 10th Iwata v Wakui - Williams does something strange

Inept pitching by Williams handed Lions a victory that they didn't really deserve. It wasn't as if he couldn't pitch well, just that he didn't pitch correctly in the situation. Both starters had been shakey, showing some good stuff but also throwing some garbage. Of the two Iwata despite just returning for his first game had been the better pitcher - Wakui had had to work harder even though he pitched the whole game.

Finally Mayumi bowed to the inevitable and moved Arai back to three where he looked so much more comfortable. Toritani was dropped to eighth and Hirano led off. Sekimoto also dropped down to seven. This was a better balance but Mayumi also had to slip in a crazy decision just to show that things hadn't become totally reasonable. This was making Hiyama DH and playing him at five where he was totally out of his depth. One would have thought that Lin or Katsuragi would have been a better choice for the position. Hiyama is really a dedicated pinch hitter. Sometimes, you just can't grasp what goes on in Mayumi's mind. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Hirano (Right)
2. Akahoshi (Centre)
3. Arai (Third)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Hiyama (DH)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Sekimoto (Second)
8. Toritani (Short)
9. Kanoh (Catcher)

Pitcher was Iwata

Lions
1. Kataoka (Second)
2. Kuriyama (Left)
3. Nakajima (Short)
4. Nakamura (Third)
5. Hirao (First)
6. G. G. Sato (Right)
7. Satoh (Centre)
8. Ginjiro (Catcher)
9. Bocachica (DH)

Pitcher was Wakui

Wakui would start poorly. He did show some nice pitching later in the game but his first innings wasn't so good. With two out he gave up a solo home run to Arai who hit to right (not his normal left) 1-0 Tigers. This lead lasted until Lions first. With one out Iwata gave up a hit to Kuriyama which he turned into a two base by some good running. Next up was Nakajima who has been hitting well. Iwata's fourth pitch to him was a horribly slow straight ball sitting nicely in the zone - not a good pitch at all. Nakajima, of course, crushed it onto the back screen for a home run 2-1 Lions. This seemed to wake Iwata up and he struck out Nakajima and then got Hirao to line out but Lions had the lead. Tigers second saw Sekimoto wait and chose his time to hit nicely but then Toritani struck out looking and no score resulted. For Lions second Ginjiro hit but nothing came of this either. Wakui struggled in Tigers third. With one out he faced Hirano whom he walked. Akahoshi was next and he also walked. Arai grounded out but took the runners round to second and third which brought up Kanemoto. He drove his second pitch through centre for a hit and two runs 3-2 Tigers, runner on first. Hiyama struck out as would do all night and the innings was over. With the lead back Iwata walked Kuriyama in the Lions third but then Nakajima hit into a double play to end the innings.

Tigers fourth was quiet as Wakui retired the batters in order. In Lions fourth Iwata issued a lead off walk to Nakamura but one out later he fell to another double play. The fifth was entirely quiet though both pitchers managed nice strike outs. In the Tigers sixth Arai hit but in some of Wakui's best pitching he struck out both Kanemoto and Hiyama to cut off any chance of momentum and then got Brazell to fly out. Brazell would have a quiet game with the bat against his old team. In Lions sixth Kataoka led off with a hit which just stayed the right side of the first baseline and which he turned into a two base. Kuriyama bunted him to third and then Nakajima faced Iwata again. His shot was poor, too near Iwata but the Tigers pitcher couldn't get his whole glove on it for the liner and it bounced off the glove to short. This gave Kataoka the time he needed to make home 3-3 scores tied. Toritani who had an excellent game at short made sure that Nakajima was out. The final batter was Nakamura who grounded out to end the innings.

Tigers seventh saw Toritani hit with one out. Kanoh bunted him to second, a very fine bunt and then Hirano was struck out looking. A decision by the umpire that was questionable. Lions seventh was quiet as everyone grounded out to short. Here Toritani was superb, swooping on each hit and firing the ball to first to get the outs. Nakajima wasn't so good in Tigers eighth. Akahoshi led off and hit straight to the Lions short. This was a straightforward out but Nakajima failed to transfer and Akahoshi was safe. Arai then tried to generate a steal opportunity for Akahoshi but Akahoshi wasn't biting. Finally, Arai grounded out to second allowing Kataoka to get Akahoshi but he himself beat the throw. Kanemoto struck out and then Arai stole second. Unfortunately, the next batter was Hiyama who followed his previous practice and struck out. In Lions eighth Bocachica hit infield along the third baseline. Arai was slow to respond and the throw was also slow allowing Bocachica to reach first safely. This was poor fielding as Bocachica is not considered fast. Kataoka grounded out putting Bocachica on first and then Kuriyama hit to short. Toritani pulled off an amazing stop but was unable to get the out, runners on first and third. At this point Mayumi decided it was time to replace Iwata. He had pitched well for his return. He was replaced by Atchison who quickly got Nakajima to ground out and end the innings. At this point Wakui had thrown 131 pitches but he returned for the Tigers ninth. He did well enough retiring the batters in order. Atchison returned for the Lions ninth and with one out walked Hirao. G. G. Sato (who Tigers have expressed an interest in) hit to right allowing Kurose (pinch runner) to reach third, still with one out. It was decided to walk Satoh to load the bases. This was duly accomplished and Atchison replaced by Willaims. This move rather had an air of panic about it. Williams then pitched in a strangely unaware way. Watanabe was using Ohsaki as a pinch hitter. He feinted to bunt for two of the four balls he faced which a moments thought should have indicated to Williams that this was a non-starter. A squeeze play would not be viable in this situation. Williams though threw a sequence of four balls sayonara oshidashi 4-3 Lions and victory.

Why Williams pitched the way he did was a mystery and Mayumi said as much after the match. He is a very experienced pitcher and to be taken in by something like this is almost beyond belief. Iwata's return had been good and he should do better next game. The use of Hiyama though was incomprehensible and the DH position should have been given to someone else. On the plus side it is good to Arai finally back at third. Okada in his Daily Sports column was advocating using Brazell at fifth and this would be a good idea.

I think Wakui was still better than Iwata, despite the first innings, he threw 6 consecutive shutout innigns keeping the Tigers at 5 hits total. That being said, Iwata just came and had a great game.

I also didn't understand the last move, Atchinson wasn't pitching so bad and Williams was under a lot of pressure (Bases loaded, 1 out). Sure he shouldn't be affected by it but still a risky move.
Anyway, another loss... and seems we're back to routine Tigers games.

Thanks for keeping this blog Christopher, it's really great being able to read Tigers games reports in english (tough I'm not an english native speaker, my japanese is even worse...)

I see your point but he did take longer to get to the same stage as Iwata. This is why I rate Iwata higher than Wakui for this game. I also think Iwata was unlucky with the tying run. But many thanks for you kind comments about the blog.

I was at this game and I have to agree with Christopher. Wakui was great, but Iwata was more economical with his pitch count and should've at least finished the 8th inning in my opinion.